Page 173 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Because the last woman who put her hands in my hair like that ended up being slammed through a table with my hands around her throat,” I admitted.

“Oh…” she breathed with wide eyes. “Is it just women that make you feel like that? Should I not be—”

She tried to untangle our hands, but I tightened my grip on her to prevent her from pulling away from me.

“Mostly women, but I do not tend to react well when anyone grabs me unexpectedly. Especially if it’s my hair. Butyoudo not make me feel like that,” I blurted quickly when my stomach hollowed at the thought that she might not touch me anymore. “I don’t understand why that is, but I think… it is because there is nothing but genuine kindness in you,” I hurried to explain. I was still unable to even meet her eyes which I knew was definitely not helping me seem like a well-adjusted individual.

I was suddenly on the verge of yet another nervous breakdown, worried that I had said too much, or too little, and not sure how to fix it…

Then she brushed her thumb soothingly over mine. Just the simplest and most unassuming of touches, but it calmed me instantly.

She was quiet for so long that I almost raised my eyes to check on her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“You went to work with your mom too, didn’t you?”

My pulse leapt, fluttering in my veins painfully before I finally nodded wordlessly.

“Oh, Orion,” she breathed my name before tilting her head against my shoulder.

“I really did not have any choice,” I defended myself, even though there was not even an ounce of accusation or judgement in her demeanor.

“I know you didn’t, but it would not matter even if you had made the choice for yourself and it left scars on you,” she reassured me.

I was quiet for a moment as I internalized her words.

“My mother chose it. I never had pity for her.”

“No. And why would you when she forced it on you and your brother?” she demanded rhetorically.

“It left her with scars.”

“Then she should have kept you as far away from it as she could!” Amira insisted angrily, finally lifting her head off my shoulder, but I still could not look down at her.

My eyes were glued to the leather guards on my arms which I had not removed in front of anyone in years.

“What if I were…”

I stopped, unsure if I could unleash this truth yet, but then she gave my hand a squeeze of encouragement.

“When you are sold to the brothel as a child who does not yet work for their keep, you do not leave until you pay back your indenture with interest,” I began tentatively, and I felt her instantly stiffen.

I could not force the words out of my mouth, so I tilted our hands so that I could reach the laces of the guard on my arm that she was holding onto. I felt her watching my fingers loosen all the strings with quick and efficient tugs until I’d exposed what was hidden underneath.

My inner forearm was scarred by blade and fire from all my desperate attempts to remove the magic brand that appeared right in the middle. Perfectly untouched despite the state of the rest of my arm and the state ofmy soulbecause of it. Such a seemingly innocuous marking with a binding rune and the signature symbol of my Madame’s establishment entwined. It gave off a faint glow from the magic coursing in it from the bespelled iron my Madame used to brand me as a child. That iron was her most cherished possession, made by a wildr hag to settle a debt, and she kept it on her person at all times.

Well. Almost at all times…

I could still hear the solid clunk of it being set down so decisively on my bedside table late in the night.

Just looking at her signature upon me still marking me asher propertymade me want to vomit. And the gods knew that if I had notabsolutelyneeded my hands to stay at Ergastiri, then I might have cut both arms off at the elbows rather than see that signature on my skin.

I had no idea if Amira was familiar with the branding of whores in her world, but she seemed to understand the significance. Or perhaps the evidence of all my attempts to remove the mark was more telling for her…

“Why has Riordan not yet had thisremovedfor you?” Amira demanded. She was so outraged by this discovery that I was startled by the force of her reaction.

“Because he doesn’t know. And I do not want him to,” I added sternly, causing her infuriated gaze to collide with mine in confusion. I could tell that she wanted to argue with me about it, but she seemed to decide against that before her gaze drifted back down to my arm again.

“It is alright,” she told me instead. “We’ll figure it out. Personally, I think you need to tell Riordan so he can put a stop to this kind of thing but… if that is not an option for you yet, then we’ll figure it out for now,” she swore.

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