the situation was hitting me in waves. There was no way out of this. Just like that, things were over between Kole and me, and there was nothing I could do about it.
“I’m sorry, Markos,” he said, and he pushed his face against my chest. “This is my fault.”
“How about… one more kiss? Will one more kiss make a difference?”
He looked into my eyes, and now I was unable to keep myself from crying. Yeah, I was in love with him. I’d tried to control my feelings by telling myself I felt differently, but I really did love him. For the first time in forever, I’d found someone.
Kole slipped his arms around my waist, leaned up, and kissed me. I closed my eyes and asked the universe, the spectral realm, whatever, to make things right.
Then, for a brief moment, I could’ve sworn I felt that bridge form again between our minds. There was silence, darkness, and then… a thought.
I love you too.
I opened my eyes. Kole looked down and stepped away from me.
“I guess it’s best I leave now,” I said. “Wouldn’t want to get carried away again.”
He smiled sadly. “Thank you for the lily.”
“No problem. See you around, Kole.”
I turned and walked briskly out of the building with my heart shattered into pieces.
15 Kole
My abilities continued to waver. I could only attribute it to the extraordinary sadness that had overwhelmed me like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I canceled my appointments over the next three days and closed the office in the hopes that I could recover with a break. The only person I saw was Elise. The day after Markos and I agreed to stop seeing each other, she arrived at the office and almost immediately broke down in my arms. She told me that just as she’d put the pieces together and realized that her dad and I were seeing each other, he’d told her about what had happened. I reassured her that I was always going to be her teacher.
“But this means you won’t be over for dinner anymore,” she said, pouting. “I was hoping you would be coming over all the time.”
“Maybe eventually,” I said, though it was so hard to imagine seeing Markos without feeling sad.
I was able to get her spirits up by offering to teach her some advanced reading techniques. Her enthusiasm and dedication helped get my mind off things, and I was surprised again at how quickly she absorbed the information and was able to apply it. The next day, I taught her more techniques to refine her connection to the spectral realm, and it became apparent that she would soon be able to responsibly do readings for people.
But her exceptional leaps in ability got me thinking again about my vow—and how it might be necessary for her to take it as well. If abstaining from love was truly the way to foster prodigious abilities, then what choice did I have as her teacher? It was my responsibility to tell her about it.
I came into the office late that day. I had rescheduled one single appointment, my first since seeing Markos. It was Miss Brokenfang’s follow-up, to which I already was certain there would be no answer I could give her, but she was insistent about continuing our sessions together. This time, though, I wouldn’t be doing her reading.
Elise arrived at the office at her usual time, padding down the back alley in her wolf form with her school bag slung across her body. I’d brought a chair outside and was cloud watching. They all seemed to remind me of Markos. Everything did.
“Hi, Kole,” she said, walking past me into the office. I got up and followed her inside. She set her bag down on a table and immediately set to work with her usual tasks.
“When you’re done with those, I want you to get out the components for a fated mate reading, please.”
“Am I going to learn a new technique?” she said, perking up.
“You’ll find out,” I replied, and put on the kettle.
“Are you making tea? Can I have the Adoshian black, please?”
“You may.”
“Dad loves that tea,” she said. “I think it reminds him of you. Kole…”
“Elise, I’ve told you… I can’t be with your dad.”
“I know you did but, Kole, he’s been really sad, and I don’t know what to do.”
“I’m sad, too.”
“Then you guys should be together!”
“You know why we can’t.”
“I don’t, really. I don’t get it! What does love have to do with our powers?”
“My teacher made