Page 128 of Ashen Souls

“‘When the spell is completed, the two become permanently connected. Their bodies may perish, but their souls cannot separate. Through every lifetime, through every skin and name and age, they will return, and they will seek each other, always.’”

I traced the words they will seek each other, always. There was no shock. Only the quiet death of my last remaining sliver of denial.

“This is it,” I said, my voice sounding numb even to me. “When I had those visions... when he touched me, I felt her grief. I felt her memories. I told you I knew I was her, but seeing it written down as a magical law...” I looked up at Harper, my eyes burning. “The spell hauled my soul back. I didn't just stumble into his path. I was born to be pulled back to him.”

“Okay,” Harper said. “It brought you back. But how do we break it? There has to be a counter-spell. Look for the cure.”

I dropped my eyes to the bottom of the page. The handwriting there was smaller, cramped, as if the author had been terrified to write it down.

“Harper...” I whispered. “It says it can't be broken.”

“Bullshit,” she snapped. “Everything has a loophole. Read it.”

I took a shaky breath. “‘The Rite forms an unbreakable tether. No external magic can sever it. Neither death, nor time, nor distance can undo what is sealed in blood. Because the Rite is rooted in flawless, mutual loyalty, it is immune to any outside force.’”

I paused, the next sentence making it hard to breathe.

“‘It can only be undone from within. The bond will remain indestructible as long as the two souls love each other. Only the ultimate betrayal of that love and loyalty, a willing severing of the heart, can break the magic.’”

Harper stared at me, the color draining from her face. “Wait. So as long as you love him... or he loves you... the spell exists? What exactly does that mean?”

“I’m not sure. Nobody can just snap their fingers and lift the curse,” I said, staring at the cramped handwriting. “No witch, no god. The only way to destroy the bond is through a betrayal of that love. But Daeren doesn't have a soul anymore. He can't love me, he can only obsess over me. And he needs me to love him to be free.”

Harper’s eyes narrowed. “Read the next page. Is there anything else?”

I turned the heavy parchment. There was only one short addendum left.

“‘The bond will always seek completion,’” I read. “‘It will attempt to restore what was broken, even if restoration must be forced.’”

“Okay, stop,” Harper commanded, holding up a hand. “Think about this logically. The spell demands that the two souls reunite. It seeks completion. But you just said Daeren’s soul was torn away when he was exiled. He’s empty.”

I blinked. “Yes.”

“Then maybe,” Harper said slowly, “the spell isn’t looking for him.”

“The soul,” I breathed.

Harper nodded once. “If his soul was ripped away, it’s not gone. It’s somewhere else. And if the spell is trying to complete itself, then your bond isn’t just linking you to that monster in the castle.”

She pointed at the sigil on my wrist.

“It might be linking you to whatever part of him got left behind.”

I looked down at the sigil, my mind warring with my own memories.

It was agonizing to think that the yearning I felt toward Daeren wasn’t truly mine. That my craving for him was just the echo of a dead woman’s vow. Everything that had happened between us was wrong, twisted by secrets, by manipulation, by the monster he had become, but the feelings themselves hadn’t felt like a spell.

They had felt like mine.

Harper’s hand covered mine.

“Hey,” she said. “Look at me.”

I forced my gaze up from the journal.

“You are not a puppet,” she said, the conviction in her voice so fierce it burned. “Not for him. Not for some ancient psycho love spell. Whatever this is, we find the rules, we find the loopholes, and we make sure you don’t become the key to an apocalypse just because some dead sorcerer thought eternal devotion was romantic.”

I tightened my grip on her fingers. “What if there aren’t loopholes?”