Glamour (Rae Wilder #1)

TDG: Chapter Six

“It hurts as I walk a million miles on broken glass. For you, it feels like I walk on soft grass.”

–      Pieces of Poetry by @UniqueNotUseful

 

“When I first met Breandan, he touched me and it felt … strange. Then he said something about us no longer having a choice. That it was sealed. And a while ago Conall said he sensed something odd. I think he was feeling the … the after effect of whatever it was.”

Ana sucked in a breath. “Ah, that surprised even me, and boy did I feel it. The disturbance slammed into me like a sledge-hammer. Others sensitive to such things would have sensed it too. The moment it happened the future shifted so dramatically it gave me a killer headache.” She turned her head, and her eyes echoed her reaction to whatever future she saw moving over me. They looked haunted. “But it does explain why you and Breandan coming together is so important. The connection itself, well, it’s happened once before and it didn’t end well.” I threaded my fingers through the grass at my side and waited. Ana focused hard on my face then looked away. “You must avoid speaking of it, Rae. Don’t tell anyone,” she said in a rush. “There are those who will not accept.”

The sudden urgency threw me, and I leaned up. “Why? And don’t evade the question.”

She saw my surly expression and sighed. “In the end they died and they took thousands of fairy lives with them.” The curiosity in my face prompted her to continue. “The word you’re looking for to explain what you feel is a nexus. When you touch, something is created between you and Breandan that is unbreakable, untouchable. It grows. The longer you are apart the greater the need for contact with him will become. When you do touch it will be like … like a direct tap to the Source. The longer you are apart the greater the, ah, release of energy will be.”

By the scared look on her face, I don’t think the big release of energy was a good thing. The larger implications of what she was saying sunk in and burned a hole.

“What if I don’t want to be tied to him?”

“It’s done now.”

“But, I–, I still don’t even know what it means.”

“Bonded ones can never rule or lead because they end up too wrapped in each other to think or see straight.”

“That’s not what I meant. What does it mean in real terms? Like does it mean Breandan and I are destined to be together?”

The idea was so clichéd it was gross, but it was one I understood easily.

“How the hell would I know?” I shot her a look. “Oh, you’re forgetting what I can and can’t do again. I can tell you if you’ll turn right down a fork in the road instead of left, but I can’t tell you why you chose that direction.” She paused thoughtfully. “Unless say, the right was blocked and you had to go left. See what I mean?”

With a tremble, I digested what I had learned. Breandan and I were tied together by an unbreakable magical bond, for life. And I wasn’t even sure I liked him.

“Does Breandan know?” I asked.

“After you met the first time I saw what would happen should it grow beyond control. I warned him to stay close and to touch you skin to skin as often as he could.” She grinned. “I don’t think he minded the instruction once he’d met you.”

“I don’t understand. We can connect to the Source. Big deal. You can touch the Source.”

“This is more complex than a simple channelling of power. When the nexus opens you become a living embodiment of the energy in its raw form. A Source in your own right.”