Remy's POV:
The ice was cracking, splintering, moving. I screeched as it cracked under me, forcing me to fall onto the coldest surface I had ever felt.
"Raybha! It's breaking! What do I do?! Help me, please!"
In my blind panic I dreaded what could be under the ice, and squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself. I waited for a splash of icy water, or, for all I knew, a flame of fire, but nothing came. I waited, and waited, and realised I didn't feel the cold of the ice on my back and legs anymore. I felt the warmth of soft, wispy things, all around me, all under me. More warmth that came from an unknown source beat down on me, lighting up my eyelids. Suddenly I wasn't so afraid anymore, but still panicky. The sword was in my clutch, tight, and my body stiff with uncertainty.
It took me a few more seconds the soft, wispy things were blades of grass, and the unknown source was dawn. I was back on the clifftop again. My mind was polluted with dread again. I was afraid, not of broken ice, but of Raybha. I had screwed up, immensely.
Then, I became aware of the warmth on my face, and how it had heated up considerably. At first I was confused, but then knew, it was someone's hands. Raybha.
I tried to force my eyelids open, but they didn't want to. I tried to speak, but my throat didn't cooperate. I tried to move, but my body remained stiff.
"What's wrong with her?"
The voice came from above me. It wasn't the closeness that startled me, it was the person. Peter. The hands on my face were his.
"Her body is in shock. She may not respond for several minutes." That was Raybha. She sounded worried, but I noticed a hint of annoyance on the edge of her voice.
"Can she hear us?"
"I do not know."
A pause. I breathed quietly.
"Can I carry her?"
Every part of me screamed no. Every part of me screamed to leave me here, to not complicate things even further.
Raybha seemed to hear me. "I am not sure she would agree with that."
Thank you, I thought. God, Peter. Leave me be! I'll un - freeze when I'm ready!
Peter said nothing.
"It is best to leave her, Peter," she continued. "I have no doubt she will be annoyed with you once she wakes up."
Annoyed? Peter remained silent.
Raybha was becoming impatient. "You interrupted the trance. She was doing just fine."
Interrupted?
Oh, I thought. He broke the ice.
Suddenly, Peter found his voice. "She didn't know what she was doing. You put her up to this! You didn't even prepare her!"
"This has never happened before! There is no way I can prepare her!"
Peter was silent again, but his breaths above my head were getting quicker. He was unusually angry.
"You treat her as though she is a child. You treat her like she is weak, like she is something to be protected. You cannot protect her, Peter. Not from this."
"I do not treat her like a weak child," Peter retorted.
I strongly disagreed with that.
"And I know I can't protect her. I've learned from past experiences. What is this, Raybha? What is it I can't protect her from? That, clearly, nobody can protect her from?"
His words stung me a little. Past experiences. He seemed to have forgotten that there could be and was a strong chance I could hear him. But I was just as curious as he was. We both listened for Raybha's reply. My hands itched to get Peter's hands off of my face, because my cheeks were boiling.
"She…" Raybha started. "She needs to do this herself. She needs to break these bonds, no matter what the consequence will be, if we are to survive. We both know what will happen if she fails."
"And we both know what will happen if she succeeds," Peter practically spat.
No. No. No we didn't…or, at least, I didn't.
Oh.
Oh.
God dammit you little –
"Be quiet Peter!" Raybha ordered.
I silently and angrily ordered him to keep talking, but of course, no one heard me. My fingers started to twitch, my legs less stiff. But I kept my eyes shut and my breathing normal. I needed to listen for as long as I could.
"Raybha –"
"Stop!"
"We need to tell her before it happens!"
That's why he stopped me.
You didn't even prepare her!
Prepare me for what was going to happen once I had broken the bonds.
"She is not ready yet."
"She isn't a child," Peter spat again.
Raybha, for the first time that day, was quiet. Peter sighed.
"I'm sorry. I just…"
"It will hurt her," Raybha said quietly.
"It will kill her. And when it does, we won't even know why."
What? Please, Peter. Please.
"Well," he continued. "Not we. I have no chance. And even if I did, I wouldn't want it."
So it was something bad. Oh, well done, Remy.
My back hurt, and just for a moment I forgot, and I stretched absentmindedly.
"She is waking up," said Raybha in a neutral tone, as though the conversation hadn't happened at all.
Dammit.
I scrunched my eyes and opened them, pretending to let them focus, blinking slowly. Peter was above me so I sat up and he dodged out of the way. I was facing the sea. The sun had just reached its usual height in the blue, cloudless sky. The air was warm, but not as warm as the anger and confusion that was boiling inside me.
I stood up a little shakily, and turned to Peter and Raybha. It was clear they were both wondering whether or not I had heard them when I was…in shock.
For a moment I pondered on whether or not I should do the movie thing – where I pretend I didn't hear anything, try to figure it out on my own, and eventually burst with impatience and ask them what their conversation on the cliff was about.
But I was already about to burst with impatience.
"Raybha," I said, knowing she'd be straight with me. "I could hear everything. I want to know what will happen when I eventually" – I glared at Peter –"break the bonds."
Peter's face was etched in lines made out of sadness and guilt. Raybha was less emotional – but she still looked grim.
"Remy Maria Kingsley," Raybha said. "You have done everything for us. You risked your life for us, a debt we can never repay. I am sorry to have to tell you what will happen once these bonds" – she gestured at the space between us –"are broken."
A pause. Wind scattered my hair across my face.
Raybha seemed so sincere, so grave, that I wasn't sure I wanted to know anymore. I had been doing that a lot lately.
But even so, I had to know.
"Raybha," I said. "Please."
She didn't sigh, didn't squirm, didn't stay quiet for a minute longer.
She looked me dead in the eye, and said, "Bonds between people are forged from their history together. Once those bonds are taken away, so is the history. So are the memories. You will act as a breaker, Remy. When a breaker breaks a bond with another person, that person will forget the breaker. Forget their memories, forget their bond. The breaker will be the sufferer. You will be a sufferer."