Fractured Bonds

I had no idea how to fix this, and maybe there was no fixing this. Maybe when I left that body, I threw away any chance I had at a happy ending. But if I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to protect her, I would have lost the stupid thing in another week or so anyway. Everything seemed to lead to a dead-end.

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. "He's busy," I said, the excuse tasting like ash in my mouth. "There are things he has to handle. He—"

"Stop."

The word tore deeper into me than the cultist's blade. She wasn't yelling, wasn't lashing out. If she had, maybe I could have found a way to push back, to turn this into something other than what it was. But she just… shook her head, exhaling through her nose like she had made some final, quiet decision.

And then, she let the cloak fall to the floor, followed closely by a barrage of fallen tears.