Tears form, making his silver eyes more glassy than usual. I’ve never seen a Tempest man cry before. I didn’t think they were capable.
“I should get back to the longhouse.”
He sidesteps between me and the door. “But Asha—my Little Vaeyark—I…I love you.”
His words knock the wind out of me, and I can’t help but be angered by them.
I remember how he’d said that just before charging the terragulf, thinking he was facing certain death.
He was willing to trade his life to give me a chance.
And yet we’ll still never be happy together.
He takes my hand in his, kissing my knuckles. “I am shamed for how I treated you, my Little Vaeyark, for I loved you when I thought you were weak. When you were weaving on my floor.”
“Then why were you so mean?”
“Ever since arriving on Melgrim, all my mind knew was conflict. I longed for what I left behind on Tempest…” His eyes press closed.
“Which was?”
“A princess. Not at all like you. I thought I would long for her until my dying breath, but that was not true, for it is you that I yearn for.”
I poke a finger into his chest. “You yearned for me so much that you were willing to send me back to Penticar?”
He grabs my hand. “I was scared?—”
I snatch my hand away, refusing to be won over by foolish words when he was set on pushing me aside. “Well, I’ve been scared since the very moment I was taken from my home, yet I kept going.”
“Because you are truly strong. Much more so than me. More so than anyone.”
I skirt around him, storming from the hut to the longhouse, determined not to look back.
Because I know if I do, every ounce of determination coursing through my body will melt, leaving me beholden to the man who once thought me so unworthy.
25
RAMSEY
After hauling a pack of four endergulfs back to the village, I wipe the sweat from my brow and turn to Caen.
“Let us trek out again to see if our luck holds.”
“Again?” He gestures to our kills. “We have food enough for several turns of the moon.”
“But with the Penticari, it would be good to smoke more, before the cold season hits.”
He cocks his head to the side and looks at me with one raised eyebrow. “After taking down four endergulfs?”
“Are you too tired?” I ask with a look of concern, hoping he will fear judgment.
“I think that mayhap I would rather help build the corral going up than trudge through the woods again.”
My nostrils flare at the mention of the new building going up to house animals, but I say nothing.
“Would you like to join me in taking down a tree?”
“No,” I growl, looking off into the forest, wondering if there might be anything close to the village to preoccupy my time.
