|Theodore|
“Then… do you know how we can fix this new bond?”
Camilla was the one who finally gave voice to the question that had been echoing in all our minds. Her words pierced the silence, tentative yet filled with quiet urgency.
Gracia didn’t respond immediately. She sat still, almost statuesque, as though weighing more than just words. Her eyes studied each of us in turn, pausing briefly on Carmella before she leaned back in her creaking wooden chair, her bony fingers curling loosely over the armrest.
“There is no help,” she said at last, her tone flat and final. “Not for those who defy fate.”
Her words struck with the force of a slap. My shoulders stiffened, tension coiling through me like a tightened wire. A heavy silence fell again, smothering the air between us.
But then, Gra
