happen any moment now. You need to break the bond tonight, and save yourself.”
The knot in my throat hardened. “Do you think I’m out of time?”
“Yes. My visions are clear. If Ethan survives, you won’t,” Odette said firmly. “The world needs you. I need you. You have to do what’s best for yourself. Ethan would want it that way.”
My eyes burned with tears, but I held them back. “You’re right, Odette. I can’t avoid it any longer.”
I rose off the bed. “Let’s find Delmare and Kiara. I’m going to need them.”
We located Delmare pretty quickly in the art studio, though we searched campus high and low for Kiara, and she was nowhere to be found. The anxiety in my stomach twisted as we waited for her to show up in the Rec Room, but she never appeared.
We held off until the eleventh hour, because that was the time the ritual had to be performed. The three of us met up again outside the alchemy classroom. Kiara hadn’t shown.
“Where’s Kiara?” I asked.
“Sorry, Emma. We couldn’t find her,” Delmare said.
I needed my friends to support me through this ceremony. But I had run out of time. I couldn’t wait any longer for Kiara to show up.
“Okay. Let’s do this.” We entered the alchemy lab. I’d already started preparing the room. I’d pushed desks and chairs to the side, to make an open space beside the counters used for brewing potions. In the middle of the room was a large wooden tub. I’d filled it with hot water, as well as a gallon of milk. I grabbed a jar my mother had given me and began sprinkling in the contents— Himalayan sea salt, eucalyptus leaves, chamomile daisies, and fresh white rose petals.
Red candles were placed around the tub in a circle. Scattered beside them were ashes— what was left of journal pages. I’d torn out every page in my journal where I’d written my feelings about Ethan, and burned them this afternoon. I’d added more to the fire— pages I’d written today on every emotion and regret. This was a crucial part. Everything had to be laid out on paper, and released through fire to the gods before the ritual could continue.
Delmare and Odette began lighting the candles in a counterclockwise circle while I stripped for the tub. I got in. The milk washed over my skin, and I smelled the oils in the tub as I sank down to my shoulders. Delmare and Odette knelt by the edge of the circle and waited.
I had to forget about Ethan and focus on casting the spell for myself. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work. I closed my eyes and began reciting the incantation.
“As a child of the goddess, I am worthy. I accept that I am whole just as I am. I accept I need no mate to fulfill my purpose. I accept that I love myself, and that I will cherish myself in a way no mate ever could. I am strong, beautiful, wise and brave. I am all I will ever need. I love my mind, body, and spirit just as it is. I am enough in every way. I ask the goddess to cast away my pain, and bring about a better change in my life.”
I could see the firelight burning through my eyelids. I kept my eyes shut and imagined Ethan and I’s bond. It was a thick cord, connecting him to me, unbreakable in every way but one. Even though he was far away, I could still feel him at the end of our connection.
I swallowed and said, “Tomir, King of the Gods, use your sword to cut the bonds that my mate and I share, and sever any ties we may have— negative or otherwise.”
In my mind’s eye, I saw a golden sword appear. It came slicing through the air, and cut in half the cord that tied Ethan and I together. The two edges of the bond fell away from each other, falling like frayed ropes.
The cord by Tomir was cut, but it would reform if I didn’t finish the ceremony. “Radek, Red Stag of War, give me the honesty to admit when my bond has met defeat. Vesna, Doe of Wisdom, give me the knowledge to know that I will love again, better and deeper than before. Neva, Specter Doe of Shadow, heal my heart with the passage of the days to come, as time heals all wounds.”
Asking Luka for help was hard, as he was Ethan’s chosen