Page 103 of The Weaver

“I believe that he is. He suffered the loss of his mate and children, and in his attempts to protect you, he hurt you too. But I don’t think he ever meant to push you away or make you feel unwanted.” Ahmya pressed his hand to her cheek. “Whywould he have been so happy to see you, so excited for you to meet your siblings, if he didn’t want you there? He wants you in his life, Rekosh. You are his family.”

An unhappy buzz escaped him. He wanted to argue, to deny what she had said…but he could not. He’d seen his sire’s eyes, his posture, had heard the sadness in his voice. Rekosh hadn’t expected his sire to take their parting so hard yet so gracefully.

And he hadn’t expected to feel it so deeply himself.

Ahmya lowered his hand to her lap. “I know that you’re hurt. Rightfully so. I…feel the same when I reflect on my relationship with my father. He never remarried, but after my mom died, he changed. He was harder, more distant. Our relationship growing up was so strained. Looking back, I think it’s because he just didn’t know how to raise a kid on his own, much less a daughter.

“For most of Hirohito’s childhood, our father wasdeeploid, so he was rarely home. When I was little, he retired from the military, but he started working long hours at a new job while my mom took care of us. And after she was gone…I don’t think he knew how to process his grief.”

Rekosh’s mandibles sagged. Whether vrix or human, no one seemed immune to the pain of loss, and no one seemed to bear it quite the same.

“As I grew up,” Ahmya continued, “he didn’t know how to talk to me, especially when it came to anything girl related. He was always much closer to Hirohito. Like you, I felt unseen. I worked hard in school to get the bestgraydz, I joinedsportz, volunteered in after schoolprogramz. My accomplishments seemed to be the only way to get him to acknowledge me. I know a lot of it was because of his upbringing and having spent so much time in themiluh terree, but…it hurt. I just wanted him to see me as I was. His daughter.”

“Kir’ani vi’keishi,” Rekosh whispered, leaning down to brushhis mouth across her hair. “Would that I could spare you such hurt. That I could take it from you.”

“You can’t shield me from every hurt, Rekosh,” she replied softly. “I just need you to hold me through it.”

He wrapped his lower arms around her. “Always,my heartsthread. Always.”

“And I’ll always be here to do the same for you.”

With a trill, he breathed in her scent. His mate was the most precious thing in the world—in all existence—and even if he couldn’t protect her from everything, he would forever try to do so.

Rekosh lifted his head. “You seem…at peace with that pain, Ahmya.”

“I don’t know about peace. But I do know in my heart that my dad loved me, that he did his best, and that sometimes, our best just comes up short. And it’s normal for that to make us feel conflicted. To feel love for a person, but also feel hurt by them. It’s up to us to decide whether we can set aside the hurt and try to build something meaningful…or if we need to let them go.”

She looked down, pulling her hair taut in his grasp. Her voice was thick with emotion when she spoke. “My dad is gone though. I’ll never have a chance to talk to him again, to tell him that I appreciate everything he did, that I love him.”

Even without seeing her face, Rekosh knew that her dark eyes were glistening with tears, and her pain struck his hearts.

Ahmya hugged his arms tighter around her. “But your father is alive, Rekosh, and so are you. Life is too short and too precious to give up on the opportunity to reconnect with him, if that’s what your hearts tell you to do. And maybe…maybe someday I could meet him.”

His heartsthread thrummed with emotions he could not yet identify, making his chest feel tight and heavy. Releasing herhair, he took hold of his mate with all four hands and turned her to face him.

Their eyes met. Hers were indeed shimmering with tears. Were vrix able to cry, he had no doubt he would be as well. That sadness…he could not bear to see it in her. Could not fight his need to soothe it away, to draw it into himself so it could no longer harm her.

He wrapped his arms around Ahmya and drew her against his chest. She threw her arms around his neck with fervor, tucking her face against his neck and wetting it with those tears.

Rekosh shifted a hand to the back of her head, cradling it, and smoothed his fingers over her hair. His chest vibrated with soft crooning in an attempt to mimic the song she’d sung.

Even as he comforted his mate, even as he held her, her words repeated in his mind. He could not deny the truth of what she’d said. He’d felt it in his heart even before speaking to her about any of this, but it had been Ahmya’s patience and understanding that allowed him to reflect upon it at all. That had pushed him to truly consider his feelings.

What if his parting words with his sire were the last they ever shared? Would they leave a sliver of regret embedded in Rekosh’s hearts, forever to cause him pain, preventing him from healing and finding peace? Would Raikarn die believing the only surviving broodling of his first brood despised him?

Because despite all his anger and resentment, Rekosh didn’t hate his father. If he hated anything, it was that he’d been denied the relationship they might’ve had.

He held his mate, and her tears gradually dried, but her embrace did not ease. He brushed his jaw against her hair. Simply holding her was enough. This was where he was meant to be, who he was meant to be with.

Yet he could not help but wonder now…what would it be like to bring Ahmya to Takarahl? To walk her along the tunnels that had seemed so mundane to him, to see them with new awe and excitement through her eyes? What would it be like to bring her to his sire’s den, to introduce her to him, to meet his young siblings with her at his side?

She was human, but he hoped those differences wouldn’t matter. Hoped that his father would see what Rekosh could see so clearly—that his little mate was strong, intelligent, kind, and selfless. That despite her size, she had carried Rekosh through some of the greatest challenges of his life. That her dedication and tenacity had set an example that served as the core of their new tribe.

And he hoped that after meeting her, Raikarn would know Rekosh had made the right choice. That he’d know Rekosh was truly happy.

Surprisingly, hewantedto bring Ahmya to Takarahl. He wanted her to meet his sire, he wanted to show Raikarn and everyone else that his mate was the most remarkable female. That she was his, and his alone.

But he knew the time for such a journey had not yet come. The dangers of travel could be lessened by going in a group—consisting at least of Telok and Urkot, though with Ahmya along, Rekosh would want more companions to ensure her safety. And without a bloodthirsty queen pursuing them, they would have no need to drive on to exhaustion each day.

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