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“Then do that.”
He fastened the button of his trousers. “He won’t do it.”
“Why not?”
“It means forgetting Aurielle. He wouldn’t want that.” Lucian met her gaze. “I wouldn’t want to do that either. With that kind of connection.”
Brinna felt that look in her bones, as if he was trying to tell her something.
He moved once more, as if jolted back into it, then moved around looking for something on the floor. “Besides, there isn’t a guarantee it will help her.” When he found his shirt, he slid his arms into the sleeves.
Brinna helped him, taking the front panels in hand and fastening the buttons. “Auri would want whatever will help Nix.”
He studied her face as if working to commit everything to memory. “How do you know?”
“Because she loves him. And that is what I would want.” She dragged her hand down over the buttons, smoothing the fabric into place.
The gray snagged against her, tugging at her again, everything blinking away.
Lucian’s eyes widened, his hands gripping her arms tightly. “I’m here.”
She took a deep breath and snuggled into his arms as she resurfaced, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. “But you won’t always be,” she said. “If you come back, and I’m not–”
“Don’t say it. Please, Brinna. Just be here.”
“Lucian–”
“Say it.”
“I will do everything I can to be here,” she said, squeezing him tighter.
He kissed the top of her head. “I need you to be here,” he said. “I feel the pull, Brinna.”
“I know.”
Her heart twisted in her chest. She didn’t know when she’d gone from hating Lucian to feeling like this, like she needed to touch him, wanted to hear him, found safety in his arms, but she did.
And at that moment, she realized she loved him. It wasn’t the growing pains of love, but a burgeoning awareness that burst forth. That familiar heat spread through body, twisting like golden light, wrapping around the essence of her, until there was a pinch at her wrist, and then it cooled. She knew exactly what it was, knowing what she knew now.
Her ribbon was gone.
She didn’t have to look to know it. She knew with every fiber that made her; she was in true love with Lucian Uraiahs.
“Hold on,” he said. Then he was gone.
28
“Hold on,” he’d told her before drifting awake. Now he stood at the window of Sol staring out the Elcadian realm, hating that he was in the real world without her. She’s stuck in a dream, he thought and turned away, sighing. He had to find a way to get her out. They had to find the witch.
“Luc?”
He looked up at Nix, leaning against the couch. “Stars, brother. You look…”
“I’m fading,” he said plainly. “I’m not sure how much longer I have.”
Luc swallowed, understanding now. The moment he’d woken he’d felt the pain. It had started slowly, coalescing around his heart, then seeping like a creeping shadow through his body. And his awareness was so new. He also had the benefit of walking with Brinna in their dreams to appease the bond. Nixus and Auri had been yoked for some time now, strengthening that bond, so that it must feel like a weight crushing his brother to dust.
“What can I do?” he asked.
