Page 32 of This Midsummer Heart
“If you can keep up with me.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s your own fault if I can’t. You’re the one who got our horses stolen.”
“Careful, Titaine. I’m starting to think you care more for your horse than for me.”
“Because I do! Giselda is our only way across the Bridge of Miracles, you fool! More than that, she is my horse, and I won’t leave her to fate or those horrible bandits!”
Auberon regards me coolly. “So you knew,” he says at length, as if any of that matters now.
“Knew the Bridge of Miracles is once again living up to its name? Of course I did. You would, too, if you ever paid attention to anything but yourself.”
“Ah, and you said you didn’t hate me.”
My brow furrows. “When did I say that?”
“When you were in your cups. You’d hardly admit to it otherwise.”
“And you believed it?”
“Do you,” he presses, the line of his lips suggesting a barely suppressed smirk, “hate me? Because sometimes I wonder if you don’t still love me, in your own way.” He cocks his head. “Is the animosity you still bear towards me part of it?”
I tromp down the road, unwilling to dignify that with a response.
“Admit it!” he calls after me, though we both know he could catch up to me in a handful of strides. “You’re still angry I chose someone else!”
Unable to hold back, I whirl on him—only to find my nose practically against his chest. “I’m angry you couldn’t uphold your vows. But not at you—at myself. What more did I expect from an elf? Your words are meaningless. They hold no magic. You couldn’t be trusted even if they did. And you proved me right, even if I wanted with all my heart to be wrong.
“So, yes, I’m angry, even now. But what I’m most angry about is that you’ve ruined everything again without a single thought—without thinking of anyone but yourself! What else should I have expected from you? I’m angry that I’ve been an utter fool again, and even angrier thatyou,of all people, were still my best chance.”
I try not to feel horrified as Auberon wipes a fleck of angry spittle off his chin. His dark eyes are almost cloudy now, unreadable as he peers down at me.
“Finally,” he says, his voice flat, “a little honesty from you.”
“As if you deserve it.”
I spin back to the eastward road, trying my best to storm away from someone who, no matter how much I wish it, I can never seem to escape.
Chapter sixteen
Briars
Auberon
Somethingpeculiarishappeningto me by the time we cross the border from Laufee into Lisania. Mykneeshurt. Persistently.
As if that weren’t enough, now my feet are beginning to chime in.
My stride slows as I try to stretch without Titaine noticing. She keeps marching along, her wings fluttering a little as she approaches the next steep hill, the terrain of southern Laufee clearly laid out just to torture us. But I catch myself frowning as I study her. Have I ever seen her do that before?
Just as my newly loosened body is threatening to continue this foolish journey, I halt again. I can’t recall ever seeing Titaine go uphill while fluttering her wings. It’s actually…adorable.
What else don’t I know about this woman I’m married to?
My memories—the lack of them—keep jolting me. How have I never walked through nature with her since our first fateful meeting, when neither of us were after a simple stroll but a trade contract along the coast?
I lope after Titaine, trying to focus on keeping my aching feet from any appearance of shuffling. I don’t even know how one would stretch a foot. I’ve never experienced pain and fatigue like this before.
I’m becoming so ordinary. Becoming like ahuman mortal.All while realizing I’ve never taken the time to do ordinary things with my wife.
