Page 133 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“I am not sure about this,” she confided to me quietly, squeezing me rather tightly in her nervousness when she wrapped her arms around me.

“You will be alright. I won’t let you fall,” I assured her as I patted her arm in assurance, but her death grip only increased as the other vargr began to take flight.

I resisted the urge to pry her hands off my stomach and looked to Summer who watched the other riders. Then she glanced at me, saw my nod, and bent into Pyrope to give her the command with her knees which she learned while riding with me. She began to climb into the sky, and I was unable to help feeling immense pride as I watched her.

“I am so happy for you, Sage,” said my mother, and I realized I had been staring after Summer for too long.

“Ready?”

“As I shall ever be,” she answered, squeezing me tight again when I bent forward.

We followed the others at a distance so that I could keep an eye on myanam, but all the time she’d spent on Serafin had paid off. She already looked exceptionally comfortable flying on her own.

My mother, on the other hand, felt like she was trying to squeeze me in half. And just as she was starting to relax, Rian formed a portal in the sky ahead into which each of us flew one after the other. My mother gave a gasp just before we entered, and in a heartbeat, we went from the humid warmth of Feura to the cool crispness of the Raveina Mountains.

We were north of our village, but I could see the smoke rising in the distance where it had been destroyed. My mother gave a sigh at the sight of the plumes and shuddered against my back.

“They will answer for what they did,” I promised her over my shoulder and squeezed her hand until I felt her nod in agreement.

We flew closer to the mountains to take advantage of the updrafts that helped carry us northward even faster with minimal effort from our vargr. I wished I could speak into Summer’s mind to know what she was thinking and feeling while flying on her own. I settled for getting closer to gauge her expression, and her smile was pure euphoria. So I remained near, unable to help myself from stealing glances at her when she was not looking.

“Have you talked about it?” my mother asked abruptly, and I felt like an imbecile when I realized that she could see my head turning toward the dryad.

“About what?”

“Oh, donotplay the fool with me, Sage DorTìodhlac!” chastised my mother. “Have you discussed thefuturewith youranamof whom you are so fond?” she spelled out.

“No, and nor can we right now. It is complicated.”

“Complicated like it was “complicated” whenever you decided not to tell anyone she was youranamor really and truly complicated?” she retorted. I hissed in feigned pain when her sarcastic words found their mark.

“I am sorry I did not tell you.”

“And have you not learned from that experience?”

“This is different! She has already said that she doesn’t want to entertain a relationship with anyone for a while. Perhaps not ever,” I clarified.

My mother was thoughtful for a moment as she mulled over this revelation. I could see the haze of white smoke from cookingfires rising ahead and knew that we were quickly approaching Aes Mirr.

“Did she perhaps mean that she does not want relations with anyone other than…you? After meeting youranam, why would either of you desire anyone else? If she cannot be with you, then maybe she would rather be alone.”

“I won’t presume to be the exception. The bond means something different to her in her culture than it does to us. It is not romantic but a tool for abuse.”

“Yes, but shetrustsyou, Sage. My gods, you are both drawn to one another like lodestones!” my mother insisted with some amusement. “I have observed it for some time, even before I knew what she was to you, but it is like the very essences within you are magnetized by one another. You react when she comes near. Like you innately know where she is at all times. Did you know that?”

It was hard to believe I really was that oblivious to my own behaviour. It was no wonder Orlaith had known that something was brewing between me and Summer.

“What is the harm of being honest? You thought she’d be upset that you were heranam, and you were wrong,” my mother continued when I did not respond.

“The harm is that it could undermine her whole sense of safety. You don’t know her as I do. She is so terrified to lose her security here that knowing how I felt about her would put pressure on her to accommodate me.”

I felt my mother hesitate as she recognized what I was telling her.

“I need to wait for her to be the one to indicate whether or not that is something she desires from me,” I clarified, reassuring her that I did want to explore this possibility. Gods, I wanted it more every day. And I’d been trying so damned hard to be impartial and platonic with Summer. I’d even gone so far as totalk about other relationships as if it were something I could ever stomach just to make sure that she did not feel any pressure.

But Iwantedher. I wanted her desperately.

“I think it will be much sooner than you think, Sage,” my mother predicted, drawing my attention to Summer who was watching me in apparent concern. She grinned when I caught her staring, and I realized that I must have looked rather pensive.

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