To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 317

Chapter 317: Once upon a time 2

CIAN

Her hand found mine before I could pull it back or rethink what I had asked of her. She turned my palm upward like it was the most natural thing in the world and held it between both of hers. I watched her close her eyes, not in hesitation but in focus, like she was reaching inward and lining something up properly before she let it loose.

When she opened them again, there was a thin thread of light sliding between her fingers. Pale silver. Fine as wire. The kind of magic she used when she was being careful.

It sliced across my palm in one clean line.

I did not flinch. The sting was sharp but brief, honest pain, nothing dramatic. I had expected worse. A thin red line welled up immediately and she held my hand steady, her grip firm but gentle, like she was trying not to waste what she had just drawn out of me.

Then she brought that same thread of light to her own palm.

She went slower.

I saw her jaw tighten. A muscle flickered there but she did not make a sound. The cut opened, red blooming against her skin, and for a second I had the strange, dislocated thought that we were too young for this and too old at the same time.

She pressed our hands together.

The blood met between our palms, warm and slick. She laced her fingers through mine to keep them locked, to keep the contact unbroken. Her eyes dropped to where we were joined. When she spoke, her voice was low and steady, every word placed like it had weight.

"What passes through my hands, let it not become a weapon against him. What I carry in the dark, let it turn to smoke before it reaches him. What I am, bind it to his protection. Should I move against him with intent, should I act to break, to harm, to betray the life that holds this pact, let it come back on me threefold. Let me carry what I meant for him."

The air shifted.

That was the only way I can describe it. It thickened. Pressed in. Like the moment before a storm breaks when everything goes charged and tight. Something moved through the room that was not wind and not sound. It settled around us, heavy and certain, like something vast had leaned closer and decided to stay.

Madeline gasped. Not controlled. Not graceful. A sharp, involuntary pull of breath. Her free hand shot out and gripped my forearm hard enough to bruise. The silver thread that had been so fine and contained bloomed bright, raced up our joined hands in a flash, and then vanished.

I felt it hit my chest like surf meeting rock.

Not pain. Not exactly. A rush. Deep. Wordless. Something inside me recognized something in it, the way instinct recognizes a cliff edge before your eyes fully register it. I felt her there. Not her thoughts. Not her plans. Just the undeniable fact of her existence braided into mine in a way that felt deliberate.

Then it was over.

The room went still again.

She let out a long breath, like she had been underwater and had only just surfaced. Her eyes lingered on our hands before she looked up at me.

"There we go," she said. The edges of her voice were uneven. "Do you believe me now?"

"What does that even entail exactly?" I asked.

She turned our hands over once, examining the cuts that were already beginning to knit closed under her magic. Then she let me go.

"If I act against you with intent," she said, "not accident, not circumstance. Intent to harm. To betray. To move against your life or your safety. The binding turns on me. Whatever I meant for you, I receive. Threefold." She held my gaze. "I have made myself the guarantee." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

I stayed quiet.

"It also means," she continued, "that my magic will resist me if I try to use it against you directly. We have done this before. Something similar at least." She paused, swallowed. "It is just like that. Just stronger."

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