Page 98 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Well, it is very different to me. But we will both have needs at some point, and we will have to find a way to navigate them in a way that is… respectful,” he said.

I nodded grudgingly, still annoyed with his response. “Honestly, I don’t think you will need to worry about me in that way for a long time,” I admitted.

“What do you mean?” he asked, looking concerned.

“Aside from the fact that most people here don’t seem to like dryads very much? I think it will be a while before I really want that with anyone.”Else.

Sage tilted his head, and I could tell he was debating with himself over whether or not to voice his questions. Evidently my ruthless curiosity from earlier had rubbed off on him a little.

“There is an army, a few small villages, and the city of Mionlach outside this tent, Summer, so you will have no problem finding someone to indulge you. But are you… Are you alright? Why do you feel it will be a while before you want sex if it is like food or water?” he asked.

I was quiet for some time as I contemplated what to tell him.

“It has been a long time since I’ve had a relationship like what you prefer,” I began tentatively.

“Since Phiala,” he guessed, and I nodded, feeling a spark of astonishment that he knew this. It was a strange thing to have someone who was coming to know me as much as he did. Both freeing and terrifying.

“To be fully honest, it’s actually been a while since sex was really about fulfilling my needs. It has been more of a distraction or a way to be safe. And for the first time…”

I trailed off, a little overwhelmed by the horrible words that had just come out of my mouth. Especially when I felt Sage grow tense, defensive and protective, as he also realized what I was saying.

“For the first time you do not need to do it for those reasons,” Sage finished knowingly for me, and I nodded, emotion threatening to choke me. I could tell he was also a little emotional when he brushed his hands up my arms in a gentle caress that was meant to be unassuming but comforting. “You willneverneed to do that again.”

“I think… Perhaps I am just threatened by the idea of another female in your life,” I admitted, finally expelling the poisonoustruth. “I know it’s selfish of me,” I hurried to assure him. “Obviously I cannot keep you all to—”

Sage touched my chin, the gentlest of cues, but it still stopped me dead in my tracks and made my eyes flick up to his immediately. And there was nothing but complete and utter understanding in his eyes as he made sense of my ruthless interrogation earlier.

“Your safety will always be guaranteed. It will never expire if you heal enough to want someone in your life, and it will never be revoked if I enter a relationship.”

Thiswas what I’d needed to hear from him.

“You are myanam, Summer. Lovers will come and go, probably for both of us if you ever come to feel those desires again, but this,” he said, placing a large hand flat on my chest over my racing heart. “This will be constant through all of it. It will endure through everything.”

Tears stung my eyes as I reached up to clench his hand while the tension in my whole body suddenly unravelled, leaving me feeling almost dizzy with relief.

“But will other people not be threatened by this?”

“I imagine they will be. This is new. I have not yet thought about how it will work or what it will look like in the future. For now, let’s focus on the blight, the Fuath, and your negotiations with Rian. There will be time later to decide how best to balance our connection with any relationships that develop outside it. But rest assured that whatever else comes, thiswillendure through all of it.”

I nodded and pressed my forehead against his before slipping even closer to bury my face in his neck while he wrapped his arms around me tightly. I breathed in his scent where it mixed with mine over my mark on him and allowed it to seep into me like a balm for my tired soul.

Chapter twenty-eight

THE AUTUMN PRINCE

Ornella

“I am upset you don’t have a bathtub,” I mumbled into Sage’s shoulder after a few moments of sitting together and holding one another.

He laughed, his hands slipping across my back as he unwound his arms from around me.

“There are incredible bathhouses in the city, but most of the soldiers go down to the river,” Sage informed me. My nose crinkled with disappointment.

“I suppose we don’t have time to go for a bath before we see Rian,” I guessed.

“No, he called me just a moment ago,” Sage revealed, and my eyes widened at him.

“You didn’t say?” I demanded, quickly crawling off of his lap so I could scramble to my feet in front of him.

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