Page 252 of Salt Between the Wolves

"I don't know. The accounts become vague."

"Convenient."

"No."

The response was immediate.

"It worries me."

For a moment nobody spoke.

Then Soren asked the question he had actually come for.

"Is the mark getting worse?"

Varda closed her eyes briefly before answering.

"Yes."

Kael went still while Soren merely nodded, as though hearing confirmation of something he had already suspected.

"How much worse?"

"The bleeding is happening more often," she said. "The episodes are stronger, and whatever is happening is not slowing."

Soren looked away.

"Can you stop it?"

"No."

"Can you treat it?"

"No."

The answers came quietly and without hesitation.

"Then tell me what you think is happening."

Varda was silent for several seconds before speaking.

"I think the bond is trying to do what it was meant to do."

The pressure beneath his ribs tightened.

"And because it cannot..."

She stopped, visibly searching for words.

"...I think it may be turning against itself."

The fire crackled softly in the corner.

Kael looked between them.

"May?"

The healer nodded.