The instant after he said it, Ben knew he wouldn’t get the response he wanted. Perhaps a romantic would have thought that the realization would hit him with the force of a tidal wave but instead he just felt…flat. As if someone had quietly shuttered the windows, blocking out all the light that had flooded into the room. A thousand different wizards he’d fought and won, and it was the one before him that had the power to bring him to his knees. He wanted to beg and plead but he knew it was useless. Ari was committed to the path he was on, and there wasn’t anything Ben could do to stop it.

He stepped back even further, almost stumbling as he put more distance between them. It felt as if Ari had reached up and enclosed his throat in his hand and squeezed. The air was thin now, and he felt something inside him extinguish. He hadn’t realized it was there until Ari’s command completely obliterated it. So to make sure no one else could take anything else from him, Ben took a breath, steeling himself; blanking his mind, his thoughts, everything. He hadn’t done this in a long time, but unless he wanted to feel himself fracture in two, it was the only option.

With one last look at Ari, he turned and walked through the passage.

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   Ari Fisk, Fallon Gillespie