Chapter 2

With less than forty-eight hours before my departure, I decided to return everything the boys had left with me over the years.

I started with Rowan.

When we were twelve, he'd won his first combat tournament at Blackwood's junior training grounds. He'd pressed the medal into my palm afterward, insisting I'd bring him luck if I kept it.

I found him at the academy's training hall, kneeling beside a pile of furniture.

Sera sat nearby, watching him assemble a bookshelf for her new dorm room.

"That shelf's too high," she complained. "I can't reach it."

Rowan immediately started adjusting it.

He barely glanced up when I approached. "What are you doing here?"

I handed him the medal. "Returning this."

He frowned. "Why? You've kept it for years."

"I might not get another chance."

He tossed it into a cardboard box without another thought.

"Perfect timing, actually. Sera needs help moving her things upstairs. Give us a hand."

I didn't move.

Sera touched his shoulder. "It's fine, Rowan. Lydia's leaving for the Sanctum soon. She probably has packing to do."

Rowan snorted.

"Lydia? She could pack for a month in ten minutes."

I walked away.

He didn't even ask when I was leaving.

Lucien was in Blackwood's library, surrounded by ancient spellbooks.

I returned the handwritten notes he'd entrusted to me over the years. He accepted them, then noticed the camera hanging around my neck.

I'd bought it when I was fifteen, saving every dollar I earned helping at the local apothecary.

Almost every memory of our teenage years was stored on it.

"Leave the camera too," he said. "Sera wants to put together a video for Blackwood's welcome ceremony."

"It's mine."

"She's only borrowing it."

Sera appeared beside him, looking hopeful.

"I just want a few pictures of everyone growing up together. I wish I'd been here for those years."

"But you weren't."

Her smile faded.

Lucien gave me a disapproving look.

"Was that necessary? She's trying to feel included."

"So she needs my childhood to do it?"

He reached for my camera bag.

"It's only for a few days, Lydia. Stop making everything difficult."

I tried to take it back, but he moved it out of reach.

"Asher can return it when we're finished."

I stared at him, then released my grip.

"Fine."

What mattered most had already been backed up.

Cassian caught me outside the old chapel where we'd practiced our first spells together.

"Good, you're here."

He dropped a portable drive into my hands.

"Sera wants a video of our childhood for the welcome ceremony. You're better at editing than any of us."

"She wasn't there for our childhood."

"That's why we're using ours."

He said it like the solution was obvious.

"Just cut out the parts where you're in the frame and add some photos of Sera."

I looked down at the drive.

It held our first successful spells, our camping trips beneath the northern moon, and every birthday we'd celebrated together.

Now they wanted to edit me out.

"All right," I said.

Cassian blinked. "Seriously?"

"Didn't you say I'd get over it in a couple of days?"

He gave an awkward laugh.

"Glad you're finally being reasonable."

Not one of them asked when the Sanctum's transport would arrive.

That evening, Asher took me to our favorite restaurant, a quiet place overlooking Ravenwood Lake that served blood-infused dishes to the town's vampire residents.

He'd called it a date.

But his attention stayed on his phone.

Sera complained that her dorm mattress was uncomfortable. He immediately contacted the academy to arrange a replacement.

When she worried about making friends, he spent several minutes recording a reassuring voice message.

Meanwhile, the blood broth in front of me had gone cold.

"Asher."

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember what I'm doing tomorrow?"

He finally looked up.

"Packing?"

"Something like that."

He seemed relieved and pushed a glass of chilled bloodwine toward me.

"Come on, Lydia. Stop looking so miserable. You'll love the Sanctum once you're there."

He reached across the table and squeezed my hand.

"And I meant what I said. I'll visit when I can."

For a moment, the faint crimson chain between our wrists brightened.

Once, that small flicker would have made my entire evening.

Now I only wondered how he could look so comfortable lying to me.

Outside the restaurant, he kissed my forehead.

"Be good, okay? We'll all come see you eventually."

I didn't bother correcting him.

Back home, I connected Cassian's drive to my laptop.

The folders were arranged by year, beginning with the summer we'd cast the Everlasting Bond Spell.

I opened one video.

Ten-year-old Asher stood beneath the old oak tree, grinning as he promised to find me wherever I went.

Rowan was laughing. Lucien was explaining the spell, while Cassian struggled to keep the camera steady.

I watched for a few seconds before closing it.

Then I deleted every file.

If they wanted a childhood without me, they could have one.

I placed the empty drive in a box alongside the last of their belongings.

Tomorrow, I'd send it back.

My final gift to four boys.

Later that night, I stood by my bedroom window, watching the moon rise over Ravenwood.

Translucent crimson chains hung from my wrist, their faint glow trembling against my skin.

They had no physical weight, yet somehow they'd never felt heavier.

My phone chimed.

Sanctum transport arrangements confirmed. Your escort will arrive within forty-eight hours. Please remain at your registered residence until departure.

Another notification followed.

Upon crossing the Sanctum's protective wards, all personal communication and external magical contact will be prohibited. Unauthorized visitors cannot enter the grounds. All initiates must undergo the cleansing ritual before admission.

I looked down at the chains again.

Asher and the others thought five years at the Sanctum was just a temporary separation.

They could visit whenever they missed me, and everything would be waiting when I returned.

They had no idea I was about to disappear into a place they couldn't enter, couldn't reach, and couldn't even find me through our bond.