Chapter 13: A line Crossed
No! Jamie screamed inside her own mind as her jaws opened, knowing exactly what they intended to do once they closed around Ember's throat.
She fought against herself with everything she had, desperately trying to pull back, close her mouth, move a paw—anything—but her body refused to listen. The Lesser Vampire had somehow taken control of her mind, convincing her that Ember was the true danger and that she needed to be stopped.
Except Jamie knew that wasn't true.
Ember wasn't her enemy. She was her best friend, her family, her bond-mate, and Jamie knew with absolute certainty that she would rather die than hurt Ember. None of that mattered. She was trapped inside her own mind, helplessly watching as her body continued forward without her permission.
It was like being a passenger on a hijacked airliner. Jamie could see everything happening around her and knew something had gone terribly wrong, but there wasn't a damned thing she could do about it. Someone else was at the controls, and all she could do was hang on and watch.
Jamie wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to beg Ember to run, but her body was no longer following her commands. She couldn't even make the tears she so desperately wanted to shed fall from her eyes.
Her jaws moved closer to Ember's throat.
Please, Ember. Run.
It was Jamie's mother all over again. Jamie was being forced to watch while someone she loved died in front of her, only cancer wasn't going to be to blame for this. This time, Jamie's heart was going to break because of what she had done.
Jamie's eyes shot open, and for several confused seconds she had no idea where she was. The Crucible was gone, replaced by the dimly lit bedroom of the Royal Manor, with just enough early morning light slipping around the curtains for her to make out the familiar shapes around her.
Then she saw Ember. Alive and well. And judging by the look in those spirit-fox eyes, extremely displeased at being woken up so rudely.
“Ember, you're okay!” Jamie shouted happily as she scooped up her only real friend in this world. Ember fought the hug for only a second before Jamie felt three extremely fluffy tails wrap themselves around her neck.
Mike told me what happened during the Vampire fight, Ember sent. Why you turned on me.
I'm so, so sorry, Jamie sent back, pushing as much love through their bond as she could.
It is all right. That was not you, Jamie.
That did it. Jamie couldn't hold it in any longer, and the tears finally came. When the heck had she turned into such a crier? Jamie wanted to blame it solely on her female Dryad body, but the memory of her mother told her these emotions were coming from a place that had been suppressed for a very long time.
Jamie didn't know how long the two of them stayed like that. All she knew was that Ember never complained, even though Jamie might have been slowly squeezing the life out of her fox friend.
A knock at the door finally ended the emotional moment. Clearly, more than a few minutes had passed. The sun was now making it clear that it was no longer going to tolerate late risers.
“Yes, come in. We're up already,” Jamie called to whoever had knocked.
“Sorry to disturb you so early after the long day you had yesterday, Princess Jamie, but you have a visitor waiting for you in the atrium downstairs,” Quila, the head maid, said as she poked her head inside the room.
“Who is it?” Jamie asked.
“The Voice of Nia is here to discuss what happened yesterday and how best to plan for what comes next.”
Quila opened the door a little farther. “Breakfast will be ready shortly, and we'll have everything set up downstairs so you can talk and eat at the same time.”
That seemed to be the cue for the rest of the maids to enter. Quila stepped fully into the room and made way for everyone behind her to get to work on making Jamie and Ember presentable for the day's activities.
Mike sat at the breakfast table in his Gnome-sized chair, staring at the empty one directly across from him. He had faced armies with less apprehension.
Around him, the Royal Maids moved quietly through the atrium, setting out breakfast while Mike waited for Princess Jamie to come downstairs. Plates of eggs, fresh bread, fruit, and several other dishes slowly filled the table, but he barely noticed any of it.
He was too busy preparing himself for the verbal beating he was about to receive. And rightly so.
Yesterday, he had deliberately placed Princess Jamie under the influence of a Lesser Vampire construct and watched as it twisted her perception of the one person in this world she trusted more than anyone else. He had known what would happen. In fact, that had been the entire point. Jamie needed to understand just how dangerous an attack on the mind could be before she left the safety of the Great Dryad Forest and, Goddess forbid, experienced the real thing.
Understanding why he'd done it, however, didn't mean Mike expected her to forgive him for it. Sylvara certainly hadn't.
Mike reached for his coffee and took a slow drink just as movement at the entrance to the atrium caught his attention.
Princess Jamie walked in with Ember beside her.
Mike immediately set his cup down and rose from his chair, showing the returning Royal line the respect she deserved.
Here we go.
“Good morning, Princess Jamie.”
“Morning, Voice of the Goddess Nia.”
That wasn't encouraging. She had called him Mike yesterday.
Jamie crossed the atrium toward him while two of the Royal Maids placed the last of breakfast on the table. Mike watched her carefully, trying to judge just how angry she was. Two Goblin Royal Guards followed her inside and took up positions against the wall, one on either side of the Princess.
Mike couldn't gauge her mood. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't exactly look angry either. Her face gave him almost nothing to work with. Somehow, that was worse.
Jamie reached the table, pulled out the chair across from him, and sat down. Mike remained standing, his hands clasped behind his back as he waited for whatever came next.
When nothing immediately did, his attention drifted toward the guards. Perhaps they were here for him.
The thought was ridiculous, but several thousand years of habit had Mike assessing them anyway. The Goblin on the left was only Level 30. The other appeared to be somewhere around the same. Neither was likely to have pushed Willpower high enough to resist Mike if he truly wanted to leave, although that was hardly unusual at their level. There were simply too many ways to die in Eldara for most fighters to devote enough of their precious Attribute points to defending against one particular threat.
Not that Mike had any intention of going anywhere.
If the Princess wanted him arrested, he would allow himself to be arrested. He'd earned at least that much.
Jamie looked up at him.
“How do I stop it from happening again?”
Of all the things Mike had prepared himself to hear, that hadn't been one of them.
“I'm sorry?”
“The Vampire.” Jamie leaned forward. “How do I stop someone from getting inside my head like that again?”
Mike studied her for a long moment, searching her face for the anger he had been expecting since he'd opened his eyes that morning.
“You're not angry with me?”
Jamie's brow furrowed. “maybe a little, but I woke up this morning to find Ember safe and sound next to me on the bed.”
For perhaps the first time that morning, Mike's carefully prepared responses deserted him.
“Voice—” Jamie stopped herself. “Mike, can I call you Mike?”
“I’m just now coming to understand your importance to me and the people of Save Haven,” the princess said.
“Of course, Princess.”
“Mike, you showed me a weakness I didn't know I had.”
Mike waited. There had to be more. There wasn't.
Jamie glanced down as Ember jumped onto the chair beside her before climbing onto the table and settling into the place the maids had prepared for her. When Jamie looked back at Mike, he finally saw something in her expression he recognized.
Determination.
“If that had been real, Ember could be dead right now,” Jamie said. Her voice remained calm, but Mike could hear the urgency underneath it. “You were there yesterday, so you could stop me. The next person who does that isn't going to stop me.”
Jamie's hand moved almost unconsciously toward Ember.
“They'll force me to kill what I want to protect.”
Never again.
The words were barely more than a whisper, and Mike suspected the Princess hadn't intended for him to hear them.
“I need to fix this, Mike. As soon as possible.”
Mike stood there, not quite knowing what to say.
“Please, sit down, Mike,” Jamie said, gesturing toward his chair.
Mike slowly lowered himself back into it. Of all the reactions he had imagined, this was not one of them.
“I assume you did what you did because you have a plan for me.”
Jamie reached for one of the platters in front of her.
“Let's hear it.”
Mike watched as Jamie began adding food to her plate and decided to do the same. He'd been hungry all morning, but he'd been too nervous about this meeting to eat anything.
For several minutes, neither of them spoke. The quiet was broken only occasionally by the scrape of utensils against plates as they ate. Mike used the time to organize his thoughts. There were several ways Jamie could protect herself, but each came with its own limitations.
“There are a few ways to defend against Psychic and Mind–Magic,” Mike finally said. “The most common is simply increasing your Willpower. Twenty is the first major milestone. That will allow you to fend off most lesser attacks. Fifty is the hard cap, and once you reach it, lesser mind attacks will have almost no chance of taking hold. It also gives you a fighting chance against the more powerful spells.”
“Like the one used on you yesterday in the Crucible,” Mike clarified.
Jamie stopped cutting into her breakfast and looked up at him.
“Willpower isn't perfect, though,” Mike continued. “An attack doesn't have to take control of your mind to be effective. Sometimes stunning or disorienting someone for a second is all that's needed.”
Mike took another bite before adding, “I've won more than a few battles that way, in fact. Stun someone's mind at the right moment, and you've created an opening for a killing blow before they have a chance to defend themselves.”
Jamie nodded slowly. “Okay. What are the other options?”
“The other two depend largely on your Class and Magic Affinities. Clerics and Paladins, for example, often have Skills that protect them against hostile mental effects. Much of that comes from their Holy Affinity, but those Classes can also unlock Skills capable of completely shielding their minds from certain forms of Mind Magic.”
Mike saw the frown beginning to form on Jamie's face and knew exactly what she was about to say.
“Of course, you're neither of those things,” he continued before she could interrupt. “But you do have the Psychic Affinity, if I'm not mistaken.”
Jamie nodded.
“At Level 10, your Psychic Affinity should have unlocked at least one Skill designed specifically to protect your mind.”
Jamie's eyes went slightly out of focus.
Mike recognized the look immediately and continued eating while she searched through whatever options the System had given her.
Her eyes focused again a few moments later.
“Yeah. Several new Psychic Skills opened up.”
“That's good news.” Mike set down his fork. “Then let's make some plans.”
Mike left Jamie with a lot to think about.
They had covered so many things over the course of breakfast, and Jamie now had a plan going forward with her build. She had learned a lot in the span of two hours. The Voice turned out to be a wealth of information when it came to this world and its magic system.
Bringing up her screen, Jamie got to work.
She had already leveled up two of her Skills. Regenerative Flow and Poison Ivy were now both Level 2. With the Skill Points she'd gained after hitting Level 10, she could level two more Skills to Level 2.
She and Mike had gone over the choices ad nauseam. Jamie had wanted to save those level-ups for the Psychic Skills she was going to add, but Mike had a different opinion on where those points should go. At first, Jamie hadn't been on board with what Mike suggested, but the more questions she asked, the more his plan made sense.
Jamie took a deep breath before adding the points.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Taming went from Level 1 to Level 2.
It hadn't been in the description, but leveling up Taming not only made it easier to communicate with her familiars, it also extended the distance at which it could be done. At Level 1, that distance had been roughly a normal speaking distance. Now Jamie could talk to Ember from shouting distance, only with their connection, there wasn't any need to actually shout. They could just talk normally. This was going to make coordinating in the middle of a fight much easier for the two of them.
The other thing that changed was that there were no longer any gaps in their speech. They had gotten good at understanding one another, but every once in a while, something still got lost in translation.
Not anymore.
Mike had been right. The ten points had been well spent there.
The kicker, and the main reason Jamie had ended up following Mike's advice, was the fact that the Taming Skill made her familiar stronger each time she leveled it up. When Jamie had first bonded with Ember, she'd been able to add ten extra points to Ember's Attributes and level up one of her Skills for free.
Now, at Level 2 in Taming, Jamie was able to do the same thing again.
The fourth Skill Jamie leveled from Level 1 to Level 2 was Shapeshifting. This one had been far easier for Jamie to get behind. Although Mike didn't know everything there was to know about the Druid Class, since the Royal line had produced the only Druids on Eldara, he did know some things, however. Jamie had listened with growing excitement as Mike told her about some of the crazy things Druids had done while they were still alive.
One thing that had stood out in those stories was Flight Form.
Back on Earth, every kid dreamt about being able to fly at least once in their life. Jamie now had a pathway to make that dream a reality.
Shapeshifting — Lv. 2
Jamie still needed to wait for Level 3 to get the exact form she wanted due to the weight restrictions, but being able to fly above the trees was finally in sight. At Jamie's current restriction, she could now lock in a form within plus or minus fifty percent of her Dryad form's weight.
That opened up a lot of possibilities, but not the one Jamie wanted yet, so she backed out of the new form slot without selecting anything. The next rank moved that percentage to one hundred percent of her current body weight, which meant all the tiny and little forms would be unlocked at that point.
If Jamie wanted a mouse form for sneaking and creeping around, she could do that. Maybe someday, but for now, Jamie had her eye on a hawk form that Mike had suggested to her.
Shapeshifting — Lv. 2 Forms: 1 of 2 learned.
Jamie then moved to her Attribute Points. She had mostly decided where those points were going, so that came next before she picked up the two Psychic Skills she was planning to get.
Survivability. Plus four to Agility and Constitution.
Sustained casting. Plus four to Spirit and Intelligence.
That left the next major decision.
Jamie had originally planned to hold back sixteen points. The logic was simple: you never knew what you needed until you needed it. But as Jamie looked over her already distributed Attribute Points, she had a sudden change of heart.
Two more points went into Spirit and another two into Agility. Four went into Stamina, bringing it to 30, and Jamie split the remaining eight evenly between Constitution and Willpower.
Constitution was an easy choice. Everyone wanted to be able to survive bigger hits. Willpower was different. Despite the fact that Jamie was about to add a Psychic Skill specifically to protect herself from being mind-controlled again, she still wanted to work toward that fifty-point threshold Mike had told her about.
Jamie took one last long look at her build before moving on.
All of her Attribute Points were now locked in. There was no getting them back, but Jamie felt good about her decision.
STATUS SCREENName: Jamie GodwinRace: Dryad (Spirit Nymph)Sex: FemaleLv.: 10Class: DruidSub-Class: TamerAffinity Types: Nature, Psychic
Titles:
Forest Guardian
Chosen of Nia, Goddess of Spirits
BLESSINGS OF NIA, GODDESS OF SPIRITS
Greater Blessings:
Divine Empowerment — All base attributes and ability points gained per level are doubled.
Calm Mind (Passive Aura – Perception) — Slows perception of time by 7% for 3 seconds after entering combat, increasing reaction speed and movement speed by the same amount.
Lesser Blessings:
Spirit Perception (Passive Aura) — Increases sensitivity to nearby spirits.
Identify (Spell) — Reveals information about allies and enemies.
Timidity (Passive Aura) — Heightens bodily self-awareness and subtle movement control.
ATTRIBUTES
Agility: 30
Strength: 24
Intelligence: 30
Stamina: 30
Constitution: 34
Willpower: 34
Charisma: 40
Spirit: 30
ABILITIES (Slots Used: 11 / 20)
Wands — Lv. 1 — Allows the learning and casting of spells aligned with the wielder’s affinity types.
Sword Combat (Short & Long Swords) — Attack Skill — Lv. 1 — Enhanced proficiency with short and long swords.
Shapeshifting — Lv. 2 — Enables alternate forms. Transformation Slots: 2. Known Forms: Puma.
Taming (Psychic Spell) — Lv. 2 — Allows non-sentient creatures to become permanent familiars. Requires ten Willpower per tame to maintain the bond.
Familiar Communication (Psychic Utility Skill) — Passive — Enables mental communication with bonded familiars. Effectiveness improves with bond strength through Taming Skill level improvements.
Tree Singer (Dryad Skill – Nature Spell) — Lv. 1 — Enhances plant growth, durability, and yield.
Woodland Stealth (Dryad Skill – Passive Aura) — Grants a 20% stealth bonus in forested environments.
Regenerative Flow (Nature Spell – Heal Over Time) — Lv. 2 — Applies sustained healing over time to self or allies.
Dispel Curse (Nature / Spirit Spell – Restricted) — Lv. 1 — Removes curse-based bindings and enslavement magic.
Poison Ivy (Nature Spell – Area Control) — Lv. 2 — Summons dense walls of toxic ivy that restrict movement and secrete a corrosive poison capable of damaging living tissue and nonliving materials.
Field Dressing (Utility Spell) — Lv. 1 — Converts slain creatures into usable materials. Quality scales with Intelligence and Spirit.
On to the hard part. Picking her Psychic Skills.
After yesterday's fiasco, Jamie was glad she had the Psychic Affinity, but there was another reason that tree of magic was so important.
At the Academy, overt Druid abilities would raise eyebrows. Everyone knew the Druids were gone.
Not anymore.
And that information needed to remain a closely guarded secret.
Jamie had been informed that some very important Elves were now aware the Druid Class was back, but they'd been told out of necessity. What almost no one knew was what being a Druid actually meant or why Jamie's Class was so important.
Dispel Curse.
Druids were the only Class capable of learning that Skill.
For over a thousand years, people had simply dealt with curses as part of life. Some could be survived until their timers ran out. Others were considerably worse.
But one curse didn't have a timer.
And it was the reason certain people would see Jamie as a threat.
The Slavery Curse was used to enslave the Spirit-folk, and once that curse was placed on them, they were slaves for life.
Until now.
Jamie could remove it.
That bit of information would put a huge target on Jamie's back if the wrong people found out. Analyze was a rare Skill, but there were enough people out there with access to it that keeping something this important secret should have been nearly impossible.
It would have been, if the Goddess hadn't bestowed one other gift upon Jamie—one she hadn't even known about until Mike told her that morning.
No one could see that Jamie possessed Dispel Curse, or any of her few other Druid Skills. And no one could see that she was a Druid. As far as anyone inspecting her was concerned, she was simply a Tamer.
That didn't mean they couldn't connect the dots.
And that was where Jamie's Psychic Affinity came into play.
As far as everyone at the Academy was concerned, Jamie was Dryad Tamer. She needed to maintain that pretense with the help of a few carefully chosen Psychic Skills. If Jamie started throwing Druid magic around, it would only be a matter of time before someone began wondering what other Druid Skills she possessed.
And eventually, someone would ask the question that mattered.
Does she have it?
Jamie brought up her choices. She had six to pick from.
Psychic Ability Selection Pool (Choose 1 or up to 6)
The system displayed the six viable options:
Mind Thread (Psychic – Utility / Control)Allows the caster to establish a thin psychic connection with a target.
Enables surface emotional reading
Improves coordination with allies
Can subtly influence attention and focus
Scales with Willpower and Charisma
Psychic Veil (Psychic – Defensive / Illusion)Wraps the caster’s mind in a false psychic signature.
Masks true intent, emotions, and aura
Reduces detection by divination spells
Makes hostile targeting less accurate
Passive drain while active
Neural Spike (Psychic – Offensive)A focused burst of psychic force into a single target.
Causes intense disorientation and pain
Interrupts spellcasting
Effectiveness scales with level difference
Non-lethal by default (can be lethal with intent)
Echo Step (Psychic – Mobility)Momentarily accelerates neural processing and perception.
Grants a short burst of movement speed
Allows reactive repositioning
Can chain with sword attacks
Stacks subtly with Calm Mind
Thought Anchor (Psychic – Control / Resistance)Stabilizes the caster’s consciousness.
Grants resistance to charm, fear, and domination
Reduces mental fatigue from prolonged casting
Strengthens will-based contests
Mirror Echo (Psychic – Illusion / Defense) Creates a psychic duplicate of the caster that perfectly mirrors their movements.
Duplicate mimics the caster’s movements and attacks
Duplicate deals no physical or magical damage
Can misdirect enemies and draw attacks away from the caster
Illusion remains close to the caster and moves in relation to them
Effectiveness scales with Intelligence and Charisma
Total cost for all six: 24 Skill Points
“I want them all!”
Not so loud, please, Ember sent. You almost made me spill my coffee.
Sorry.
Don't be sorry. Just hurry up and make your choices so we can finally get to my picks, Ember sent.
That was easier said than done. Jamie wanted all of these Skills, but she only had sixteen Skill Points remaining and, worse, only nine Skill Slots that needed to serve her for the rest of her life.
Fine. Ember was right. She needed to make a decision and move on to Ember's Skills. The two of them had another meeting in the next hour, where they were going to meet the two new teammates who would be helping Jamie and Ember earn the final five levels they needed before leaving for the Academy.
Jamie chose the obvious pick first.
Thought Anchor.
Neural Spike came next. That filled another gap in Jamie's build. Until now, she had been missing any sort of ranged attack.
Now she had one.
Next came Echo Step. This was the one that had Jamie hung up. Technically, Jamie already had a mobility Skill in the form of Puma, but that was clearly out of bounds when it came to using it in the Elven capital. Jamie's fighting style now depended heavily on getting around the battlefield quickly.
Echo Step filled that same role in a new way. Technically, it wasn't a teleport. It accelerated Jamie's neural processing and perception while giving her a burst of speed that let her reposition almost instantly.
Close enough to a short-range teleport that the difference didn't really matter to Jamie. She could even see ways to work it into her Puma transformations, making it much harder to predict where Jamie would be from one second to the next.
That was it. Those were her three.
Only Jamie still had four Skill Points remaining.
Jamie looked at the three Psychic Skills she hadn’t chosen, then went back to her Nature Skills. Three new ones had unlocked at Level 10, and one of them had been tempting her since she'd first seen it.
Poison Ivy did a lot to control the battlefield, but it wasn't really a trap Skill.
Entangling Roots was.
Entangling Roots (Druid – Nature Spell) — Lv. 1 — Immobilizes or repositions targets using living root networks.
Jamie probably should have picked another Psychic Skill.
But at her roots—pun absolutely intended—Jamie was a Druid first and everything else second. She didn't regret the decision.
Jamie exhaled slowly. Even though she felt good about her picks, that meant she’d closed four more doors forever. But the ones still open? They looked like they might be enough.
Jamie was still counting. Five permanent slots left for her. That was already uncomfortable. Then she looked at Ember again—and felt worse. Ember was now done with her coffee and waiting on Jamie after dumping off of the table.
She only ever got ten skill slots. She’d already used seven.
Jamie opened her mouth to say something when a familiar shimmer appeared beside her.
A status screen—Ember's status screen—and Jamie hadn't been the one to open it.
“…Since when can you do that?” Jamie asked.
Level ten, Ember sent, unmistakably pleased. I am growing. I got it through our connection.
Jamie smiled despite herself. Pride softened the worry, just a little.
CREATURE STATUS SCREEN
Name: EmberRace: Kitsune (Spirit Fox)Sex: FemaleLv.: 10Class: Siphon MageAffinity Types: Spirit, PsychicBonded Familiar: Jamie GodwinTails: 3 (Spellcasting Conduits)
ATTRIBUTES
Agility: 18
Strength: 10
Intelligence: 16
Stamina: 16
Constitution: 18
Willpower: 15
Charisma: 17
Spirit: 16
ABILITIES (Slots Used: 7 / 10)
Danger Sense (Aura) — Lv. 2 — Detects hostile intent within a wide radius.• Range and clarity improve with level• Cannot be suppressed while conscious
Forage (Utility Skill) — Lv. 1 — Locates edible plants, small prey, and useful materials.• Increased success in spirit-rich environments
Spirit Claws (Attack Skill) — Lv. 1 — Spirit-enhanced melee attacks.• Damage scales with Spirit and Agility
Celestial Bite (Attack Skill) — Lv. 2 — Inflicts spirit damage.• Especially effective against undead and cursed beings
Siphon Strength (Psychic / Spirit Spell) — Lv. 1 — Temporarily drains physical power from a target.• Reduces melee damage and physical resistance• Drained strength may be partially transferred to Ember or a bonded ally
Siphon Vitality (Spirit Spell) — Lv. 2 — Leeches Constitution from the target, causing gradual health loss and reducing physical resilience.• Weakens endurance and regeneration• Sustained casting increases total drain
Siphon Spirit (Psychic / Spirit Spell) — Lv. 1 — Disrupts magical energy flow.• Weakens spellcasting potency and increases mana cost• Particularly effective against casters and enchanted creatures
The status window hovered between them, pale light reflected in Jamie’s eyes. Because Ember didn’t have the plus eight points per level that Jamie did, they had added her Attribute Points as soon as she earned them. All that remained were the ten new points Ember had available thanks to Jamie upgrading Taming.
Ember stood close at Jamie’s side, her tails flicking with restrained energy as she scanned her own screen. For the first time, she wasn’t waiting for her to explain it. She wasn’t asking permission.
Ember was making it clear she already knew what she wanted to do.
I’m taking a Psychic Spell, Ember sent, calm and certain. One more. Something that works with yours.
Jamie’s jaw tightened at hearing that.
“You don’t need another offensive Skill,” she said quickly. “You’re already stretched thin. What you need is survivability.”
Ember looked up at her, ears angling back slightly. Not angry yet, but a clear warning that Jamie was treading on thin ice.
I know what I need, she replied.
Jamie shook her head. “No. You want something that helps me. That’s not the same thing.”
Her eyes narrowed. Don’t do that.
“Do what?”
Talk like I don’t understand the risk.
Jamie took a knee so she could be closer to eye level with Ember before lowering her voice. “Ember, look at the numbers. One bad hit and—”
And what? she snapped. I die? I know. I’ve always known, but I have my speed, and I have my cunning. I don’t take hits. I avoid them.
The words hit Jamie harder than any blow she’d taken in the arena, but not for the reason Ember thought they might. Ember had taken hits. She had come close to dying more than once, saved only by the fact that they had been fighting in a controlled environment.
Jamie remembered how many times she’d needed to heal Ember to keep her in the fight.
And Jamie remembered targeting Ember’s throat when she was being mind-controlled by the Lesser Vampire construct. If Mike hadn’t put a stop to that, Jamie would have killed her bond-mate.
“I’m not losing you,” Jamie said, too fast. Too sharp.
Ember’s expression softened just a little. Jamie…
“I won’t,” she repeated. “Not because you wanted to prove something to me.”
Her tails all lashed at once. The effect reminded Jamie of somebody angrily finger pointing while yelling.
This isn’t about proving anything.
“Then why are you pushing this?”
Because I fight with you, she said firmly. Not behind you.
The silence stretched for a long moment as they stared into each other’s eyes. Jamie could feel it through the bond. Ember wasn’t going to yield on this.
Jamie needed to make her.
Jamie could still feel it—the fear of almost losing Ember. Because of the nightmare last night, the emotion was still fresh and raw in her mind.
Again, her mother’s memory came back to the foreground. The pain of that loss had never left Jamie. The helplessness when all you could do was watch and do nothing to help.
Jamie swallowed hard to fight back a new round of tears. Her choice was made.
“I’m your Tamer,” she said quietly.
The words felt wrong the moment they left her mouth. Right now, that didn’t matter. Protecting Ember meant more.
“I have oversight authority,” Jamie continued, hating herself even as she spoke. “I can… I can lock in a defensive choice. Just this once.”
Ember went very still, her tails no longer making any sort of movement.
Her golden eyes widened with understanding at what Jamie was getting ready to do.
Jamie, she said, voice low, warning.
Jamie didn’t answer.
Instead, she reached out with her mind and made Ember’s choice for her.
It was done, and Jamie couldn’t hate herself more in that moment.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Ability Selected (Override):Blink Step (Kitsune Racial Spell) — Lv. 1
Instantly teleport up to 40 feet to any visible location
Low cooldown
Line-of-sight required
Ability Slots Used: 8 / 10
The light faded as the screen vanished.
The decision was made, and Jamie had been the one to make it, not Ember.
Ember stared at the empty space where only a moment ago a screen had been. The quiet between them was agonizing.
Ember didn’t yell. Jamie wanted her to. Ember didn’t cry. She didn’t say a word.
Slowly, deliberately, Ember turned away from Jamie.
Her tails lowered—not limp, but controlled. Her posture was straight, proud. When she moved, it was with measured precision, as if every step was chosen carefully to avoid Jamie.
Jamie opened her mouth as she watched Ember pad her way to the door.
Nothing came out.
Ember was almost out of the atrium when she stopped long enough to pull up her screen.
Then Jamie felt a spike of pain through the bond. Something had just been severed. It took Jamie a moment to realize what had happened.
Jamie’s ability to override her bond-mate’s decisions was now gone. Her bond was still there, but something about it had changed.
Jamie watched in silence as Ember allocated the ten Attribute Points Ember had gained from Jamie's Taming upgrade.
ATTRIBUTES
Agility: 22
Strength: 10
Intelligence: 18
Stamina: 18
Constitution: 18
Willpower: 17
Charisma: 17
Spirit: 16
When she was done, the screen vanished. With the light gone, the atrium suddenly felt much colder.
“Ember,” Jamie said, her voice rough. Ember did not respond.
The familiar mental presence that had always brushed against her own—warm, sharp, alive—was still there.
But distant. Guarded now.
Jamie remained where she was, alone in the atrium.
She wasn't sure she could feel more alone than she did at that moment.