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“Mom! Go inside!” Caleb shouted. “You don’t need to witness this.”
Rhys picked her up and carried her inside of the house.
“I’m sorry,” Fox said, tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Caleb. It’s going to hurt so much. You’re going to feel like a piece of you died. I’m so sorry.” He turned and ran into the house after the others, slamming the door closed behind him.
Katar, Emrys, and Dan moved closer, but still not close enough they might touch us.
Another vehicle raced down the street and out of this one poured Leona and her mates. “We’re here!” Leona called.
“Perfect timing,” Kara said. “Are you sure you can calm them down?”
“I don’t know about Caleb, but I should be able to calm the others, since they don’t have siren blood,” she said. Looking at me, tears filled her eyes. “I’m sorry, sirenling. You’re going to experience it all without my help or anyone else’s. It’s going to hurt a lot, so you need to be ready.”
Now I was completely terrified. How bad was this pain going to be?
“Hurry, Ember,” Kara urged me. “I don’t know how quickly things will progress to a point that I won’t be able to break it.”
Nodding, I looked down at my chest and reached with the hand not holding the knife. It gripped one of the connections, Triston’s. I met his eyes and smiled.
“I love you,” he whispered.
My eyes widened, it was the first time he’d said it to me, but I didn’t have time to enjoy it. I had to do this before they all died. I sliced the knife through the invisible bond. The bond was anything but insubstantial. The instant it severed, it felt like I’d cut one of my arms off. My head fell back and I screamed.
Triston roared and fell to his knees, clutching at his chest, tears falling down his face.
Leona started singing and his sobs quieted, but didn’t stop.
Pain tore into my body, a sizzling, burning pain like lava through my veins. I gasped and staggered.
“Again, Ember,” Kara whispered.
I grasped another bond, Branson’s.
“I’ve always loved you, Ember. Ever since I woke up in your cabin,” he whispered.
Tears in my eyes, I sliced through it.
Screaming, I fell to my knees, panting and seeing stares as the sizzling in my veins grew.
“Ember!” Caleb shouted.
“Two more, Ember,” Kara said soothingly. “I’m sorry. Just two more.”
My bonds with Riddick and Caleb were stronger than the others’, so I was terrified what it would feel like to sever them.
“I … can’t,” I cried. “It hurts too much.”
“You have to,” she said. “Or severing the other two will be for nothing and you three will die.”
Sobbing, I sat back on my heels, reached a shaking hand up and grasped one of the last two, Riddick’s.
He whined and I gave him a shaky smile, trying to use humor to ease us both into it, and said, “Sorry, gorgeous. Doctor’s orders.”
The knife cut through it easily, which was good since I had no energy.
Riddick and I screamed simultaneously, and he fell onto his side, curled into a ball. My pain escalated threefold and I saw black around the edges of my vision.
I had to do it before I fainted. I grasped the connection and my arms shook.
