Page 48 of Of Serpents and Ruins
"What does that mean?" I frowned. Kine had mentioned these individuals before.
"Centuries and centuries ago, a small group of Vawtrians were trapped here. They were separated from their families. They could not take mates or bear children in this place. After decades of trying to escape, they accepted their place here. Because we had cared for them over the years, they looked upon us as part of their family. Well," she chuckled a little, "‘weaker cousins’ is probably a more accurate term. They decided that if they could not pass on their skills and abilities to their children, they would use those abilities to create tools that would allow us as much of their powers as they could. It wasn't the simplest of transfers, and they put more of themselves into the energy than they intended." Her fingers curled tight over mine.
"What does that mean exactly?"
I studied her face. She didn't look ill, just tired. Her hand felt so delicate beneath mine, the bones fragile. Numerous littlescars worked their way across her fingers along with age spots and darker gold patches.
"It means that while you are not a Vawtrian, you have an infusion of their skills and energy and some of their weaknesses. Your mate bond is affected by that."
Uh-oh. Maybe my seer instincts were kicking in, or maybe it was just that obvious, but my gut twisted, warning me I wasn't going to like the next part of this conversation.
She continued, still holding my hand. "You have to understand that when a mate bond snaps into place, Vawtrians get… Well, to put it gently, until they get their sexual urges satisfied, they get stupid. Because of what the Gola Resh has done, her magic has affected this mate bond. The Gola Resh’s curse preys on your need to be together. It contaminates it, and when you are together, it’s much easier for you to ignore the danger you pose one another, making it easier and more likely for the curse to be fulfilled."
My mouth pulled into a frown. Definitely didn't like it.
No.
I guessed the rest of what she was going to say. I started shaking my head.
After all this time, I'd finally found someone, finally learned that there was someone just for me. And he was perfection—except for being cursed to kill me. But that was manageable, wasn't it? There had to be some way to end the curse without him killing me. We could work through it. Together, Brandt and I could work through anything.
"I'm not a Vawtrian, though, right?" I bit the inside of my lip. "Maybe there's some way we could counter part of it."
"No." Auntie Runa laughed a little, though her gaze was sad. "And you can be glad you aren't. They only have one mate for the entirety of their lives, and, by mate, I mean sexual partner. We aren't bound like that. Their mating bond is so powerful itcan scarcely be resisted. We do have the choice. You could pick someone else if you really wanted another lover."
My brow furrowed. A sharp pain twisted in my stomach. "Never."
"I'm not saying you have to." Her mouth tipped. "I'm just saying we differ from them in many respects, but that doesn't mean we are fully immune. The mate bond will make you stupid, my dear. You have to guard against that. I don't even need to ask whether your first encounter with Brandt upon your return proved it. You have to understand that it intersects with what the Gola Resh has done. You've experienced this."
I lifted my chin. "It was the alcohol." My cheeks burned as I recalled my ridiculous conduct.
Auntie Runa scoffed. "Really?"
"Yes…" I cleared my throat as I thrust my fingers into my hair. Pushing my hair out of my face did nothing. I immediately moved it to the other side as if to fix my part. "Alcohol. Margaritas. Spicy strawberry margaritas." My cheeks burned. "That was it."
Her expression wavered with something between amusement, annoyance, and concern. "Dearie, listen carefully. You've been out of our magic and our way of life for a very long time. You're becoming who you were always meant to be at a rapid rate. The old memories are flowing back, but you aren't fully braced for it. It's a lot for anyone to handle."
My bad pickup lines and the snorting giggles all flashed into my mind so fast. The giddiness. The utter glee to see him.
"You're saying what I felt wasn't real?"
Her gaze softened. "Oh, no, my dear. No, not at all. It's real. It's just…you won't be your usual self when you're around him, and he won't either. You both want to be together. It will continue to be that way. It certainly would be to her advantage if either of you were, shall we say, dumber. Especially you, mydarling girl. It will keep you from being aware of danger or solutions. It will take extra effort for you to find your voice."
A weight pressed down on my shoulders. "I don't want to be dumb."
"Then you need to stay away from him until you have a handle on your abilities once again, and you should not have sex with him."
My cheeks heated. "What?" My mouth fell open as I debated denying even thinking about it.
"Don't be coy with me, child," Auntie Runa said, her eyebrow arching. "I know what you've thought of. I have had such love myself. You must assume that the Gola Resh will have done all she can to destroy you both, and if she can destroy you through your love of one another, little would make her happier. I suspect that if you two were to be together in that way, the urges and the need would become far more intense. The stronger those urges, the harder it will be for either of you to focus. It's why I've told Kine we aren't even to use the water mirrors unless it's an emergency. You and Brandt must avoid one another. Hard as it is, it will only get harder the more time you spend with one another."
"But what do we do?" I asked softly. "How does my learning how to be a seer and a shifter help stop the curse that will suck all the life out of everything?"
"I’m not sure yet. Just know that you need to." Auntie Runa indicated a stack of parchments with numerous sketches on one of the tables. "Other seers have confirmed. None of us know precisely what this will require. Your task is to be faithful in what you can."
It was hard, but I returned my focus to training. The novelty of it started to fade as Kine continued to put me through the paces. Shapes and then textures. Promises of the serpent form that would soon come.
For the next few days, it was nothing except training with Kine and learning with Auntie Runa and sketching my thoughts and feelings. Lots of those sketches were of Brandt. His hands. His eyes. His face. His arms. His body. Everything I could remember about him.
