Page 50 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Were they really unhappy with you?”

“Very unhappy. My mother shouted at Rian the next time she saw him after I made the declaration as a child,” he revealed in amusement.

I had not realized Rian was so much older than Sage, but that was not unusual. Fey were virtually immortal and most of us did not grow old in ways that made it easy to discern our ages.

“What about Orlaith?” I asked him.

The topic of the silvery-blonde female who had been a previous lover of Sage’s was one that I had been skirting around for a couple weeks now. I knew things had to be complicated between them since they still seemed to care about one another; but she smelled of another male which meant that she was mated to someone else.

Sage was quiet for so long that I wasn’t sure he would indulge my curiosity, and I sensed his mood had shifted.

“Orlaith is a… complicated subject,” he hedged.

“She still loves you, but she is mated to another male,” I stated confidently. “Do you still love her as well? Is that why it’s so complicated?” I asked him. I knew I was being nosey and insensitive, but Sage would tell me to fuck off if he needed to.Although I really hoped he didn’t because I badly wanted the answers to my questions.

Sage heaved a sigh, and I could tell he was reluctant to have this conversation with me, but I did not give him an out by assuring him that we didn’t need to talk about it. The truth was that I was dying of curiosity about Orlaith and her time with Sage, and I needed to know more about the current state of their relationship. So I waited.

“She was my first love, so I will probably always care for her in some way. Even if only as a friend. And she is still a close friend to Shay,” Sage told me.

“Isthatwhy your sister hates me so much? She said she had a quarrel with you that she was taking out on me. Was she displeased with how things ended between you and Orlaith? And then you returned home with another stunningly gorgeous female, and she got the wrong idea,” I pieced together with a playful arrogance.

Sage laughed, but then he was quiet for a long time. “Something like that,” he finally admitted.

“Did you do something to her to make your sister so angry with you? To Orlaith,” I clarified suspiciously.

“You mean aside from breaking her heart when I left?” he asked sarcastically, and I hesitated in confusion.

“But you said you knew early that you wanted to be a rider, that you didn’t want a quiet life, so she must have been expecting that. Or were you dishonest with her?”

“No, I was clear about my intentions,” he assured me.

“So she knew you were leaving. Shay knew you meant to leave. Why would Orlaith allow her heart to be broken by something she was expecting from the start?”

“I don’t think sheallowedit, I think she hoped I would love her enough to stay. I am the one who allowed it to go on for too long after realizing how she felt.”

“But that’s not fair!” I objected, abandoning even my miniscule attempts to be sensitive with him. “If you were clear and honest about your resolve from the beginning, then neither of them had a right to put those expectations on you. Much less be upset about it after. You didn’t break her heart, Sage, she broke it herself.”

The moment the words were out of my mouth, I knew they were wrong. They tasted cruel and judgemental and a little unfair, especially after Orlaith had saved my life.

But that did not mean they were untrue. Right?

Sage did not respond right away, and the prolonged silence killed me. I began to agonize over whether I had overstepped and upset him, but I was too afraid to speak, so I simply held my breath and waited for him.

“Like I said, it is very complicated,” he reminded me, dismissing my assertion with his usual gentleness.

He was not willing to villainize his ex, even if she was in the wrong for putting the exact kind of pressure on him that he’d admitted earlier to loathing. It was frustrating to me that he would not admit it, but upon reflection, it was also unsurprising. Sage was much more likely to take on the blame rather than make accusations of other people.

I had no such qualms.

“It does not sound all that complicated.”

“It is much more complicated than I wish to discuss. Relationships are never easy,” he insisted.

Perhaps it was jealousy that myanamwas upholding another female that left such a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe it was the defensiveness in his tone. Or maybe I was offended by his assumption that I did not understand relationships. Whatever the reason, my back went up.

“You must think someone like me couldn’t possibly know anything about love.”

“I did not say that—”

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