The journal lay closed on my desk, but the words inside it wouldn’t stop echoing through my mind.
The Vessel must not love. The bond breaks the Moon.
I’d read that line a hundred times. A thousand, maybe. Each time, it hit a little deeper.
The air in my room felt heavier than usual, like the walls themselves could sense what was happening inside me. Every heartbeat throbbed against the mark on my wrist. It pulsed in rhythm with something bigger…something old.
The Moon.
And somewhere between the silver pull in my veins and the warmth I felt whenever Talon’s name crossed my thoughts, I realized the truth I didn’t want to admit.
I was being torn in two.
The next morning, Talon waited for me outside.
He leaned against the porch railing, arms folded, sunlight sliding across the scars on
