and with the national competition only two weeks away, she was grilling me even harder than normal. I practiced my program for half an hour, and she still hadn’t shown up. I skated carefully, as the small wound the assassin had given me had just healed and I didn’t want to rip it open right before the big skate.
“Your coach bail on you?” Amantha asked as she stretched out at the boards. She was the griffin girl I usually practiced with. She’d been here an hour longer than me and was wrapping up her ice session.
“Yeah…” My voice drifted off as I looked around. “It’s odd.”
“Maybe she’s still dealing with your dear old mother-in-law,” Amantha teased. Word had gotten round campus about Lady Magdalina and Queen Antonia fighting, though nobody but Ethan, myself and our inner circle knew about what.
I scowled. “She’s not my mother-in-law.” Wasn’t yet, anyway.
Amantha frowned. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Ethan had told me Lady Magdalina had put a hex on Queen Antonia for attacking me. So far, Lady Magdalina had mentioned nothing to me about it. Ethan had been very worried, but still kept his distance. I tried not to let the loneliness eat me up inside.
After fifteen more minutes of skating around and falling on my jumps, it was clear I was on my own today. “I don’t think she’s gonna show.” I dropped my shoulders. Why wouldn’t Lady Magdalina contact me about missing my lesson?
“That’s too bad.” Amantha jerked her head to the side. “Let’s get some slushies. On me.”
I left the ice and followed Amantha to the locker room. We took off our skates and headed to the concession stand, where she handed me a big cherry slushie from the attendant. When I took off the cap, the slushie formed into illusions of ice skaters dancing and twirling. I put the cap back on and drank the slushie down through the straw. A fluttering feeling erupted in my belly, like the ice skaters were still performing within.
Amantha sucked on her blue raspberry slushie as we sat down at a booth. “What’s got you down, girl?”
I liked Amantha, but I worried about revealing too much to her. She was my competitor, after all. I didn’t want her to think I would mess up my program during the competition. It might give her an edge.
Amantha poked me. “Come on, I’m not Gabby. I won’t use anything against you. And trust me, your long program is way more solid than mine is. The only way I could catch up to you in the rankings is if you totally flopped.”
“Don’t say that. You’re a brilliant skater,” I objected.
“Yeah, but you’re the best,” Amantha said firmly. “You’ve got this competition in the bag. So what’s on your mind?”
I figured I might as well let Amantha in. Maybe she could provide some outside perspective. “Well… you know Ethan and I aren’t doing the best.”
“I thought so. The tabloids have pictures of you and Finlay going out every weekend now,” Amantha said. “I thought it was a phase, but you two are getting serious.”
“We are.” I looked down at the table. “And it’s hurting Ethan. Not to mention his mother tried to take revenge on me for humiliating her son.”
“Ah, so that’s what got Magdalina in a twist,” Amantha said. “That makes sense.”
I played with my straw. “The thing is… I want Ethan and I to work out, but the longer we’re apart, the more I lose faith we’re going to.”
“Are you thinking of breaking your bond?” Amantha asked the question so casually, it almost threw me off.
My eyes widened. “Um, yes. How did you know?”
“You want to know the truth?” Amantha leaned in and dropped her voice to a whisper. “I broke my bond with my mate last semester.”
“Really?” I almost fell off my chair. “You left your fated mate?”
Amantha nodded. “I bonded my freshman year with a griffin shifter. We were together for nearly three years.”
“Wow, really? What happened?”
“He was pretty abusive.” Amantha shrugged. “You wouldn’t think it, but griffins can be violent, too. We empaths take in a lot of emotion from other people, and it all has to come out somehow. Mainly, his overwhelm exploded on me.”
“I never would’ve guessed.” Amantha seemed like such a happy person. I wouldn’t have known she was in an unhealthy relationship if she hadn’t told me.
“I was pretty optimistic about the whole thing. I figured we were fated mates, and meant to be together,