Page 131 of The Orc Outcast's Mate

The seer needed to tell her where they were. That’s it.

“It hurts. I know. And it’s nice to sleep on your male and let him soothe and distract and care for you at every turn.”

Her stomach twisted.

“He likes it too, Miranda, so stop with the guilt. He likes it too much. Govek has his arms so far open it’s no wonder you fall into them at every opportunity. Not that he can be blamed for this. It is not his responsibility to deny you comfort. It is you who must put the work into healing.”

“I don’t . . . need to heal.”

“What?” The seer’s shock was almost palpable and, under alternative circumstances, it might have made her laugh.

“I don’t need to remember what happened on Earth. I just need you to tell me how to find my family.”

The seer’s brow screwed up.

“That’s why I’m here. Why I want to dredge with you. To find them. My...” Her throat closed and her eyes prickled, and her breaths came in short pants.

“Miranda, listen to me.”

His voice sounded odd, like a vibration. Like two voices overlapped to create one. The sound of it rolled over her skin and made her arms break out with goosebumps. The light from the spring grew so bright she felt like it was absorbing into her.

“Everything is connected,” the seer said slowly. “Everything. Your past, present, and future blend together to create the whole of your life. You cannot live that life in parts, Miranda. And I cannot dredge in parts.”

“But... I only need you to tell me where they are.”

“I can’t do that,” he said firmly, and her hopes were dashed, shattered like icy glass at her feet, slicing open her skin and making it difficult to breathe. “Not now.”

Not now . . . that meant . . . later?

“What... what do I have to do?” Miranda straightened her back. She’d do anything.

And she could do anything. She’d healed from trauma before. In her childhood. After her family died in the car accident and she’d been left all alone. Sent to live with children that had come from much worse situations than she had. A place where adult attention was divided so thinly it felt like trying to drink water from a cup of dry sand. Where you could be surrounded by dozens of people and were still overlooked.

She’d spent her entire career working to make sure the babies at Riverside Daycare never felt like they were unwanted or unseen.

And then she’d abandoned them?—

No! No! She hadn’t. She knew she hadn’t.

They were here. On Faeda. She’d do anything to find them. Even face the horror of what had happened on Earth.

“Please,” she insisted. “Tell me what I have to do.”

“It won’t be easy,” the seer said, turning back to the spring and brightening the water again. It was odd, but the light never hurt her eyes. Never felt blinding. Even as the tree trunks turned almost white from the bright illumination and the leaves went colorless and the sand glowed like the sun.

It was so bright. So bright.

And familiar.

“If you want your answers, you’re going to have to sit with the horrors that you keep pushing away and accept them instead. You will need to work through your pain and shed light on the places of your mind you are trying to keep in the dark.”

“But... every time I try to do that, I panic.” Miranda focused on the glowing water. “I can’t move or breathe or even think. How am I supposed to heal when I’m so consumed by pain it makes me shut down?”

“As I said, it isn’t easy.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” Miranda whispered. On Earth, even with therapy, it took months. Years.

Was she going to be able to heal before the seer left the Rove Woods?

---