Book 3 - Chapter 39
Jasper’s breath hitched—not like pain, not like fear.
Like loss.
Total, bewildered, impossible loss.
His hand pressed harder to his chest, fingers trembling over the spot where the tether used to pulse between us.
Used to glow.
Used to live.
“Miley… I can’t feel you,” he whispered.
Not accusing.
Not angry.
Just… broken.
I grabbed his wrist, trying to force the world back into place with contact alone. “I’m right here—Jasper, I’m literally right—”
“No.”
He stepped back.
The one word cracked.
His light dimmed.
He touched my shoulder, my cheek, my arm—everywhere—panic growing harsher with each failed spark of recognition.
“It’s gone.”
His voice frayed. “Where did it go? What did you do?”
A cold wind tore through the cavern—the kind that didn’t move air, just meaning.
The kind that told stories no one wanted to hear.
The entity exhaled dramatically.
“Oh, darling… she bound it inside herself. She cut you out of the circuit.”
Jasper froze.
His face shifted through disbelief → understanding → devastation → fury.
“You what?”
“I had to!” I said, voice cracking. “It was going to take YOU—”
“It was MINE!” he shouted.
The cavern shook.
Even the Seamwalkers flinched.
Even the Unraveller paused.
Jasper stepped closer—too close—his eyes burning with that not‑gold, not‑silver, not‑right light that scared even gods.
“That tether was the only reason I wasn’t a monster,” he said, voice low enough to slice marrow. “It held me together. It held my power in place. It kept me from becoming what the gods were afraid of.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“You aren’t a monster,” I whispered.
“Not yet.”
The entity brightened like someone had complimented him. “Oooh, finally someone else said it.”
Jasper ignored him—eyes locked on me, wide and shining and terrified.
“That tether balanced me. And now I can’t—”
He swallowed hard.
“—can’t feel where you are. I can barely feel myself.”
His hands shook.
A hairline crack of light split along his forearm.
I lunged forward. “Jasper—stop—your skin—”
He grabbed my face in both hands.
Not gentle.
Not rough.
Desperate.
“I need it back.”
“You can’t,” I whispered. “If you touch it now, it will finish what Patch-father started. It’ll remake you. Bind you to the road forever. You’ll stop being you.”
“I don’t care about me.”
His forehead pressed against mine.
“I care about you. I can’t protect you like this.”
“You don’t have to protect me—”
“Yes,” he snapped.
“I do. That’s what I am.”
The cavern trembled again—the Unraveller shifting, aware now, interested.
It tilted its too-thin head, watching our unravel with silent hunger.
The entity hissed under his breath.
“Oh wonderful. Emotional vulnerability. Must we do this before the cosmic eraser lunges?”
As if summoned, the Unraveller took one step.
Every stitch of light in the cavern dimmed.
Jasper’s hands dropped from my face and curled into fists, power flaring around him like wild fire searching for something to burn.
“I can still fight,” he muttered. “Even without the tether.”
“Jasper—”
He stepped in front of me, shoulders rising, back straightening, every line of him sharpening into something catastrophic.
“I’m still your Protector.”
Something inside me broke.
Not the tether.
Not the rune-burn.
Me.
I grabbed his arm. “You don’t owe me that.”
He turned.
And the look on his face—
Gods.
I would have taken a blade over that look.
“I don’t owe you,” he whispered.
“I love you.”
My breath caught.
Not romantic.
Not confused.
Unconditional.
Ruinous.
Brother-soul-deep.
The kind of love that had rewritten gods and broken doors and nearly fed him to a world hungry for power.
The Seamwalkers shivered, whispering:
“Protector bound to love.”
“Love bound to Mender.”
“Mender bound to tether.”
“Tether bound to breach.”
Their stitched voices harmonized:
“Collapse imminent.”
The Unraveller lifted its hand again.
This time, I felt the aiming.
Not at me.
Not at Jasper.
At the gaping hole in the connection we had severed.
The empty space where the tether used to run between us like a vein.
The Unraveller pointed.
Jasper inhaled sharply and stumbled.
His light flickered.
“Jasper!” I grabbed him—
And he crumpled to his knees.
Not from attack.
From absence.
“I—I can’t—” He clutched his chest, gasping like the air had forgotten how to enter his lungs. “Miley—I can’t—feel—anything—”
The Unraveller hissed, pleased.
It was feeding on the void between us.
The tether inside me pulsed frantically—trapped, furious, clawing against my ribs, wanting to launch back across the gap.
“No—no—no—Jasper, look at me—look at me—” I begged, grabbing his shaking shoulders.
But his eyes were losing colour—fading, draining, hollowing.
The entity swore sharply.
“Oh damn. He’s unraveling along the emotional axis. You two were stupidly interdependent.”
The Seamwalkers raised their hands, threads trembling.
“Mender,” they said urgently.
“You must choose.”
“Bind again.”
“Or sever fully.”
“What does that mean?” I shouted.
They bowed their stitched heads.
“Restore the tether.”
“Or destroy it forever.”
My breath disappeared.
If I restored it—
the tether could consume Jasper.
If I destroyed it—
Jasper would lose the anchor that kept him human.
And me?
I felt the tether inside me pulse like a heartbeat learning hunger.
Jasper sagged forward, collapsing into my shoulder.
“I’m losing myself…” he whispered.
“No.” My voice cracked with rage. “I won’t let you.”
“You… might have to…” His breath trembled, fading. “Miley… please… choose…”
His fingers reached blindly for mine—missing, fumbling, desperate.
He couldn’t feel me anymore.
And gods help me—
I could feel everything he was losing.
The Unraveller leaned in.
Waiting.
Hungry.
Patient.
“Mender,” the Seamwalkers intoned.
“Choose the bond.”
The entity stepped back, thrilled and horrified.
“Well. This should end terribly.”
Jasper’s head tipped against my chest, his voice barely a breath—
“Miley… don’t let me disappear…”
I screamed—
And reached for the tether.