Page 16 of Shifter King
Gripping the next higher branch, she drew herself up a few more feet. "Even if I couldn’t read minds, I’d know you weren’t telling the truth."
"You should not be climbing," he said.
"A lot of things that shouldn’t happen do." Her heart was already pumping from the exertion, and her left arm had started to shake. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"
"And say what? What happened happened. There is no need to—are you still climbing?" He moved back on the branch, balancing himself easily as he scowled down at her. The gourds swayed around him, releasing their pungent green scent. "Amelia, stop. You know I can climb a thousand times faster than you. I could climb ten trees before you could get halfway up this one."
"You can also turn into a dragon and fly away." As she grabbed onto another branch, several leaves shook free. They floated down in broad spirals. That branch felt a little unsteady. She chose another one and made it up a little higher.
Rolling his eyes, he started to climb higher, then stopped. The sunlight dappled his face as he dropped to a lower branch and pushed her back with his boot. "Just stop. You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep up at this pace."
"Fine. Are you going to talk about whatever this is?"
"There really isn’t anything to say about it." He cut the stem free and dropped the gourd to the ground. It struck another with a dull clap.
"Then I’ll sit with you." Her muscles already ached. Even with all the itching, it would not have been so bad to soak in the suphrite. She leaned her cheek against the branch and stared down at the gourd-dotted ground below. It was a little trickier to keep her barriers up. WroOth’s chaotic emotions tugged at the edges of her mind and incited her curiosity, but she didn’t dare open herself further. Instead, she controlled her breaths, holding for eight, releasing for eight, holding for eight, drawing for eight.
All grew still except for the cutting of the twigs and faint rustle of the branches as WroOth tossed the gourds down with a soft thud or low clap, depending on what they struck. "This world is wrong," he said at last. "And those who have passed—it is wrong that they have. It is wrong that it almost took you. But that does not keep it from taking and taking and taking. Just because it is wrong does not mean that it will stop. Or that it will be right. There are times when it is too much for me. I can't stop thinking that everyone here will die at one point. This world is always poorer for the loss."
She bowed her head. "It is," she said softly.
He moved down to a branch at her level but on the other side where fresh gourds hung out of her reach. "You came the closest most recently, and I—I am not actually angry with you. Just at knowing that…one day you will die. Most likely sooner than all of us no matter what the prophecies say, if they even apply now. And my brothers will die as well. As have all my cadre mates. My friends. And their children. Most everyone I have loved is gone now. Those whom I love and will love will also pass. And I will see it. Loss and more loss lies ahead. And I do not know that I can bear it."
She placed her hand over his. "Right now, you don't have to."
"We never heal from the losses." He did not look at her as he spoke. "Not really. They always take something. Sometimes it is only a little. Sometimes it's almost everything. As the ages pass, it is easier to act as if—I don't even know." He cut off another gourd and let it fall. "So you have to stay alive. All right? I am done losing people I love. I'd take almost anything over that."
"How many more do you think we need?" She used her own knife to cut through the thick vine that held a dark-green speckled gourd. It cracked against the trunk as it tumbled down. Loss and death were horrible, but there were other things that terrified her more.
He shook his head. "Mara would have loved you. And so would—" His mouth worked, muscles twitching in his jaw. "The children too."
"I would have loved to meet them. They—the memories—they're—"
He shook his head. "I know. It doesn't have to be said. It's enough that—" He drew in a deep breath. "It's enough."
She cut another gourd free.
Sometimes enough was all they had. They worked in silence until they had cut another three dozen free. The ground below was covered in gourds. At last WroOth moved away from the branch and hopped down to the ground. "This should be plenty. Now we just need to dry them."
She climbed down a little slower. His words hung heavy over her. The more she thought about them, the more they broke her heart.
He folded and returned the dagger to its sheath. "I shouldn't have taken it out on you, little sister. You survived. And I am glad for that. You live, and that gives me joy. I just don't like to think about the fact that a time is coming when that might not be the case. Right now as long as you are alive, fragile as you are, it's easier for me to have hope."
"For what it's worth, I'll do my best to stay alive. I think everyone here will. Even AaQar." She gave his arm a light smack, smiling.
He chuckled, sounding a little more like his old self. "True enough. Enjoy the good times while you can, after all. Make them as best as you can. And may they never end."
She paused, realizing it wasn't that he had really changed his mind or mood. That fear and unease were still there. He'd just pulled it in a little better and wrapped it beneath a lightheartedness that represented what he wanted to feel more than what he actually did. Stepping closer, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug.
He hugged her back. "Try not to be all sad on me, dear heart. No matter what I said. With a good family, the good times never have to end.""As long as you can keep them."
She pulled back, startled at the clarity of the thought that had reached her and how obvious it was that it was a thought.
"Something's wrong?" he frowned.
"I—" She stopped. Something grey and black moved along the trees, just outside of the range of the rels. Was that the creature she'd seen earlier? The one following them back?
A long lowing followed as Proteus emerged from the brush beside them.
