Page 77 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

I looked up at Riordan to see if he understood, and he was staring at me. I didn’t even think he was breathing.

“Are you saying…” he began, but then he trailed off as if he could not bring himself to hope he had interpreted my meaning correctly.

“I choose you, Riordan,” I whispered and watched the emotion erupt across his face in sweet devastation.

“Amira,” he breathed as if uncertain what else to say.

“I know it will be hard with the Imítheos, but you have proven that you would move mountains for me, and now I just… I cannot bear to think about my life with anyone else but you. Maybe it makes me selfish, because despite whatever you might say, I definitely donotdeserve you! But I don’t care,” I assured him before he could object to my unapologetic assertion. “I want you, Riordan. I want to be yours. And maybe it will be less difficult with your people once we are mated. They might see us as more of a united front,” I pointed out, attempting to be optimistic, although he raised his brows at me. “If not, then at least I’ll be allowed in the same room alone with you. And I could touch you without it being so scandalous to them! You have no idea how much I ache to be able to touch you all the time,” I admitted quietly, allowing my hands to trail down his muscled arm.

“It will always be scandalous to them, Amira, but I am yours to touch whenever you want,” Riordan assured me, making me giggle with his eagerness. His hands cupped my face with such gentle reverence as he stared at me for a moment before shaking his head in disbelief. “It hardly feels real. I have been wanting you for so long and now… Are you sure about this? Aboutme?”

“I have never been more sure ofanything. And maybe it will be easier with Orion if we are not in limbo anymore. Maybe this decision will force him to resolve his issues rather than continue to look for ways that he can interfere with this choice.”

Riordan’s elation at my news was dampened slightly by the mention of Orion, and he did not look convinced of my tentative hope.

“Orion is a stubborn bastard, and I honestly have no idea what is going through his mind right now. It may be helpful, but it could just as easily make him even angrier. But I want this. I wantyou,” Riordan asserted in absolute certainty, and I nodded as I nibbled on my lower lip with indecision again. I wanted to be as transparent with him as I possibly could be if we were going to do this.

“I have to be honest with you… I may know what’s wrong with him,” I began, watching nervously as his eyes widened. “But I don’t think I should tell you.”

“Why not?” he demanded, on the verge of being upset, but he held himself back in order to hear my reasoning.

“I don’t want to blow up your friendship. It is his secret to share, and he is responsible for it,” I insisted.

Riordan eyed me, and I could tell he was frustrated by the knowledge that the answers to his friend’s behaviour were right in front of him. But he eventually nodded as he lowered his hands from my face.

“How do you know?” he asked me quietly.

“Ornella figured it out first, but I would have guessed it eventually,” I said, and he gaped in further disbelief.

“The two of you knew my closest and most guarded friend for less than forty-eight hours, and youguessedthis secret of his? I have known him for centuries. I have bled and killed at his side; we are a part of one another through theskiábond, and yet Ihave not the slightest idea what is going on with him. So are yousureabout it?”

“He has not explicitly admitted it, but his actions have confirmed it beyond doubt to me,” I assured him.

“And will it be insurmountable for him?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I admitted honestly. “It will depend on what he decides to make a priority going forward.”

Chapter twenty-two

TWO SOULS IN PERFECT SYNC

Orion

You have Amira to thank. She is good for him. He listens to her. You need to sort out your jealousy!

I scowled at Helena’s firm but sympathetic words after she came to tell me that Riordan had returned from his impromptu tour of Ergastiri with the witch. She told me he’d sought her out immediately to apologize for rushing off that morning without communicating. Evidently he had explained that he had not been making an impulsive decision to run off to battle. He had a strategic plan in mind to reassert his presence and command in the Vale. Thereby reducing the need for his intervention in such matters in the future. Something which he’d not even seen fit to explain to me at any point. And he told her that he already rescheduled the meeting with the oligarchs.

Riordan had been so clear about his disappointment in me earlier that I’d asked Ares to be ready to attend to the king’s security when Riordan left the safety of Ergastiri. Myskiáwanted space, so I would give it to him.

I returned to the Metropolis to wait for him in his chambers on the uppermost level of The Mountain City. That was probablythe only part of the tower into which I was safe to fly, since Ares said he was almost skewered that morning by themágoiguarding the other royal suites. Luckily, there were no guards in Riordan’s rooms since myskiáhad placed powerful wards on those chambers. Wards which allowed only he and I through them.

I paced, trying to figure out what the fuck I was going to say to my king, but he had not yet returned to his room. He had sought Helena’s forgiveness, and she had come to converse with me from outside his window, but myskiáwas still too angry with me to discuss our disagreement.

She has accepted him, Orion. You need to let it go.

“Fuck!” I snarled, resisting the urge to throw my fist through the godsdamned door as I recalled the news that Helena had brought. News that myskiáshould have told me himself but had opted to allow her to share with me.

This is happening. You will only push him away if you keep fighting it!

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