“Earth to Bella.”
Arabella blinked, pushing those spiraling thoughts away and focusing back on Tara, who was watching her with a curious, searching look on her face. She could lie and try to change the subject, brushing off the moment with a quick joke, but she knew Tara was too smart for that. With her magic and her natural intuition, Tara already knew something heavy was weighing on her heart.
“Why doesn’t it get easier?” She blurted out, the words breaking through the quiet of the room before she could stop them. “I have lived a hundred and thirty-four years, a hundred and fourteen of them a vampire, and yet it still breaks my heart when I have to let someone go. The inevitable moment when I have to break someone's heart and walk away.”
“Your heart’s too kind, Bella. It’s one of the
