Amantha sucked on her blue raspberry slushie as we sat down at a booth. “What’s got you down, girl?”
I liked Amantha, but I worried about revealing too much to her. She was my competitor, after all. I didn’t want her to think I would mess up my program during the competition. It might give her an edge.
Amantha poked me. “Come on, I’m not Gabby. I won’t use anything against you. And trust me, your long program is way more solid than mine is. The only way I could catch up to you in the rankings is if you totally flopped.”
“Don’t say that. You’re a brilliant skater,” I objected.
“Yeah, but you’re thebest,” Amantha said firmly. “You’ve got this competition in the bag. So what’s on your mind?”
I figured I might as well let Amantha in. Maybe she could provide some outside perspective. “Well… you know Ethan and I aren’t doing the best.”
“I thought so. The tabloids have pictures of you and Finlay going out every weekend now,” Amantha said. “I thought it was a phase, but you two are getting serious.”
“We are.” I looked down at the table. “And it’s hurting Ethan. Not to mention his mother tried to take revenge on me for humiliating her son.”
“Ah, so that’s what got Magdalina in a twist,” Amantha said. “That makes sense.”
I played with my straw. “The thing is… I want Ethan and I to work out, but the longer we’re apart, the more I lose faith we’re going to.”
“Are you thinking of breaking your bond?” Amantha asked the question so casually, it almost threw me off.
My eyes widened. “Um, yes. How did you know?”
“You want to know the truth?” Amantha leaned in and dropped her voice to a whisper. “I broke my bond with my mate last semester.”
“Really?” I almost fell off my chair. “You left your fated mate?”
Amantha nodded. “I bonded my freshman year with a griffin shifter. We were together for nearly three years.”
“Wow, really? What happened?”
“He was pretty abusive.” Amantha shrugged. “You wouldn’t think it, but griffins can be violent, too. We empaths take in a lot of emotion from other people, and it all has to come out somehow. Mainly, his overwhelm exploded on me.”
“I never would’ve guessed.” Amantha seemed like such a happy person. I wouldn’t have known she was in an unhealthy relationship if she hadn’t told me.
“I was pretty optimistic about the whole thing. I figured we were fated mates, and meant to be together, so I had to put up with it.” She chewed on her straw. “But it doesn’t matter if you’re destined to be together if it’s at the wrong time, or if you can’t work out your differences. I wanted him to change, until I realized if I wanted things to get better, I had to be the one to end the relationship. Leaving him was the most painful thing I ever did, but it was the right thing to do. No amount of fate can bring you together if your mate is determined to break you apart.”
There was pain in her words, but not as much as I expected. It was like she’d moved on. “Ethan and I don’t have those kinds of problems,” I said. “We just… can’t get along.”
“And that’s okay to admit. He doesn’t have to hit you or verbally abuse you for the relationship to be wrong,” Amantha said. “There were more good times with my mate than there were bad, but the bad things overshadowed our love. It got to the point where the magic just wasn’t enough.”
I felt that. I felt thathard.For as much magic Ethan and I shared, the shadows that loomed over our relationship suffocated all the love. It wasn’t even about the secrets anymore. At this point in time, we just weren’t good for each other. “I want our love to be enough, but I get what you’re saying. What point is there to reviving something that’s already dead?”
“Do you have a better relationship with Finlay?” Amantha asked.
“In a way.”
“But he’s not Ethan.”
I gave a heavy, long sigh. “No. He’s not.”
“I care about you, Emma. I want what’s best for you.” Amantha took my hand and squeezed it. “If you’re considering breaking the bond, that’s a big sign things aren’t meant to work out.”
Tears rose to my eyes. I choked them down and said, “You think so?”
“Maybe. But don’t do it until you’re ready to give up.” Amantha gave me a kind smile. “It took me ages to get over my mate, but I moved on. You have your friends, and school, and you have skating. Eventually, your heart will mend. And there will be someone else there to fall for, I promise.”
I wiped my eyes with the heel of my hand. “Thanks. I really needed to hear that.”
