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“That won’t stop him from making the rest of my life miserable,” Harper says.
“Or giving someone else too much power,” Sadie says. “Or trapping that person with Harper in eternal servitude.”
“Those are all possibilities,” I say. “But it’s a way to prevent him from gaining that kind of power.”
“I could do it,” Liam says. “Harper, we could bind our magic. I’ll protect you from him. If you’re mine, he can’t make you be a servant. It would make him look bad.”
“What’s stopping him from getting rid of us both if you piss him off like that?” Harper asks.
“That’s why I don’t like it,” I say.
“What about you?” Sadie says to me.
“I can’t trust myself with that kind of power. My magic is too deadly already. I don’t want to see what would happen if I could tap into what Harper has.”
“So that’s not actually a fix at all?” Sadie says. “So you’ve got nothing?”
My shoulders sag. “Well, it’s a last resort if Harper can’t win the pass.”
Harper walks away from Sadie and covers her face with her hands. I can feel the frustration rolling off of her in waves. I want to pull her close to me and comfort her. I want to fix this. But so far, all my research has only yielded this one solution. Well, that wasn’t true. She could take the path her mother did and end up in the angel realm.
That’s the one thing I haven’t told her. Angels never die. But if she did that, she’d be stuck there for eternity and I have a feeling that’s worse than death to her. She’s a fighter. I know she wants to live her own life.
The bond we have draws me to her. It’s taking everything I have to give her space. Every night when I sit in my room, I can feel her. I want to break through the wall and go to her. But being with her will be worse for all of us.
The best way I can show that I care for her is to help her get out of this bargain and regain her freedom.
Once she has that, she can choose her own path.
Mating bonds aren’t fair. We don’t get to choose who we bond with but we can choose to ignore them. It’s not easy, but it can be done.
I don’t want Harper to be with me because she has no other choice. I want her to come to me because she can’t imagine her life without me. Regardless of the bond.
With this hanging over her head, I know that’s not possible. Until she can earn her freedom through the pass or another route, she’s a prisoner.
“Harper,” Sadie asks gently. “Would it be so bad to bind your magic to someone?”
She drops her hands and looks at all three of us in turn. “I can’t, you know I can’t.”
“I could handle it, Harper,” Liam says. “Let me do this for you.”
Harper’s brow furrows. “Why? I blackmailed you. We had sex one time. And suddenly you’re ready to move on to happily ever after? Assuming we can bypass your psycho father? The dude who keeps visiting me in dreams and wants to claim me as his?”
“He’s visiting you in dreams?” I ask.
Harper turns to me. “Yes. He is. I know you’re trying to help. Finally. But he’s desperate to do this. And he’s pretty sure he’s able to prevent me from winning that pass. So I’m basically screwed whichever way it goes.”
“Maybe binding your magic isn’t so bad?” Adrian says. “With practice, you could keep me in check. We’d have to run, but if you want that, I’d do it.”
“I’m not going to trade one type of chains for another. I care about you, Adrian, but I’m not ready to be locked to someone for eternity,” she says.
“It’s too dangerous,” Liam says. “My father would get you to use that power to help him. It wouldn’t be much different than him having it himself. I know what he holds over you. You can’t think he’s let it all go.”
I clench my teeth. I didn’t realize how much Liam knew about his father’s business. I was young when I was sucked into helping the king. A child myself with a history of bad deeds. I discovered my reaper magic when I was only six. And I abused it. Badly.
When the king found me, I was ten. He took me in and gave me an outlet for my darker instincts. I worked for him as his personal Grimm reaper taking out any of his enemies, no questions asked. When I was old enough to attend Brimstone, I asked to be dismissed from his service. But you don’t just walk away from Alastor Drake.
He had kept records of everything I did.
