“Strain?” she asked, and the odd note in her tone didn’t escape me. Her toe caught the edge of another rock and Meera stumbled. I grabbed her arm to steady her.
“There are theories about the fated mate bond. Where it comes from. Why it exists. The general consensus is that if a bond is left incomplete for too long, degeneration begins. They were together for over a year when she was killed. Most couples don’t wait more than a few weeks to complete it when they find their true mate. Sometimes just days.”
Her eyebrows flew up. Meera stopped in her tracks to give me her full, undivided attention. “Days? Weeks?” Though her face was red from heat and exertion, some of the color drained away. “How could someone possibly know they want to spend the rest of their life with someone so fast?”
I had to work to keep from tensing at the implication. The admission that she didn’t know. That she didn’t feel it the way I did. That it wouldn’t simply be days or weeks for us. That at the end of it, she might reject the bond entirely. It took everything I had to continue feigning nonchalance, like we were still talking about my sister when that was no longer the case.
“Most fated mates have a hard time being physically apart after they meet each other. The bond wants to be completed. Beyond the discomfort distance creates, it’s believed that mates themselves can sometimes start to regress the longer it’s not complete.”
“Regress? What does that mean?” she asked, voice rising before she caught herself and cleared her throat. It was becoming harder to act indifferent when she sounded more panicked each time she spoke.
“Given fated pairs didn’t usually delay long, there’s not a definitive answer.” I scratched my beard. “In those that did wait, there were multiple observations that didn’t make sense otherwise. So the regression looked more like feral behavior. Increased agitation. Aggression. Sexual appetite. Men can become overprotective and overbearing in their drive to provide for their mate. Women experienced similar symptoms as they do when they are with child, in the sense that sometimes they got sick or experienced rapid mood swings. Maeve became territorial over Drayden and started nesting. It drove everyone crazy at the time because she was incredibly particular about how things were managed in the castle, especially in their wing.”
She had been so close to the transition when she died. I remembered how we were all holding our breath, waiting for it to finally happen so they could complete the damn bond. What I would give to have even that version of my sister back. I closed my eyes, pushing away the thought.
“Is ... is that going to happen to us?” she asked quietly. “To me?”
I sighed deeply. “I don’t know,” I said, wishing I had a better answer to give. “Do you intend to wait more than a few weeks before making up your mind?” I must not have done a good enough job hiding my frustration, because her expression soured.
“It’s not like this is just dating now, Vareck. I wanted—want—to give it a shot between us, but mates are permanent. There’s no undoing it if things go south. What if we end up not liking each other the longer we are together?”
How could she say that? How could she feel the bond, know it was there, and still think fate chose poorly? My lips pressed into a thin line, my anger simmering close to the surface. “Well, I guess we’ll find out now, won’t we?”
Meera reeled back like I’d slapped her. “You’re upset with me. Over this.” She shook her head, looking at the sky in disbelief. She was too busy being infuriated to notice yet another rock that she caught with her boot. Meera pitched forward, and I grabbed her once more.
“Careful.”
“Goddamn rocks,” she growled. She pulled her leg back to kick the black stone as hard as she could. “It’s a damn desert. Why are there so many ...” Her voice trailed as she scanned our surroundings. “There aren’t.”
“Aren’t what?”
“There aren’t rocks here. Not naturally. Look.” She motioned all around us. I worked my jaw, biting my tongue despite the way she once again was changing the subject. I was only half paying attention when my eyebrows drew together.
She was right. There weren’t rocks anywhere. Shrubs, tumbleweeds, sand, yes. But none of the shiny, onyx stones.
I glanced back where we’d been walking.
Every twelve paces or so, a black rock sat in the sand. Some were no more than twice the size of a pebble while others were just large enough for Meera to keep tripping over them.
“It’s a trail,” I said, tilting my head, considering the direction it came from and where it was going.
“She left me breadcrumbs,” Meera muttered.
“Breadcrumbs?” I squinted in confusion
“Hansel and Gretel. It’s a fairytale by the Brothers Grimm. The two kids left breadcrumbs to find their way home.” I frowned, and she squinted up at me. “It’s so I can find her. Obviously.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense. Sadie is your sister. She knows about your power. There would be no need for her to use rocks as a way of leading you to her. These aren’t for you.”
Meera twisted her lips while she thought. “If she was planning to go back, she might have been using them to help guide her.” She waved her hand over her shoulder. “The cave blends in with the landscape remarkably well. I could see someone losing their way.”
“Possibly, especially if she was looking for a food source. There’s nothing out here. It’s desert as far as the eye can see. Otherwise, what was her reason for leaving the cave?”
“Maybe she didn’t know I would come looking but thought someone might and that’s why she did this.” She pointed at the path of rocks.
“You said leaving that ‘W’ in the cave was for you.”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you.” Meera threw her hands up. “We’ll have to ask her when we find her.”
