Vanish (Firelight #2)(58)

Corbin leans against a post on his porch, his arms folded across his chest. He stares at me as he always has. Smug and determined.

I shake my head and start to turn. It doesn’t make sense why he would still look at me that way. Not after I’ve bonded to Cassian. We’re nothing to each other. Now he has to know that. Now he has to give up his stupid obsession.

Then Jabel steps onto their porch and calls for him. When she sees Corbin staring, she follows his gaze and frowns.

Her voice floats from across the street, ringing with censure. Bonded couples are supposed to be left alone during this time, and I guess Corbin’s intense staring doesn’t exactly constitute that.

“Corbin,” she calls, her voice heavier. When her gaze meets mine she gives me a half smile.

I’ve bonded with Cassian. In her eyes I’ve reaffirmed my commitment to the pride. I’m part of her family now. Maybe that lessens the sting of losing Miram.

She orders Corbin inside. Still, he doesn’t move. Just looks at me in that consuming way of his that creeps me out. But now I’m bonded to his cousin, beyond his reach.

So why? He doesn’t know it’s all a farce. He can’t know that. And yet he stares.

I turn and go inside, my flesh prickling, still feeling his watchful gaze.

Cassian and I eat together in silence, our last meal alone. Then I catch myself and realize all the remaining nights this week will be like this. Him. Me. Alone.

We’ll go our separate ways during the day, performing our duties, socializing, living. But our nights are reserved for each other. My skin shivers, heat crawling deep beneath the skin.

Until, of course, I make my escape.

“Do you have plans for tomorrow?”

“I’m going to see my sister,” I answer truthfully, before I can think that maybe I shouldn’t bring up Tamra.

He nods, scrapes the tines of his fork along his plate. “Maybe I should come with you—”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I quickly say.

He nods again, slowly, processing. “Okay.”

I stab a piece of fish on my plate. I don’t need him hanging around when I tell my sister that I plan to run away with Will and want her to come with us.

“For now,” he adds.

I look up, frowning. “What do you mean?”

He continues, “I can’t hide from your sister forever. We have to make things right.”

“You think that can happen?” I ask, staring intently at him. “That you can make things right with Tamra?”

He grimaces, shifts in his chair across from me. “I hope so. She’s your sister and I’m your . . .”

I stare at him, my gaze sharp, cutting. Don’t say it. We’re not that. You’re not my chosen mate.

“We’re family now. All of us.”

I say nothing. Gripping my plate, I rise and enter the kitchen and start on the dishes with feverish intensity.

Cassian joins me. Side by side, I wash and he dries. We work silently, fall into a rhythm. I wince as I think of my parents doing this same thing for years, standing in this very spot. Bonded. Connected.

Only we’re not my parents. Not even close. We don’t laugh and talk. We don’t share stories about our day. I don’t allow that. I feel a certain sadness drifting off him and settling deeply into me, mingling with my own heartache for Will and Mom. And this only makes me madder. I shouldn’t have to feel his emotions. I have enough of my own to cope with.

As we perform our mundane task, I think about tomorrow. When I’ll see Tamra again. When we can talk about how we will leave this world behind forever. A world that steals from you and gives nothing in return.





Chapter 25

I rise early and don’t bother with breakfast. No sound comes from Cassian’s room as I slip from the house. I rush through the township, through streets that are mostly bare, the dawn air thick as chalk dust, still and silent except for my thundering tread and gasping breath.

As I hurry down Main, my spirits lift when Nidia’s cottage comes into view. Then my elation is crushed.

My heart seizes as Corbin steps into my path, appearing out of nowhere. From behind a hedge, I guess. As though he were lying in wait. He grabs my arm and drags me beneath one of the many evergreens lining the lower half of Main. He presses me against the rough bark, trapping me between the massive tree and his body.

“Take your hands off me,” I hiss. My body reacts instantly, instinct kicking in. Fire erupts at my core, smolder eating up my throat. The taste of ash and char coats my mouth.

“Let’s get something straight.”

I don’t listen, don’t care to hear whatever it is he has to say.

Shaking with fury, I glare down at his hands on my arms. Emotion sweeps over me in a hot burn. “You dare touch me? Cassian will kill—”

“Oh, very affecting. I’m impressed. I almost believe you and Cassian are a true couple instead of the charade you’re playing at.”

Cold sweeps through me, dousing my heat. “W-what do you mean?”

Corbin leans in, brushes his nose to my cheek, and inhales sharply. I cringe at the contact and blink once, hard. “I know the truth,” he whispers, his voice a harsh rasp in my ear. “You’re not his. You’ve never been his. You’ve always held yourself from him. Bonding with him hasn’t changed that.”