Chapter 125

• I waited with bated breath for Dayanara to say something. The whole cave was in suspended animation as we all waited for her to respond. When she did, though … it wasn’t what I expected.
• She squared her shoulders, wiped at her cheeks like she was smashing tears back into her skull, and stared straight at Lyle with a look that made the rest of us want to vanish into the stone. “Let’s get going,” she said, voice flat and cold. She stepped away from him, not even bothering to look back. She turned her gaze to Toril and jerked her chin up, like a challenge. “Lead the way.”
• I felt my stomach drop. So did Darren, by the look of him. His jaw tightened, and he watched Lyle like he expected him to bolt, but Lyle didn’t. He just stood there, frozen, staring at Dayanara as if she’d just kicked him square in the soul. The mate bond was supposed to be everything, the answer to every prayer, the thing that made all the pain worth it, but Dayanara walked away like it meant nothing.