The quiet after truth always felt heavier than the truth itself.
Nicole sat near the fireplace, the warmth doing very little to reach her anymore. Jasper had returned to the table, but neither of them were truly working now. Papers lay untouched between them, forgotten in the space where everything had shifted.
The soul bond and sacrifice.
The consequence neither of them had been allowed to understand fully until now.
Nicole stared into the flames, her thoughts no longer scattered but focused in a way that made her uneasy.
"If one of us dies…" she murmured.
Jasper's hand paused over the papers.
"…the other follows," she finished quietly.
Nicole swallowed, fingers tightening slightly against her sleeve. It should have terrified her.
It did in a distant, logical way. Jasper told her this before but never to the extent where her emotions feed his darkness.
But underneath that fear was something else.
Something steadier.
"I don't think I mind it," she admitted softly.
