“As you can see, your worry was misplaced, and it was no burden whatsoever to feed you.”
Fighting to control her breaths, she willed herself to let go of him, shaking her head. “I haven’t… Is it always like that?”
“Every time.” Brand looked away, scrubbing a hand over his face. “You’ve never offered your gift to another?”
Lunara wasn’t even tempted to evade the question, even though it would normally raise more than a few eyebrows. “No,” she admitted. “Never.”
She’d had lovers. Not many, and not in quite some time, but that particular intimacy had always been off limits. She’d been too afraid they would taste her blood and know she wasn’t at all where she belonged—more fool her, since gifts between Sorcerit partners was standard, and her denial of that shared experience could have been just as incriminating.
Stars above, she’d been such an arse.
Oh, and that’s suddenly changed? You used to be smart—now look at you.
Ugh.
She was having trouble seeing the logic and wisdom in that part of herself anymore. Tired of listening to its bloated, tiresome words. One gleaming benefit of being lost in her healing journeys was that she didn’t have the energy to go to war with it. Lacked the patience to bother listening.
The only tiresome one here is you. You, and your halfwitted dreams. Your sudden need for family and truth and sharing. Weakness, all of it. Your parents died protecting you, and you think honoring that is what would make them disappointed?
“Luna?”
She blinked as a shuddering breath left her. Brand was standing with his hand outstretched, waiting, his gaze searching. Shaking herself, she took the proffered hand.
“Is everything alright?”
Nothing she couldn’t handle.
Eejit.
She stood and pressed two fingers to her temples, head in a dizzy spiral as she reoriented herself into a reliable body. “Fine. Just… tired still.” Not a lie. “Ready for this to be done.”
Too bad the gifts don’t heal your addled mind. If onlyallof you could be reliable.
Apparently, her answer was good enough for him. He led her over to Fern. “Your workisdone,” he breathed. “Look at her. She’s an entirely different creature.” Admiration she didn’t deserve glittered in his eyes when he looked at her again. “No one would believe the damage if they hadn’t seen it for themselves. You did that.”
“Hmm.”
“Is it normal for her to still be asleep?” he asked, posing a question she didn’t have a precise answer for.
You do, you just don’t like it. Go on, admit it. Since you’re so bent on spilling all your secrets, go ahead and tell himyou aren’t nearly the astonishing blessing he seems to think. Nothing but a lying bitch.
Weeping moons, what the fuck? She could be unnecessarily cruel to herself, but this was a whole new level of vitriol.
“Luna?”
“Oh, umm… For now, yes. I often keep them out for a little while and allow them to come back slowly.” She wasn’t sure how to describe what she’d found. “Fern has a blockage, though. Or a wall? It’s entirely possible she built it up on her own, to protect her mind from what happened, and it’ll fade as her body realizes it’s no longer in danger. It could also be a part of her that’s always been there. I won’t know for a couple of days whether or not it’s that or my magic keeping her from waking up.”
Not going to tell him you dumped enough power into it to fell a dragon horde, and it still wouldn’t budge? So youdoknow how to keep a secret, you’re just too idiotic to do it when it matters.
Lunara sucked down a deep breath, refusing to respond as she rounded the slab and ran her fingers over Fern’s forehead.
The Fae was striking, whatever she was. “Nyri asked me if I’d ever seen hair like this,” she said, keeping her voice from shaking. “I wasn’t in the best mood to ponder it at the time, but now…”
From the comfort of her cottage, she’d traveled the realms through the pages of books. Amidst her reading and research, she’d seen countless depictions of everything imaginable. Sadly, truly informative texts on the Tempusrealm didn’t exist. The Fae weresecretive. But the pictures and paintings, the sketches and portraits and landscapes…
Boundless, like they enjoyed flaunting the beauty of their realm while leaving everyone guessing.
She glanced up to find Brand’s brow furrowed as he stared at the Fae.
