Page 26

Kaia

I feel him coming before I hear his footsteps. The bond pulses with his presence, a chaotic energy that somehow feels steadying despite everything else churning inside me. My shadows ripple in recognition, but I don't turn around.

"If you're here to defend him," I say quietly, "don't."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Finn's voice carries that familiar lightness, but underneath I can feel the turmoil he's trying to hide. "Pretty sure he deserves everything you're feeling right now. And then some."

I let out a shaky breath, staring at the impossibly clear water of the pool. "You can feel it too, can't you? All of it?"

"Yeah." He moves closer, careful but not hesitant. "Gotta say, you've got quite the emotional range there, Trouble. The rage is impressive, but it's the heartbreak that's really doing me in."

"I'm not heartbroken," I snap, but we both know it's a lie. The bond makes lying impossible now .

"No?" His reflection appears beside mine in the water as he settles at the pool's edge. "Because what I'm feeling through this thing suggests otherwise."

My shadows coil tighter, restless and agitated. Mouse presses against my leg, a warm anchor in the storm of emotions. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Good thing I'm not here to make you talk." He drops down to sit beside me, his usual manic energy somehow muted. "I'm just here to remind you that you're not alone in this mess."

"Even though none of us had a choice?"

"Especially because none of us had a choice.

" His green eyes meet mine in the reflection.

"Look, what Kieran did? It was wrong. But these bonds?

They were already there, Kaia. We all felt it building.

He just..." He runs a hand through his auburn hair, frustration bleeding through the connection.

"He took away our chance to choose when. How."

I close my eyes, fighting against the fresh wave of grief that threatens to overwhelm me. "It was supposed to be beautiful."

"It still can be."

"How?" The word comes out raw, scraping my throat. "How can it be beautiful when it was forced on us?"

"Because the bond forming and what we choose to do with it are two different things," Finn says softly, and something in his voice makes me look at him directly.

He's watching me with none of his usual mischief, just quiet understanding that aches through our connection.

"He might have forced the timing, but he can't force what happens next. That's still ours. "

My shadows drift toward him unconsciously, drawn to the steady warmth beneath his chaos. Even Bob seems to relax slightly, though he maintains his protective stance.

"I can feel all of you," I whisper, pressing a hand to my chest where the bonds pulse like separate heartbeats. "All the time. Your emotions, your energy... it's overwhelming."

"Tell me about it." Finn's laugh is gentle but strained. "Your rage alone could power half the sanctuary right now. Not that I blame you."

"How are you so calm about this?"

He shrugs, but I feel the carefully controlled panic beneath his casual demeanor. "Someone has to be. And since you're busy plotting murder, Malrik's doing his brooding statue impression, and the twins look ready to tear the place apart..."

"And Kieran?"

"Is definitely aware of how badly he screwed up." Finn's tone darkens. "Trust me on that one. The guilt coming off him is practically choking."

I sink down beside him, close enough that our shoulders brush. The contact sends a jolt through the bond, like completing a circuit I didn't know was broken. My shadows curl around us both, seeking comfort in his presence.

"I don't know how to do this," I admit quietly. "How to handle feeling everyone all the time. How to trust any of it when it started like this."

"We figure it out together." His hand finds mine, fingers interlacing. The simple touch grounds me in a way that surprises us both. "Day by day. Choice by choice. Until maybe one day it feels less like a chain and more like... "

"More like what?"

"More like coming home."

I turn to look at him properly, meeting his gaze. There's a vulnerability there I've never seen before, raw and unguarded in a way that makes my breath catch.

"Kaia," he says, his voice dropping to something softer, more real. "What we have—what we've always had—it's not defined by this bond. It's not created by it. You know that, right?"

Before I can answer, he shifts closer, one hand cupping my face with surprising gentleness. "Close your eyes."

"Finn—"

"Trust me. Please."

I do, and suddenly I'm overwhelmed by sensations that have nothing to do with magical bonds.

The warmth of his skin against mine. The steady rhythm of his breathing.

The scent that's uniquely him, smoke and starlight and something indefinably wild.

But more than that, I feel his emotions washing over me without the filter of magic.

Admiration. Affection. A fierce protectiveness that steals my breath.

"This," Finn murmurs, his thumb tracing my cheekbone, "this is us. No bond. No magic. Just you and me, Trouble."

And then he kisses me.

It's like the world explodes into color.

Every nerve ending comes alive, singing with something that has nothing to do with forced connections and everything to do with choice.

I've been kissed before, but never like this.

Never with such tenderness and passion intertwined, never with someone who makes me feel like I'm coming apart and being rebuilt all at once .

When we finally break apart, both breathless, Finn rests his forehead against mine.

"That," he says, wonder bleeding into his voice, "is what we are without any bonds at all. Beautiful. Powerful. Real."

And then something shifts between us.

The bond—still raw and unwanted—suddenly doesn't feel like a chain. It feels like recognition. Like something that was always there finally has permission to exist.

I don't mean to open myself to it. Don't mean to let him deeper. But Finn is already there, waiting, and somehow it doesn't feel so terrifying anymore.

The rush is indescribable. Like diving into a sea of starlight, every cell in my body singing with joy and connection that feels earned rather than stolen.

I can feel Finn's wonder echoing my own, our emotions amplifying and reflecting until I'm not sure where I end and he begins—but for the first time, that doesn't terrify me.

I'm trembling in his arms, steady and strong, and I can feel his heart racing in perfect sync with mine.

"Holy shit," he breathes against my hair, voice shaky with awe. "That was..."

"Different," I finish, understanding flooding through both of us simultaneously. "The bond—it feels different now."

"Because we chose it," Finn says, pulling back to meet my eyes. "In that moment, we chose each other. Not because of the bond. In spite of it."

My shadows dance around us, lighter somehow, more playful than they've been since we arrived. Even Mouse seems less tense, his violet eyes warm with approval .

"I think," Finn continues, that familiar mischievous grin finally returning, "we might just be unstoppable when we stop fighting what we actually want."

I laugh, actually laugh, for the first time since stepping foot in this realm. "Is that your solution to everything? Stop fighting and start kissing?"

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" He waggles his eyebrows, but there's real tenderness underneath the humor. "Besides, I've got about four more people to convince, so I better perfect my technique."

The thought of Finn trying to kiss his way through everyone's anger makes me snort with laughter. "I'd pay to see you try that approach with Torric."

"Please. The man's basically a walking furnace. One good kiss and he'd melt like butter."

"You're ridiculous."

"You love it." He says it lightly, but there's a question underneath. A hope.

I meet his gaze, feeling the bond hum between us. Not forced now, but freely given. "Yeah," I say softly. "I do."

The ache in my chest doesn't disappear, but it shifts into something warmer. Something that feels less like a wound and more like possibility.