Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
Jamie woke to warmth on both sides and the unfamiliar sensation of contentment threading through his chest. For a moment, he simply lay still, taking inventory of the situation he'd found himself in.
Corin pressed against his right side, one arm flung across Jamie's torso, amber hair spilling across his face, his breathing deep and even.
Azelon lay to his left, blue skin luminescent in the soft light of morning. In sleep, his tail had curved around Jamie's ankle possessively.
The intimacy of the moment almost overwhelmed Jamie.
Closing his eyes, he tried to sort through the tangle of emotions in his chest. The ones that had nothing to do with magical bonds and everything to do with the reality of his situation.
Last night had been incredible—more than incredible—but in the clear light of morning, he couldn't ignore the questions piling up in his mind.
The most pressing one concerned his brother.
Where was Daniel?
Jamie should have been looking for him. Instead, he had been… distracted. Spectacularly distracted. What kind of person got magically bonded to two men while his brother was lost in another world?
Not the kind of person Jamie was. Jamie was supposed to be responsible. Reliable. The one who took care of everyone else while they chased their dreams and adventures. The kind of person who built a quiet, stable life around his bookstore because it was safe and predictable and hurt no one.
Recently, nothing had been predictable.
Jamie's chest tightened as his thoughts spiraled. Even if they found Daniel, even if they figured out how to defeat the Barrier Keeper who'd brought them here—what then? Could he really stay in this world? Build a life with Corin and Azelon in a magical bookstore in the middle of nowhere?
The store itself was remarkable, but it was hardly a viable business model. Who would even find them out here? How would they survive?
And what about his life back home? His apartment, his regular customers, the book clubs that met in his store every Thursday? Mrs. Chen who brought him soup when he was sick, the barista at the coffee shop next door who knew his order by heart?
All of it felt distant now, like memories from someone else's life.
Movement beside him made Jamie still. Azelon's breathing had changed, no longer the deep rhythm of sleep. The Tideborn's eyes opened and locked on him.
"You're awake," Azelon said softly.
"Did I wake you?"
"No." Azelon shifted slightly, turning toward him. "Your emotions did."
Jamie grimaced. "I'm still getting used to this bond thing."
"As am I." Azelon's gaze searched Jamie's face. "What's troubling you?"
The question was gentle, but Jamie sensed the concern beneath it.
"My brother," Jamie said, because it was the easiest truth to start with.
Azelon nodded. "You're concerned about the time we've lost."
"Among other things." Jamie glanced at Corin, still sleeping peacefully. "What are we doing, Azelon? Really?"
"I'm not sure I understand."
Jamie turned back to him, meeting those intense eyes. "Last night was... it was amazing. But what happens now? Do we just pretend we can build a life together? Do we ignore the fact that I don't belong in this world?"
Azelon went very still. "You regret what happened between us."
"No." The word came out sharper than Jamie intended. "I don't regret it. But I feel like I should."
"Explain."
Jamie sighed, trying to find words for the conflict churning inside him. "I've spent my whole life being the steady one. The responsible one. I don't go around forming mystical bonds with two men I've known for less than a week."
"Yet you have."
"Yet I have." Jamie's laugh held no humor. "And I can't tell if that's because of the magic or because I actually want this."
Azelon shifted closer, his hand finding Jamie's on the blanket. "Does it matter?"
"Of course it matters." Jamie's voice rose slightly, then he caught himself, glancing at Corin again. "I need to know if what I'm feeling is real or if it's just magical manipulation."
"The bonds cannot create emotions that don't exist," Azelon said quietly. "They can only amplify what's already there."
Jamie absorbed this, then another thought struck him. "And what happens when I find Daniel? When I have to decide whether to go back to Earth or stay here?"
"You would go back?" There was no accusation in Azelon's voice, which somehow made the question all the more pressing.
Jamie knew he had to respond with honesty. "I don't know. Maybe. Probably. My life is there, my business, everything I've built."
"Your business is here now."
"In the middle of nowhere." Jamie gestured toward the windows. "I love the store, but I can't exactly run a bookstore for an audience of trees and forest creatures."
Azelon was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was carefully neutral. "You've made your decision, then."
"I haven't made any decision." Jamie turned toward him fully. "I care about you. About Corin. More than I probably should after such a short time. But I also can't ignore the practical realities."
"Such as?"
"Such as the fact that I have responsibilities. People who depend on me. A life that existed before all this magic happened."
Azelon fell silent again. Then, he said, "I cut all ties to my people yesterday."
Jamie blinked, the words not quite registering. "What?"
"When you were unconscious. I used the sacred pool to contact my Council." Azelon's voice was calm, but Jamie caught the underlying tension. "I formally renounced my claim to Tideborn lineage. My name has been struck from their records."
"You..." Jamie stared at him, trying to process what he was hearing. "You gave up your chance to ever go home?"
"There was no chance. Not after forming bonds with you and Corin." Azelon's markings pulsed dimly. "I made that choice the moment I performed the healing ritual on you."
Jamie didn't know what to say in response to that. He'd had no idea the lengths the Tideborn had gone to. "You sacrificed everything."
"Everything that mattered to my old life, yes." Azelon's gaze met his. "It took me a long time to make that choice, but I don't regret it." His lips lifted slightly. "I feel free now."
Jamie realized what Azelon was trying to tell him, but could things really be that simple?
"You don't have to decide now," Azelon said. "But I understand your worries."
Jamie sat with that for a few heartbeats.
"I don't know what I'll do," he admitted. "I wish I did, but I don't."
Azelon nodded slowly. "At least you're honest."
"I'm trying to be." Jamie reached out to touch Azelon's hand. "I never planned for anything like this. I ran a bookstore. I paid taxes. I worried about quarterly profits and rent increases. I never thought about falling in love with magical creatures from another dimension."
The words hung between them, heavier than Jamie had intended.
"You love us?" Azelon asked quietly.
Jamie's heart stuttered. He hadn't meant to say that. The bonds must be affecting him more than he'd realized, making him voice thoughts he'd barely acknowledged to himself.
"I've never been good at wanting things for myself," Jamie confessed. "But this... you and Corin... I want this, but I don't see a path forward that doesn't end with someone getting hurt. I can't abandon my brother and I can't ask you to give up your world for mine."
Azelon shifted closer, his hand moving up to settle on Jamie's chest. The touch sent warmth through their bond, steady and reassuring.
"We will find a path," he said firmly.
"What if there isn't one?"
"Then we forge one."
Jamie looked at the Tideborn, struck by the quiet confidence in his voice.
"I will not lose you," Azelon went on, still in that steady tone of voice. "Or Corin. Not to fear, not to duty, not to the practical concerns of running a business. We will find your brother. We will solve the problem of the store's location. We will find a way to make this work."
The certainty in his voice made Jamie's chest tighten with something that might have been hope.
"You make it sound simple."
"It is not simple," Azelon agreed. "But it doesn't have to be simple to be possible."
A soft sound from Jamie's other side made them both turn. Corin's eyes fluttered open, amber gaze immediately focusing on their faces.
"Morning angst session without me?" he asked, voice still rough with sleep. "I'm hurt."
"We didn't want to wake you," Jamie said.
"Well, you're both projecting louder than I ever did." Corin shifted closer, his hand finding Jamie's hip. "What's wrong?"
Jamie exchanged a glance with Azelon. "We were talking about finding Daniel."
"And?"
"And what happens after."
Understanding dawned in Corin's eyes. "You're thinking about leaving."
"I'm thinking about a lot of things."
Corin was quiet for a moment, his fingers tracing patterns on Jamie's skin. "We'll help you find your brother."
"Thank you."
"And then you'll decide whether we're worth staying for."
The pain in Corin's voice made Jamie's chest tighten. "It's not that simple."
"Isn't it?" Corin sat up, the blanket pooling around his waist. "Either you want to be with us or you don't."
"I do want to be with you. But I also have a life?—"
"You have a life here too." Corin's eyes flashed. "With us. With the store. With magic you never dreamed of."
"In the middle of nowhere."
"So we move somewhere else."
Jamie blinked. "What?"
"We move the store. Find a town, a city, somewhere with actual people who might want to buy books." Corin shrugged as if it were obvious. "The store is magical now. It can probably do whatever you need it to do."
Jamie stared at him. "You think it's that simple?"
"I think you're making it more complicated than it needs to be." Corin leaned closer, his hand moving to rest over Jamie's heart. "You're scared. I get that. But running back to your old life won't make you happy, and you know it."
Jamie stared at Corin, something shifting in his chest. The fae's eyes held no judgment, no pressure—just complete certainty that made Jamie's insecurities suddenly feel transparent.
"You're right," he said quietly.
Corin's eyebrows rose as if he hadn't expected Jamie to cave so quickly.
Jamie's mouth quirked despite himself. Then he sobered. "I am scared," he admitted. "I like to make safe choices. This is..." He gestured between the three of them. "This is the opposite of safe."
"Safe is overrated," Corin said, though his voice was gentler now. "Besides, you've got us. We're excellent at handling chaos."
Azelon snorted softly. "One of us is excellent at creating it."
"Details." Corin waved a dismissive hand, then grew serious again. "Jamie, what would make you happy? If you could have anything, what would it be?"
The question caught Jamie off guard. When was the last time someone had asked him that? When was the last time he'd even asked himself?
"I want..." He stopped, the words feeling foreign on his tongue. "I want to keep the bookstore. But somewhere people can actually find it. Somewhere I can build something real."
"With us?" Azelon asked quietly.
Jamie met his gaze, then Corin's, feeling the bonds between them pulse with shared hope. "With you."
Corin's smile could have powered the store's lights. "Well, that's settled then."
"Is it?" Jamie asked.
"Of course!" Corin sat up straighter, excitement bleeding into his projection until the air around them shimmered faintly. "We just relocate the store."
"You really think that's possible?"
"Let's find out." Corin gestured at the walls around them. "Ask it."
"Ask what?"
"The store. You're connected to it, right? So ask it if relocation is possible."
Jamie hesitated. The idea felt ridiculous, talking to a building. But then again, a week ago the idea of magical bonds and Tideborn healing rituals had seemed equally impossible.
He placed his palm flat against the wall beside the bed. "Can you... can you move? Find somewhere else to be?"
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the room around them seemed to hum, a vibration Jamie felt more than heard. Books on nearby shelves ruffled their pages. The light fixtures brightened and dimmed in a pattern that felt almost like morse code.
"It's trying to tell us something," Azelon observed.
"Show us," Jamie said, remembering how the store had revealed the approaching creatures by making the ceiling transparent. "Show us what you can do."
The wall beneath his palm grew warm, then suddenly transparent.
Beyond it, Jamie could see not the forest they'd grown accustomed to, but flashes of different places—a bustling city street lined with shops, a quiet college town with tree-lined avenues, a coastal village where the smell of salt air seemed to seep through the magical window.
"Options," Corin breathed, wonder coloring his voice. "It's showing us options."
"How is this possible?" Jamie asked, though he wasn't sure if he was addressing his companions or the store itself.
The wall shimmered, and suddenly Jamie could see himself in the transparent surface—but not alone.
Corin stood beside him, arranging books on a shelf while customers browsed the aisles.
Azelon emerged from what looked like an expanded back room, carrying a tray of tea for a reading group gathered around comfortable chairs.
It looked... normal. Happy. Real.
"It's showing us what could be," Azelon said softly. "A future."
"But how would we actually get there?" Jamie asked. "The store can't just pick itself up and?—"
The vision in the wall changed. Now Jamie could see energy flowing between the three of them. Golden threads connected their hearts, their hands, their very souls. The energy pulsed brighter as their emotions aligned, as their desires merged into a single, focused want.
And the store responded to that energy, using it as fuel.
"Our bond," Corin whispered. "It wants to use our bond."
Jamie's heart hammered against his ribs. "Can we do that?"
Corin shifted on the bed. "If that's what you really want?"
Jamie looked at the visions still playing across the wall—potential futures where they were together, where the store thrived, where he didn't have to choose between the life he'd built and the love he could find.
"It is," he said, the words coming out stronger than he'd expected. "I want to make this work. I want to build something with both of you."
"Then let's do it." Azelon took one of Jamie's hands in his while he reached out for Corin with the other.