"I keep asking myself how this happened," Asher said, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. "How I love someone this deeply, and the matebond isn't blessed by fate."
Ronan leaned on the stone railing. "Fated or not. It is powerful. Don't let anyone say it wasn't real. You know it. She knows it. The rest of us saw it every damn day."
Asher exhaled and it shuddered out of him, the kind of breath that a body releases when it's been holding itself rigid for hours.
"You're my oldest friend," Ronan continued, voice tight. "And you know I would burn down the world for you, right?"
"Yes. And I'd do the same for you," Asher replied, voice cracking.
"There's something I need to tell you. Long overdue." Ronan exhaled and looked away for a second before continuing. "The last few months have been absolute agony. My brother, the best man I know, fell in love with my fated mate, who didn't even know she was mine."
