Page 39 of The Iron Flower

He glances back at Aislinn and her family, as if weighing the options—get a drink, or rip Randall’s head off. Then his fierce gaze darts back to meet mine, and I fight the urge to shrink back from him. “You need to step away from this for a moment and collect yourself,” I tell him. “Or you’re going to do something you’ll regret.”

“I don’t know that I’d regret killing him,” he says evenly.

“You don’t have to kill him rightnow,” I say, attempting to keep my voice light.

Jarod considers this. “True.” His jaw tenses, and he takes a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself. Then, to my great relief, he relents and goes with me to get something to drink from a table set up near to the kitchens.

Far away from Aislinn and her family.

* * *

Jarod and I sit, drinking hot cider, his eyes still finding their way back to Aislinn every now and then. But he seems to have calmed down a bit, the uncharacteristic violence in his amber eyes now dimmed.

“I have some concerns about Rafe and Diana,” I say to Jarod, trying to draw his attention away from Aislinn.

He shoots me a slightly indignant look.

“Jarod, I like Diana, you know that,” I clarify. “She’s actually perfect for Rafe. And I can picture Rafe fitting in well with your people in some ways. But my brother has never been a follower. I’m not sure this is going to work. Not the way Diana wants it to.”

“He wouldn’t have to follow for long.”

This catches me off guard. “I don’t understand.”

Jarod looks at me as if I should have figured this out by now. “Elloren, Rafe’s alpha material.”

“I thought Diana was likely to be next in line.”

“Perhaps, but I suspect when Rafe becomes Lupine, he might best even her.”

I start to laugh. “Oh, that’s rich. My brother, the alpha of a Lupine pack. AGardnerianalpha. The grandson of Carnissa Gardner, no less.”

Jarod’s lip lifts, and it’s good to see him almost smile. But then he glances back toward Aislinn, and the smile disappears. “Every time Randall touches her, I feel like going over there and separating his arm from the rest of his body.”

“Not a good idea.”

“I don’t know, Elloren, it seems like a better and better idea the longer I sit here.” He shoots Randall a look of pure loathing before turning back to me. “I have met so many of your fasted couples who have no interest in each other. Or the males are interested, and the females feel anything from indifference to outright revulsion. Are your men so cruel and sense blind that they’re content to mate with women who don’t want them? And why is it your women act like mating is something shameful? It’s bizarre.”

“Mating is considered sinful in our religion,” I try to explain. “Its sole purpose is to bring forth as many Mages as possible. Mating for any reason beyond that is considered immoral. We’re supposed to rise above our base natures. Not be like wild things, like...”

“Like us? Like shapeshifters?”

I let out a dismayed sigh. “Basically.”

Jarod’s stare is hard and unwavering. “That’s truly awful, Elloren.”

I look down, swallowing hard, thinking about what my own future might look like. “You’re right. It is.”

“So, you wandfast people with no thought as to whether they truly love each other.”

“And at younger and younger ages,” I dolefully add. “My neighbor Sage Gaffney was fasted at thirteen.”

Jarod’s face has taken on a deeply troubled look. “The woman with the Icaral child.”

I nod. “Her fastmate beat her, so she ran away from him.”

Jarod winces. “I’ve read your sacred book, you know,” he says, his tone grim. “Trying to understand Aislinn. The first part is truly hideous. It’s so full of hatred for anyone outside of your kind. I read this book, and I see why it doesn’t matter how much I love Aislinn. She’ll never be free of this awful religion...”

Jarod’s voice trails off, and I look up to find his mother approaching us from across the room. As she nears our table, Daciana’s eyes light on me, her expression turning wary. It’s clear she wishes my brothers and I would go away and leave her family alone.

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