Gavriel Sterling rejected his matebond at 4:17 in the afternoon. By 4:47, his lips were purple and Alaric Kestrel was running.
At 4:42, Serena was holding a cloth to his forehead, going back on her word, the exact thing both her mates had forbidden.
Serena's chin trembled. She pressed her lips together and held the cloth against his forehead and refused to cry, because he was looking at her and he was hurting and the last thing he needed was her grief on top of his.
She failed. One tear fell. Then another.
"Hey." Gav's voice found a ghost of itself, a fraction of the warmth that usually lived there. "Don't do that, Frostborne. If you cry, I'll cry, and I've already hit my quota for the week."
She laughed. The sound was wet and broken and real.
"I'm so sorry you had to do that, Gav."
