“We won’t stop in villages,” Trew said. “We’ll camp in isolated areas where no one will see us. We have to assume we’ll be watched. Which means no one outside this room is to know that we’ve left or where we’re going. Send word to your instructors that you’re sick. Let them believe all of you caught the same thing.” He added blankets to his pack. “That woman may have heard some or all of our conversation, and she may have had time to report to whoever she’s working with before we caught her.”
Kerralyn hefted her pack, testing the weight. “I didn’t have time to share the last bit of information I found in the library.”
Trew paused and leaned against the shelving, looking her way. “What kind of information?”
“The kind best shared behind wards.” She glanced meaningfully toward the door.
“At this point, I don’t know how good my wards are, though I’ll add more.” His hands wove patterns in the air. Magic flared around the room, thick enough that I felt it press against my skin. The wards settled into place with an audible click, sealing us in. They looked good to me, though I’d bet anything that, given time, I could find a way to break them.
“Speak fast and low,” I said. “I’m new to ward breaking, but it takes time.”
Pherin peeped in agreement.
Kerralyn quickly pulled out her journal, flipping to a marked page. We huddled around her, leaning close.
“I found a reference to double bonds,” she whispered. “Just one passage, buried in a text about ancient bonding practices.”
My pulse quickened. Pherin shifted on my shoulder, her attention sharpening.
“Twin flames bond twice.” Kerralyn read from her notes. “And then this phrase: ‘When companions choose as hearts have chosen, the weave strengthens.’”
“Pherin and Gavelle,” I said softly.
Mate,Pherin said.
“They chose each other before they chose us,” Trew said, his gaze meeting mine.
Lexie cleared her throat. “So the double bond isn’t just about you two. It’s about your companions reflecting the same choice.”
“When companions choose as hearts have chosen,” I said, testing the phrase. “We chose each other. They chose each other.”
“And the weave strengthens.” Kerralyn looked up from her journal, excitement warring with uncertainty on her face. “There were three historical pairs listed as examples. The text said they accomplished great things, though it didn’t specify what.”
Derren’s smile lifted. “At least this mystery sounds promising instead of terrifying.”
Trew laid his arm across my shoulders and tugged me against his side.
“Twin flames,” he said quietly, his golden eyes holding mine. “Seems fitting.”
Kerralyn closed her journal with a soft thud. “That’s everything I found about the bonds.”
Trew’s arm was still around my shoulders. I felt him breathe.
Twin flames. We’d found each other without knowing what we were. Our companions had chosen each other the same way. And somehow, among the war and the torture and the conspiracy reaching back generations, we’d ended up here, in a storage room that smelled like leather and dried food, surrounded by people willing to fly into the wasteland with us.
It didn’t feel like destiny. It felt like something better than that.
“Isi,” Kerralyn said softly. “The journal?”
“Yes. New information appeared. A symbol.”
Trew’s attention sharpened. “What kind of symbol?”
“A circular design with intersecting lines. It wasn’t there before, but when I checked this morning…” I trailed off, remembering the shock of seeing the page filled with fresh ink when I knew it had been blank.
“I want to see it before we leave,” Trew said.
“The journal is in my room,” I said.