Page 35 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
“You were in danger.”
“That’s not a good enough reason, Vareck.”
“It’s the only reason I need!” The anger in my voice echoed through the trees.
Meera narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t the first time we’ve been in danger together. And guess what?” She threw her arms out wide, gesturing to our surroundings. “We’re in the middle ofhell. It won’t be the last! You didn’t compel me to run when we were facing off Irene and her band of thugs. Why now?”
Her eyes roamed over me, stopping on the wound at my side. When she reached for it, I stepped back. “Don’t,” I growled defensively. Hurt flashed over her features. When Meera backed up a step, then two, I knew I’d fucked up.
“Please don’t run,” I said softly. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“You didn’t,” she replied stiffly, and we both knew she was lying. When I lifted a hand to reach for her, she moved away and held her hands up, palms out. “You don’t want to be touched. I won’t touch you.”
My chest squeezed, but I refrained from lashing out. Enough was enough.
“Do you remember what I told you?”
Meera scoffed. “You’ve told me a lot of things. You’re going to have to be more specific than that.”
“About furies. How our blood can curse someone?”
She sniffed once and hummed. “Yes.”
“When my fury takes over, if I bleed on you while it’s at the surface and it mixes with your blood ...” I struggled to form the words. To force them from my lips. To think that it couldever happen to her. “The curse takes hold, and you descend into madness.”
“Just from blood touching blood? Even if you didn’t mean to?” she asked warily, eyeing my wound with tight concern.
“Even then. There is no intent needed for the outcome.”
“I feel like I should have known about this before we attempted a blood oath.”
“I had my fury locked down tight and knew there was no danger to you.”
Meera pursed her lips. “Your eyes are blue right now, so your fury isn’t in control.”
I nodded. “But it’s not far from the surface right now either. Sensing my mate is in danger has it on edge. I don’t want to risk you touching it and something happening.”
Meera rolled her bottom lip between her teeth before biting into the soft pink flesh. “That’s why you didn’t want me here during the fight?”
I inclined my head again. “There isn’t a single part of me that would ever purposely injure you, but if we slipped just once and our blood came into contact with yours ...” I shook my head. “I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t riskyou.”
Meera softened a fraction. “I understand you don’t want to hurt me, but compulsion isn’t the answer. Taking my free will away—taking mychoiceaway—is not acceptable. What I do in my life is not your call to make, and that includes when we’re in danger.”
“If something happened to you because of me, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Not after watching ...” I broke off as my voice began to crack, unable to finish.
Meera quirked her brow. “There’s more to this than you’re admitting. Something you aren’t telling me. Have you accidentally hurt someone before?” Her voice was soft. Empathetic now.
I shook my head and ran a hand through the rough strands to pull them away from my face. “No, but my mother did.”
She squinted at me for a suspended second. Then another. Too quickly understanding washed over her features and her lips parted as she breathed in harshly. “Your ... father?”
I dipped my chin. “They were caught in a situation not so dissimilar to this one. They were traveling between realms and were caught off guard by assailants. There was a fight, and they both ended up bloodied by the end of it. My father startled my mother by putting his hand on her shoulder when it was over. She stabbed him before she realized who it was.” I tapped the center of my chest. “Right here. Her claws went straight through him. Missed his heart by a millimeter.”
Meera covered her mouth with her fingers. “Oh my god.”
“No one knows this. While my father physically recovered, that was the day he was cursed. The downward spiral into madness followed soon after.”
“How old were you?”
