Chapter 2

This time, he pulled his hand back without hesitation.

“Just this once, okay?”

Behind me, the Elders were already urging me on.

I looked at him and said nothing.

All I could think about was the ceremony I had prepared for him—

the moon phases, the Sacred Grounds, the ancient rites, the seven-day plan I had rewritten countless times, all for one purpose:

to tie my fate to his.

Was I really supposed to give that up?

Not just the ritual.

But him.

Just like that?

I turned away, biting back a sob, with one thought stuck in my head:

why had Seraphina chosen now to break our promise?

If she hadn’t, would he have gone with me?

Kael raised a hand, then lowered it again.

My throat tightened.

“Then let me go to the Red Sand Desert with you, okay?”

He said nothing for a long time.

At last, he began, haltingly, “All right—”

I was already moving. Bag in hand, I ran into the portal without looking back.

We had grown up together. I knew what his silence meant. His furrowed brow had always been more honest than his words.

He didn’t want the desert’s Blood Moon.

He wanted the one waiting for him there.

In the end, we were the same.

After the coming-of-age rite, we had both wanted to give our first bond to the person we loved.

I ran as if I could leave betrayal behind.