Chapter 245

• [Primus]
• Everything freezes as my heart seizes and my mind falls into darkness. On some level, I can still hear Eleanora speaking, spewing some nonsense about how Carnelia was captured, and how they treated her body with care, but her words are nonsense to my ears as all the air rushes out of me and my body grows cold and numb. There is no way that Carnelia and our last remaining egg of this brood is gone–I’d have felt her leave me, just like I felt her passing before.
• Terrified, I reach along the connection between myself and Carnelia. Our bond has always been strong, from our first mating, made even stronger after our marriage, and later, the birth of our children. Each link between us forges a chain of love and strengthens us, allowing our thoughts, feelings, and even dreams to be shared. It is a rare thing to find one's fated mate, and even more rare in our world to be given the freedom to claim them. Bonds like our are rare.