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“I want to stay, Mimi.”

Surprise ripped through me. Sloane never ended up wanting to stay in the places we traveled, no matter how much she loved the place.

“I’ll understand completely if you want to go home to Phoenix.” Her voice was softer now. “It sounds like there are ways to do that. Please tell me before you leave, though, if that’s what you choose, okay? So I know you made it to whatever city you’ve ended up in. Jacob says there are a couple there where you might be. I want to know you made it okay. Crap. I’m running out of time.”

I sucked in a breath.

“I love you, Mimi, and I miss you. But I’m staying here with Jacob. It… it feels like it’s where I’ve always meant to end up.”

Tears blurred my sight as the utter sincerity rang through her voice. There was a faint murmur of another voice, deep and rough, and then the sound cut off. The blue glow dimmed and then disappeared completely, leaving the rock appearing mundane again.

“Can I… can I listen to it again?” My voice was hoarse with the unshed tears.

Callum’s answer was hesitant. “Yes, though not indefinitely. Eventually, the imbuement will fade from the stone. How long it lasts depends on the mage’s skill and the amount of longevity requested by the one who commissioned the stone.”

Automatically, I twisted my wrist in that same motion, needing to hear Sloane’s voice again, needing to make sure this wasn’t all an elaborate dream I was about to wake from. Sloane not wanting to go home to Phoenix? That was akin to me wanting to bungee jump the Royal Gorge again.

The message was the same, down to the small hesitations that were quintessential Sloane. I closed my eyes, trying to absorb every word. It was so utterly her, I could practically see her as if we were sitting in our apartment after she’d gotten back from one of her dance classes. Trepidation and confusion churned under my sternum, more violent than any monsoon storm that had drenched Phoenix in late summer.

“She… she’s married.”

I had no idea why that was where I started, but I didn’t bite back the words.

“Yes.” He sounded closer than before.

“What the Votarist said about the Freian ceremony, that’s what she was referring to? The part she said was intense and vulnerable?”

The silence of his hesitation was more pronounced this time.

“Yes, that’s what she was referring to. The Freian marriage rites include a soul-bonding, tying the alpha and omega together with magic that only breaks upon death. It’s well documented that it’s an… overwhelming experience for both people but especially for the omegas.”

Soul bond.

The words clanged through me, falling like baseballs dropped on a display of porcelain, shards of the damage stabbing me each time I tried to breathe. And then, all at once, Sloane’s choice made complete sense. She’d always craved stability. We both had. Every place we lived she treated as if we would be there forever even if it was temporary. Every foster home, every dorm, every apartment. Each one she decorated and personalized and breathed life into. She’d never felt strongly about getting married—neither of us really had—but a community? Sloane ached for that, had sought it out in college and after graduation with near-reckless abandon to sometimes disastrous results.

Of course she would stay if they’d welcomed her and given her that close-knit group she’d always wanted. Besides, she’d probably done the math the same as I had. Even if we could go back, what would we be returning to? Unemployment and a dusty apartment? I tried to picture it. Could I do that, return to Phoenix alone, live the rest of my life knowing this world exists and my sister was here? Live like she was dead?

At that thought, my stomach flipped, so sudden I was nearly sick.

That was my answer, I supposed.

Guess you’re going to be a princess, I thought with dry humor. Where’s Anne Hathaway when I need her?

“Are you ready to return inside and discuss everything with the Votarists?”

True alarm replaced the trepidation. I snapped my eyes open as my hair swirled in a sudden hard wind. Callum stood at the foot of the fountain’s stairs, his hands behind his back.

“You can’t.” The alarm was in my voice, too.

He frowned. “I must.”

“She’s already married, though.”

His lips flattened, staunch refusal in every line of his body.

A foreign desperation built in me, merging with that ingrained habit of putting Sloane’s happiness above my own. I shoved down my hatred of being open, ignoring the way my skin crawled at the vulnerability, and pleaded.

“Callum, I’ve spent my entire life protecting Sloane. From the time we were toddlers left in a fire station to be raised by strangers, I’ve prioritized her happiness and safety over everything in my own life. If she wants to stay, if she’s happy? Then I’m going to make sure she stays that way. I cannot be the reason she gets ripped away from this Jacob man.”