Ryan grabbed her hand again. "No, Violet. I am sorry. That was wrong of me. I want to understand. Explain it to me."
Violet shook her head but didn't pull her hand away. How could she explain it to him? There was no way he would understand, and even if he did, he would not like it.
"If we were bonded for real, even though we don't love each other, I don't know if we could love anyone else either," Violet whispered, hoping Ryan would get what she meant. "It is a personal thing, the bond. It would feel strange, wrong, to be with someone else and share those feelings through the bond. It would not be fair to Carl, and it would not be fair to the person I loved, either. It would be an invasion."
Ryan nodded, and she could see from the look on his face that he understood as much as he could.
