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‘What? No. That is not what I meant. Even if I tell them about what I see, I am the one who mostly decides what must be done because nobody but me can go into the visions to figure out the different paths to take.’

‘But what if it doesn’t have to be that way? What if you don’t have to be the only one to decide what must be done?’

‘It isn’t possible. For that to occur, you would have to come into the vision with me, and I don’t know any seer who has ever been able to make that occur. The visions are for the seer alone to bear.’

He’d stepped away as he spoke, but she came with him, moving even closer until he could feel the warmth of her along his front, her breath on his skin.

‘But what if it can be done?’ She reached up and touched his face, her fingers sliding down from his brow to his chin.

He knew he should refuse her touch, but in this moment, he couldn’t make himself step away. Her touch was pleasure and agony combined. His heart throbbed with its need for the contact. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to not reach for her. ‘It can’t.’

‘I think it can.’

‘You’re wrong.’

‘Am I? You brought me through the void to this place. Why not take me into your vision?’

‘That was simply a transportation. A mistake. It isn’t the same.’

‘Have you done that before? Transported someone with you?’

‘No. It’s not something that can be done.’

‘Then how did you do it now?’

His mouth opened with a reply, but there was none. She was right. He had been taught he could only transport himself, but he had just proved that teaching wrong. ‘It’s different,’ he said weakly.

‘I think it’s the same. If you wanted to, I know you could do it.’ She stumbled a little.

‘Ivy.’ He grabbed her arms, pulling her closer to steady her. ‘Why are you doing this? You need to let go of me. You need to leave this place. If you don’t, you won’t survive.’

She looked up at him. ‘If you want to save me, you need to mate with me.’

‘If I do that, you will die.’

She shook her head, a little chuckle erupting from her mouth. ‘This is a circular argument. I will die now if you don’t mate with me and I will die if I do mate with you.’

‘You could live if you would just let go.’

‘Then you would die. And I would die with you.’

‘No.’

She cupped his face, her thumb rubbing over his cheek. ‘You may have broken and changed the threads of our mating, but they are still there, deep inside because we are soul-bonded. It’s what is allowing me to give you my life energy to save you. It’s what allowed Iris and Abby to start weaving those threads back together. Fate may have allowed you to cut the mating bond of this life, but it didn’t allow you to get rid of the soul-bond. I am your fated mate. Not just in this life, but through time.’

‘How can I live knowing our mating will be responsible for your death?’

‘You take too much on yourself. It’s no wonder you are always so unhappy.’ She frowned, rubbed her head. ‘I have two memories of you in two different life threads vying for pre-eminence in my mind. In both of them, you are so unhappy. It makes my soul ache to see it so.’

‘You shouldn’t be able to remember the other timeline.’

‘But I can. Maybe it is this place.’

‘What? My hill?’

‘This isn’t your hill, Paul.’

He lifted his head and truly looked around for the first time. It was his hill, but it looked different. There was a vividness to the colours of the grass and trees and sky that wasn’t usual, like he was seeing everything through a golden tint.