Two weeks later, Riley found me in the garden where I'd been tending the herbs Dr. Sarah had taught me to grow. She looked different, still thin, still healing, but there was something new in her eyes. Determination.
"I'm ready," she said without preamble. "I want to do the rejection ritual."
My hands stilled in the soil. I'd known this was coming, had been waiting for her to be strong enough, but hearing the words still made my chest tighten.
"Are you sure?" I asked gently, sitting back on my heels. "There's no rush. You can take more time-"
"I don't want more time." Riley sat down beside me, her fingers twisting together. "Every day I can still feel him through the bond, it's like... like he still has a piece of me. I want it back. All of it."
I understood that feeling intimately. T
