Page 169 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

But I knew that was only because neither of them had ever seen me at my worst.

Orion… Riordan growled in my head.

I have no intention of hurting her,I assured Riordan, tilting my wings to carry us around Ergastiri and toward the mountains behind the college.

She trusts you, and so do I,myskiáwarned me sternly.She seems to think you need privacy, so I will grant it, under the condition you are kind,he mandated sternly.

As much as I understood and even agreed with all the caution, that selfish part of me could not help resenting it just a little coming from Riordan. I had spent the better part of five hundred years in a soulful anguish from which I had spared him, and this witch could finally alleviate it. Why did he have to prioritize her comfort over mine?

I did not ask you to keep all your anguish from me!Riordan broke into my morose thoughts which I had not meant for him to sense.In truth… I am heartbroken you did not entrust me withit from the beginning. And since you seem to have forgotten, I will remind you that I defied everything that was ever expected of me for you. You are loved so much more than you seem to think is possible. And Idowant you to know all the beauty and joy Amira has brought to my life. Or I would never tolerate you running off with her like a brigand!Riordan insisted with utter exasperation.But she is also my first priority now. And you will never know a fraction of the happiness she could bring to you if you do not make heryourfirst priority too. That will mean always putting her comfort ahead of your own, but worry not, because she will do the same for you just as she is doing right now.

I hadn’t meant for him to feel all that. My control over my shields was slipping in my state of complete turmoil.

But…more loved than you think is possible…

I could not help prodding at our bond to see if I could make out more of his emotions, but he was shielding them better than he usually did with me.

Riordan?

Be kind to her,he insisted as if he were redirecting me.She is precious to me. You both are.

I promise.

Good.And with that, he closed the link between us, giving me the privacy that he had sworn to uphold.

Chapter forty-six

WHAT IS A THERAPIST?

Orion

My heart was suddenly pounding so hard in my ears that I could barely hear the wind howling in them. But we were close to the mountain now, so I forced myself to focus and picked an outcropping on which to land. I would need to contemplate what Riordan meant by his comments later.

I was sure to bend my knees and cushion the impact of our landing for the witch so she was not jarred by it.

“Well, this is… certainly private,” she noted ironically as I dropped her legs so she was standing on her own feet. She inched away from me just enough to peer over the cliff at the tops of the trees far below, but she kept a hand clenched in my shirt as if to anchor herself.

“Are you frightened?” I asked her, unable to help but grip her arm as if she might slip over the edge.

“Am I totally naive not to be?” she returned evenly, turning to look up at me with those solemn, amber eyes that pinned me in place. With the sun setting behind her, Amira’s face was cast in shadow with a halo of sunlight gleaming off her hair and igniting strands of auburn.

Beautiful…

“No,” I answered quietly, and she gave a small smile.

“Good,” she declared before she turned to walk over to a boulder behind me. She leaned against it and patted the space right next to her in an invitation which I accepted. Carefully maneuvering my wing behind her so as not to knock her off the rock.

“So why me?” she asked as I reclined next to her.

“What do you mean?”

“You are closer to Riordan. Why am I here when you could probably be talking to him?” she wanted to know.

It was a good question, and one I had contemplated for a long time. I knew before her arrival that my reasoning for keeping my past from Riordan was based in shame. He was a prince and an Imítheos who would probably never truly understand, and I feared ruining his perception of my people whom he considered so noble and good.

Ruining his perception ofmeas those things. Because while I might know I was unworthy of him, the idea of him knowing it too felt unbearable.

But now, with Amira, it was like the shadows of my past were clambering to get out of me. Like she had set fire to all the holes in which they hid inside me and now they were scattering around like rats on a sinking ship.

---