Chapter 27: The Trial of Water
Nadeira tossed and turned for hours, staring at the ceiling, wide awake. The moonlight slipped into her room, and the silence felt too loud. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard Caspian's voice, 'Read the book.'
"Fine," she muttered, sitting up. "I'll read your cursed book again."
She pulled the ancient tome closer and flipped the pages she hadn't dared to look at earlier. The ink looked faded but still alive, as though the sea itself had written on the paper.
The first line she saw made her eyes blink more than normal.
"A bond is not a chain. It is breath. It is fire. It is tide. To feel it is to know both strength and hunger."
She frowned. "Strength and hunger? That's not dramatic at all."
She read on.
"The bonded feel the other in their skin. A cut on one burns the other. A touch between them can heal or ignite. The sea grants them closeness beyond flesh."
