Page 188 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

I turned away from him with a huff to wander closer to the front of the line where Nuala was sitting at Rian’s feet with his white vargr curled around her. The fire witch had evidently insisted on coming along with us, and in spite of whatever arrangement they had in which she had given Rian control of her, he had consented to bring her.

She now sat close to him watching as the fey filed by them into his portal. The only person Rian had allowed to interact with her beyond his riders and Carrick was Asha who brought the witch a blanket to sit on.

“Bored yet?” I asked her as I moved tentatively to sit at the very edge of her blanket.

Rian’s vargr, whose name I had not yet learned, raised his head from her lap to watch me and Pyrope approach. I’d seen him snarling viciously at anyone who tried to get too close to the witch. But with a glance up at his rider, who must have told him via their bond that I was allowed to be near her, the white vargr lowered his massive head back onto Nuala’s thigh again.

“I’ve known boredom. This is not it,” she assured me, mindlessly stroking the vargr’s head as her mismatching eyes took in the fey and the mountain and the sky.

She had at times been reserved and cold, like there was a layer of ice inside her, making her dull and unanimated. But for now, her wonder and awe was on display.

“Right,” I muttered, wincing internally at her reminder. When one had been in the dark for years, I supposed even hours of watching the clouds would be enchanting.

“Do not fear offending me. I do not want to be defined by what I have endured,” Nuala insisted softly.

“I am not sure you can avoid that. My past has defined me for the better part of five centuries—”

I hesitated, surprised at the ease with which the words had come out of me. I might have wondered whether part of her soothsayer magic was to loosen tongues, but it was more complicated than that. I already felt a kinship with this fire witch, and it was not only that we had endured similar pasts or that she reminded me so much of Amira. She seemed to have few reservations, no filter, and a very rudimentary concept of manners. That made her authentic and honest, and I appreciated it immensely. There was also something comfortable about Nuala as if she were already confident with Rian and at ease among his riders. Honestly, I envied her a little for that since I still felt like an outsider to them, but perhapsher clairvoyance allowed her to see and know andfeelthat she belonged.

“You are perhaps right,” Nuala admitted as her eyes lowered to the vargr whose enormous head dwarfed her, and yet she was unafraid of him. “But I am determined to fight it if that is the case. I do not wish to givethema moment more of me by dwelling on it,” Nuala declared.

“Then you are stronger than me. I had not thought of it that way before, but I suppose Ihavegiven my enemies centuries more of myself. My pain and anger,” I mused.

“Not stronger. Just different. We all bear our burdens the best that we can,” Nuala murmured with her eyes still on the vargr in her lap who had closed his emerald eyes. Then she looked up at his rider, up at Rian who watched the aes sídhe filing by him and offered them an occasional nod whenever they would smile at him or thank him.

Looking up at him, I suddenly wondered why his vargr was white and if it meant anything. Pyrope was red with green eyes. Serafin was nearly black with a sheen of purple and violet eyes. Aingeal was red with orange eyes, and Gealach was all silver. Every other vargr very closely resembled their rider, and Sage had even said vargr would change to reflect their rider.

But the only way I could see Rian’s vargr resembled him was in those emerald-green eyes.

I also had many questions for Nuala about her strange connection to the Autumn Prince. Most of them I knew to be inappropriate, so I would have to ask about it when he was not near enough to reprimand me.

I almost jumped out of my skin when Nuala abruptly reached for me, her newly perfect fingers brushing down the side of my neck.

Shit. I had removed Rian’s scarf upon leaving his tent and had not anticipated that Nuala would accompany us so I hadn’t covered up again.

“I did not know that bruises could be given in love,” she admitted, looking awed as she admired Sage’s work. “And you display them proudly. Your lover is pleased to show others that you belong to him,” Nuala observed.

Sweet Elements…

I glanced up at Rian who smirked, obviously listening to our conversation, and I wondered if he already knew all of this about his cousin. Sage had said the riders talked about these things, so had they discussed his proclivity for marking up his lovers?

“Well, you all have this move under control,” I noted loudly enough for Rian to hear me. “I should go through the portal and heal more of the injured Aes Suri now that my magic is recouped a little bit.”

“I will inform Sage,” Rian assured me without looking away from the line of aes sídhe. “Although you could do that all on your own if you were initiated.”

“Thank you,” I said, sweeping into a dramatic bow for him before motioning for Pyrope to stay behind. She was not pleased, but she allowed me to go into the portal, moving quickly to avoid confronting Rian’s hint about being initiated into the Wild Hunt.

I was still a little nervous about the prospect of sharing my mind with Sage, but mostly I was excited for that aspect of initiation. There had been so many times when I wished that I could speak to him privately, and I savoured the idea of having access to him even when we were leagues apart. Of being able to seek him out in my mind whenever I needed his affection and assurance.

Not to mention all the ways I would tease him when he could see through my eyes, feel through my hands, and hear through my ears.

And there was a good chance that I could achieve that connection with him without needing to be initiated into the Wild Hunt since he was ananam.I had often felt a tug that I now knew was our bond growing tight between us. And although it still unnerved me after I had seen the bond abused by my people, this wasSage, the only male I’d ever consider willingly sharing myself with like that.

But I had a feeling that would not be enough for Rian. The Autumn Prince seemed keen on a united Wild Hunt which would mean giving the other riders the same sort of access to me. It would mean that what meager privacy I still had remaining would be all gone. And while I might not have any major secrets left, at least none that were of particular concern to the Wild Hunt, that was terrifying. Especially when Ciaran hated me the way he did.

I put the possibilities out of my mind and asked for directions to the injured Aes Suri. I knew from previous discussions with Sage thatteinewith injured members would erect yurts close together along with the healers.

I reached their section of camp and spied Ivie coming out of the beaded entrance of a tent with a distraught female who was sobbing miserably.

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