Page 254 of Scarlet Wars
A white feather.
Long. Clean. Edges sharp as paper. Weightless, almost glowing.
With a crimson drop of blood in the middle.
It drifted in the darkness of my mind like something suspended underwater.
The High Chief leaned even closer, hungry for confirmation.
“Go on, Ms. Thompson,” he demanded smoothly. “Tell us what Mister Walker sent to you.”
“A feather,” I said. “My bonded mate sent me a white feather, tainted by a single drop of blood.”
“Undo the bond, Emma! Now!”James commanded me the second the words left my mouth, firm and steady beneath the veneer of calm. “Focus on your healing haze. Keep it invisible. Heal us of this.”
I forced myself to keep my focus razor-sharp as I reached inward for that thread of healing magic buried beneath my panic.
The High Chief’s eyes widened, gleaming with triumph and sick satisfaction, his expression tightening with barely masked excitement. “Very good,” he purred. “Well, that concludes our business for tonight. Ms. Ramos, you are free to go.”
Faster than instinct, faster than fear, diving past the shaking edges of my unraveling mind until I found it, that coil of golden healing haze buried beneath everything else.
Warm.
Luminous.
Alive.
I seized it like a lifeline.
The High Chief was still speaking but the words were a distant, useless buzz, because all of my attention, all of my magic, all of me was already wrapped around the bond pulsing between James and me.
I felt Nino jerk on the screen as her restraints released. I saw her collapse forward, bloody and trembling but moving, alive, gods, alive, but I didn’t let myself falter, didn’t let myself blink.
The golden haze unspooled through my veins and rushed outward, silent and invisible, slipping around the new bond like a soft ribbon of light.
I didn’t push it gently.
I didn’t coax the bond apart.
I strangled it.
Undo it, undo it, undo it.
The mantra beat through me with every pulse of magic, my healing haze tightening around the connection until it vibrated with the pressure.
Behind the Nexus feed, the High Chief continued, smug and oblivious. “I hope you both have a wonderful night, and I’m sure we’ll meet again.”
My haze surged.
Once.
Twice.
And then it cut the bond clean through.
A ripping sensation snapped through my skull, quick enough to steal the air from my lungs. Energy recoiled through my chest like a shockwave.
Beside me, James exhaled—a tiny, controlled release of breath no one but I could have sensed—relief vibrating faintly through the ghost of what had been our connection.
