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RYLAND
Watching Red cry as Grammy holds her nearly breaks my heart. I don’t understand why she suddenly has memory loss, but we need to fix this so that we can defeat Amber. With our deadline approaching faster than we’d expected, we have no time to waste.
“What can we do?” I ask Trevan, expecting him to have some idea of what’s going on.
“Luca filled me in on what she seems to have forgotten or blocked out. I fear that James breaking the mate bond has damaged her emotionally and she’s managed to block out any memory that involves him.” Trevan’s explanation makes sense, but I don’t like it.
“That doesn’t answer the question, Fae. Can you fix her?” Orym demands, stepping closer and intimidating our guest. I move between them and ease Orym back.
“We can’t blame Trevan for this. It’s not his fault. We have to figure this out together. If you can’t refrain from violence, take a walk.” I give the order with a little extra alpha influence to be sure that Orym will listen. He’s nearly as strong as I am, and sometimes we butt heads.
Instead of arguing with me, Orym closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry. James walking away hasn’t just affected Garnet. I feel it too.”
I pull him in for a hug. “Same here. We can’t let that get to us, though.” A thought occurs to me, and I turn to Trevan without letting Orym go. “Could this be something that Amber did to James? Making him believe that Red wanted him to leave and that we were all better off without him?”
Trevan tilts his head to the side, considering. “I suppose that’s possible. She could have been using the love potion as a distraction for the real attack. That would also explain why it was so easy to break through that magic.”
Knowing what happened isn’t going to fix Red, but it will help us to figure out our next steps. “Is there a way to bring her memories back?” Luca kneels on the floor next to Grammy and Red. He pulls them both into his arms and holds them protectively.
“If she breaks through this block on her emotions, her memories may return. I don’t know of a way to force the issue,” Trevan explains. We all look expectantly at Red. Will she agree to this? Does she even know how to lower the barrier she put up to hold back her emotions?
“Let’s start by explaining a few things, and see how she reacts,” I offer, turning to Red. “Red, does that sound okay to you?” When she nods, I start explaining how after she bonded with me, she and James accidentally sealed their bond. Luca jumps in and explains about me challenging Gunnar with her encouragement. By the time we’re finished telling her our story, she looks horrified.
“I’m not sure I want to remember any of that. It all sounds terrifying.”
OYRM
“It may sound scary, but I guarantee that facing Amber without knowing all of it would be way worse,” I suggest. The look Garnet gives me is uncertain. I understand why she feels this way, and I want more than anything to fix it. I just don’t know how.
“If facing the emotional turmoil created by James leaving is the only way to fix Red’s memories, shouldn’t we be discussing that?” Luca asks, releasing Garnet when she tries to stand and step away from him.
“I don’t remember being mated to James, so I don’t know how I would possibly be able to do that. Can’t we just move forward with the plan to fight Amber? It sounded like we were making progress there before all of this mess happened.” Her insistent tone tugs at my heart. I want to pull her into my arms and kiss her until all of this goes away. It won’t help, so I don’t try.
She starts to pace, still avoiding talking about James and facing her feelings. “We just need a plan of attack, and we can go after her first. If I can defeat her quickly, then we can move on with our lives.”
“That’s an interesting plan, but what if this emotional block fucks with your magic again?” Ryland offers. “I’m not being mean, just asking the obvious question here.”
Garnet growls at him, then pouts and returns to pacing. “Well, we can’t force you to talk about James or to feel the things you don’t want to. But you need to consider what could happen if you don’t. If we’re in the middle of a fight with Amber, and your magic backfires, you could get injured or worse.” At my statement, she stops and stares at me.
“Amber has already made it clear that she plans to kill you so she can take your powers. We have to stop her. Which means we need you at one hundred percent. So, what can we do to help you consider what we’re asking?” Luca takes a step closer before she turns and glares at him.
“I don’t want to think about James. I don’t want to hurt. How do I make that any more clear to you?” She rubs at her chest again, and I’m certain that’s the broken bond manifesting itself physically.
“What’s that?” I ask, gesturing to where her hand rubs at her sternum.
“Just a pain that doesn’t wanna go away. I’m sure it’s nothing,” she insists, continuing to rub at it. I share a look with Ryland and Luca, then continue.
“Do you want to know what that pain is? Because I can tell you,” I say, reaching a hand out to her. I want her to let us help her with this, but she isn’t willing to cooperate. I know that Ryland wants to force her to feel, and Luca wants to beg her. That leaves me to use reasoning and understanding to get through to her.
GARNET
I stare at Orym’s outstretched hand. “I’m scared. Of course, I know the pain has to be from this broken bond you keep talking about. I don’t want to face it. As bad as this hurts, I don’t want it to get worse. Please. I can’t.”
The admission costs me, because now they know that I’m not as invincible as I was pretending to be. I can tell from Orym’s face that he already knew that I’m scared. I gingerly place my hand in his and let him pull me into his arms.
I bury my face in his chest and focus on our connection. His strength helps to reign in my fear and bolster me. “You won’t be doing it alone. We’ll face it together. You just have to agree. Ryland, Luca, and I aren’t going anywhere,” Orym tells me.
“As long as you all promise not to leave me.” I can’t fight them. I give in, feeling overwhelmed and sad. I know it’s going to get worse before it gets better, and I am not looking forward to that.
