Page 167 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“We can talk, but I have to help them clean up first,” Amira said as she indicated the volunteers. All of whom were glancing at me in suspicion while they packed up.

“I will help,” I muttered.

She looked surprised at first by the offer, but then she gave me an appreciative smile that lifted some of the unbearable weight off my chest.

Someone went to fetch enough water to fill several large basins in which Amira and a couple others began washing the bowls and cutlery. I took the spot next to her, ignoring the glare of a disgruntled volunteer I must have displaced, and I began to dry the dishes as Amira cleaned. The movement cracked open the scabs on my knuckles, but luckily, she did not notice the blood since she seemed determined not to look at me directly.

Just being so close to her calming aura, working in a companionable silence with arms occasionally brushing, brought me an immense sense ofpeace. The screech of my thoughts was quieted, and the thrum of anxiety in my bones shuddered into stillness. I couldbreatheagain.

After some time, another volunteer came to pour some more hot water into the basin that Amira was working in. I glanced over to see that they were heating the water in the same cauldron that they had been using to keep the soup warm all day.

“Why don’t you warm the water for them?” I ventured to ask Amira, finally breaking the silence between us.

“I try not to use my magic,” she admitted hesitantly, like she was not sure whether to reveal this. “I am already so different. It hardly seems wise to draw attention.”

“But in this case, that difference would be a strength,” I pointed out, unable to help watching the pulse leaping in her neck. I had to resist an urge to use myadénesin order to better taste her emotions, but I did not think she was merely nervous with me being so close to her.

“When people are accepting,” she concurred. She did not elaborate, but she clearly seemed to think that people would not approve of this particular strength.

Once the dishes were clean and dried, we moved them into padded crates that were small enough to transport by wing to the warehouse that had become Amira’s base of operations in the city. Tables were dismantled to similarly be flown off, and the enormous cauldron was fitted into a harness so two people could fly with it between them.

The process was so smooth, as if everyone but me had done it a hundred times and knew their role, and soon the square was empty.

Amira wiped her hands on her apron before unhooking it from around her neck and folding it to go into the last crate to go to the warehouse. Once the final volunteer had flown off, leaving us with her usual entourage of Helena, Ares, and Sofia, Amira finally turned toward me.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely with a tentative smile. “So what did you need to talk about?”

Once more, it felt like words escaped me when her full attention was turned upon me. I’d been waiting for this all afternoon, waiting for her to give me her undivided focus, and yet meeting her amber eyes made me freeze. And the spike of anxiety was certainly not helped when Helena, Sofia, and Ares all moved closer to us because none of them trusted me with her.

Although I knew perfectly well why they felt that way.

“We can… Do you want privacy?” Amira guessed when she saw me glance at them.

“Amira—” Sofia began to intervene.

“No,” I admitted, knowing by the reactions around me that this was something I needed to do… publicly.

So I breathed deeply through my nose to settle the part of me that still felt shame in being made into a spectacle, and mademyself go to my knees before her. I bowed my head and put my hands flat on the ground with my wings lowered in complete and utter humility.

A heavy silence settled over the square, and it rang shrill in my ears.

“I have been inexcusably unkind and selfish with you,” I began in earnest, swallowing the bitter taste of disgust on my tongue. “I’m sorry, Amira. You don’t know how… Please… Will you forgive me?” I finally stammered out. “For the way I have spoken to you and for the way I… handled you in the Silver Moor.”

Amira was so surprised by my demonstration that she did not react right away, but she quickly regained her senses and dropped to her knees next to me. She grabbed my shoulders to try to push me upright, but I remained hunched over, unable to look at her or anyone else.

“Please, Orion, you don’t need to do this,” she swore.

“But Ido,” I insisted, finally raising my head enough to meet her eyes, and we both hesitated when we realized how close we were to one another. Close enough for me to see her pupils dilating when her eyes dipped briefly to my mouth, but neither of us moved. “I was cruel to you because I am… ugly inside,” I continued in spite of the jolt my heart had given. In spite of all the eyes I felt on us. “I am so sorry. Will you… Please forgive me.”

She looked startled for another moment before she nodded at me quickly.

“Of course, I forgive you!” she reassured me, as if this were obvious.

The relief of her absolution might have overwhelmed me emotionally had she not shifted her hand from my shoulder and gently brushed her fingers into my hair.

“Don’t—” Helena gasped sharply in horror and jolted forward with her hands readily outstretched for my wings to restrain me.Ares was either too dumbstruck by the whole spectacle to react or…

He didn’t remember what happened to the woman who walked up behind me in the bar after our graduation feast and put her hand in my hair. Although I did not know how anyone could ever forget something like that. It was one of my more vicious moments which I had always been glad Riordan had missed since he was an Imítheos who did not indulge in our debauchery.

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