“Here we are without the link,” Jared said. “And what am I to you? What are you to me?”
“I don’t know.” Kami’s voice sounded muted, pressed flat by the way he was looking at her, as if he was seeing a stranger.
He answered his own question. He did not seem upset. He seemed puzzled, as if looking back at his past self and wondering how he could possibly have been so stupid.
“You’re nothing special.”
It was as simple as that.
Kami kept looking at him, even though she wanted to look away. It made no sense, she thought, that someone who seemed so distant from her could hurt her so much.
“So thank you,” Jared told her. “I see things far more clearly now.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Kami answered at last, her voice shaking out of c
ontrol. She had been so scared of losing control with him. She had never really believed she could lose him, and in losing him lose so much of herself. “And you can go to hell now, for all I care.”
“Who knows,” said Jared, not taking his icy gaze off her. “Maybe I will.”
They looked at each other for a few moments longer. Kami’s whole body had gone tense, as if she was going to fight him. Then Jared smiled at her, a small savage smile that pulled his scar tight, and he turned around and left. He shut the door with a vicious slam.
All the warmth seemed to leave the room with him. Kami hugged her knees to her chest to try to control her shivering and turned away from the door. She sat there, on the top of the cliff with no path in sight. She stayed looking out of the window, watching darkness fall over her town.
For the first time in her life, she was alone.