Chapter 16
Rayna
I caught up to him at the edge of the lot.
He’d turned his back on me right after saying the word “permanent,” like he could just… walk away from that. From me. From the spell that had almost cracked my skull in half.
“Don’t you dare,” I snapped.
He stopped, shoulders tight. The streetlight threw a pale circle around us, everything outside it too dark. My head still throbbed. My wrist still burned. My heart was going way too fast for somebody who’d technically just survived magical brain surgery.
“Rayna, go home,” he said without turning. “You need to rest.”
“That’s not happening,” I said. “You don’t get to fry my neurons, brand me with your cosmic tattoo, announce this thing is permanent, and then tell me to go home like I had a weird shift. Turn around.”
He exhal
