"You don't remember," he said, his voice low, certain, like he had been expecting this.
"I…" Avalyn faltered. "Don't start." She tried to steady her racing heart, but the truth was, a part of her already feared she did.
"It wasn't a trick," he said, pushing off the wall and stepping closer. "It was a bargain."
Her brow furrowed. "A bargain? What… what are you talking about?"
"You begged for your life," he said softly. "That night… in the car crash… you should have died. Your soul should have passed on. But you called out. You pleaded for a second chance. And I… I listened."
Her stomach twisted. "You let me live… why?"
Rey's grin was slow, deliberate, magnetic. "Because you made a deal with me."
She took a cautious step back. "A deal? I… I don't understand."
He moved closer, and she could feel the heat radiating off him. "You gave me a part of your soul to survive. That fragment binds us. You live because of it. And I cannot leave you… not fully, not now."
Avalyn's chest tightened. "You… saved me because of a soul… deal?" Her voice trembled. "That's insane."
"Maybe," he said, voice low and dark. "But it's real. Your life and mine are intertwined. You feel me, I feel you… every heartbeat, every fear, every desire. That's the bargain."
She swallowed hard. "And you… what do you want from me?"
"I wanted your survival. But I didn't expect… this." He let his fingers linger near her jaw, silver eyes fixed on hers. "I didn't expect to forget."
Her pulse spiked, equal parts fear and longing. "And what exactly am I supposed to do?"
He leaned closer, their faces inches apart, the heat from his body overwhelming her senses.
"Live. Survive. Be near me. And eventually… help me overthrow my father. Your soul makes it possible. Without it… I fail, and you… well, you would have survived the crash, but you wouldn't be alive like this."
She blinked, her mind spinning. "So… I'm alive because of a deal with you… and now I'm some key to your teenage rebellion?"
"Yes," he said softly, letting his thumb brush against her wrist, tracing the pulse there. "And you don't get a choice in the feeling that keeps pulling us together. That's… part of the bargain too."
Her heart thumped painfully. She wanted to pull away, to yell, to call him a madman—but she couldn't. Not when he was this close, not when every inch of him radiated danger and heat, and every word carved itself into her chest.
"You really don't understand, do you?" he whispered. "This isn't just a deal. It's fate. It's survival. It's… me, and it's you. Bound together, whether we like it or not."
Her chest rose and fell rapidly. "And what if I refuse?"
His grin darkened, mischievous but not cruel. "Then the bargain ends. Your second chance dies. But I don't think you'll refuse. You're not that kind of girl, Avalyn. You're alive because you're stubborn, because you're human, because you fight. And you can't deny what you feel when I'm near."
Avalyn's pulse quickened—not entirely from fear. Something else, something magnetic and forbidden, stirred inside her.
He stepped even closer, letting his hand hover just above hers before finally clasping it.
"Trust me," he said, voice low, silver eyes gleaming. "Trust the bargain. Trust me. Because from the moment you called for a second chance… I've been yours. And I'll fight for you. Always."
Avalyn's knees trembled, her breath caught. She wanted to resist, wanted to argue, wanted to escape—but she didn't move. She let him hold her hand, let him stand close, and for the first time, she didn't want to run.
Because the bargain wasn't just about survival anymore. It was about them.