Page 66 of These Fractured Bonds

“Because I can’t.”

Yareli stood, her white T-shirt falling to her thighs, and she stomped over to him. She jabbed her finger into his chest. “And why not? Because unless you don’t want to date a human, or there's some god out there that has decided we can’t be together, then what plausible reason exists?”

He grabbed her wrist, squeezing, but she held back her protest. She could tell Leo was on the brink of exploding—of letting out all the emotions she saw swirling in his eyes. And she feared that if she didn’t push now, he would continue to bottle it all up.

His nose crinkled as his eyes darkened and stilled, becoming as still as a lake on a clear night. There was no longer any anger or frustration. Only sorrow remained; one that made her feel like she was on a ledge—on a precipice—of a new, devastating discovery.

His voice was as soft as it had been earlier, his mouth curling downward. His words reverberated through her, echoing until at last her brain caught up and processed their meaning.

“Because you’re in love with Augrys.”

“Wha—”

Her ears popped, followed by a sharp pain in her temple. She stepped away from him and shook her head. The pain doubled. She fell to her knees, holding her head with her cold hands. And although Leo spoke to her, shaking her shoulders, she couldn’thear him. She was inside her mind, sitting on the deep lake that she had come to recognize as her memory vault. A memory surfaced. Then, another, and another until there were multiple floating memories for her picking. She reached toward one, hoping it would ease the pressure in her head, and it dissolved, soaking her in water droplets.

Keening filled the air, ripples erupted across the lake, and she watched in horror as all the memory bubbles burst at once. Their torrential rain drenched her, their hot droplets stinging her skin. She yelped and tried to run away, but she was plunged into the lake’s frigid depths. She heard herself cry out, asking for help, but she heard no response. The light from the surface was quickly fading, and her lungs burned until she couldn’t hold her breath any longer. She gasped, gulping a mouthful of the water, but that was a mistake. The water poured into her, drowning her in its unforgiving, ceaseless flood until she no longer knew where her body began and ended.

Whispers caressed her skin.

… happy ending.

August.

“Oh,thatYareli.”

Take me to Izmari.

Chapter 24

Yarelienteredthesmallcoffee shop on the corner of Fifty-second Avenue. Far from her apartment, there was only one reason she had come. She scanned the small room and found the familiar black-haired ponytail she had come to adore. He sat facing away from the door—an unusual position, as she thought he enjoyed watching her arrive early, only to realize he had beaten her again. She ordered her cup of tea and made her way to the teal-colored metal table for two. She smiled at this thought—a table for only the two of them, two friends, maybe something more in the near future.

She tapped his shoulder, drumming her fingers lightly like the quick chirp of a bird, and slid into her seat across from him.

“Hey, you,” she said. “You’re here an hour early.”

He smiled that crooked one-sided smile that threatened to be her undoing and said, “I had a feeling I should be here extra early this time.”

She laughed. The usual irritation from being bested by him didn’t arise; instead, giddiness bubbled enthusiastically. Like, this was all that mattered to her in the moment—a bright happiness in the dreary, gray life of hers.

“August, I love you.”

The words flowed out of her, causing the memory to crackle with static. That wasn’t right. She had never confessed her feelings to him. A force yanked her, throwing her out of the memory and into another.

Yareli was bundled up; the virgin snow crunched underfoot as she walked alongside August. They were walking in the park near her apartment—Grant’s Park, she remembered.

“Tell me why you thought it was a great idea to go swimming in the middle of winter?” she asked.

He gave her a sheepish grin, his nose red from the cold. “I guess homesickness beats common sense.”

She could understand that, so she decided to stop teasing him.

“Are you sure you’re feeling better enough to be outside now?”

He considered her question, hands shoved into his bright, blue puffy jacket, and tipped his head back toward the gray sky.

“There is no better place to be.”

She tripped over his words like she tripped over her own foot, causing her to fall on her stomach.