“I—er—” She cast a glance towards the garden gate and the walk just beyond it. Escape was so close.
“Ono, MyerialannaSummer,” he said, clearly reading her intentions. “The time for running is over. As is my willingness to wait patiently for you to find your courage. You’ve been awake and well enough for visitors for days now, yet despite my numerous requests, you have refused to see me. Why?”
Her skin was tingling where he touched her. She gave her elbow a tug, but his grip remained ironclad. Rather than humiliating herself struggling against his greater strength, she forced herself to go still.
“Talk to me.” His voice dropped, becoming a husky, beguiling murmur. “Whatever you’re afraid of, I can help, but you need to talk to me.” His eyes shone with a golden light so soft, so tender that she ached to sink into his arms and surrender herself and all her fears into his keeping. One big hand lifted, and he reached out as if to caress her cheek.
She flinched back. She was afraid that if he touched her with even a fraction of the breathtaking tenderness shining from his eyes, she wouldn’t be able to stop from flinging herself into his arms.
He misinterpreted her flinch. The hand on her arm tightened, and he growled—growled!—at her. “Don’t you dare shrink away from me like you’re afraid I’m going to hurt you, Gabriella! You know better than that!”
For a moment, she could only stand there, gaping stupidly at him, stunned by the realization—the absolute certainty—that she’d not just angered him, she’dhurthim. Then stunned again by the realization that hurting him was like driving a knife into her own heart.
A moment after that second realization, her well-developed sense of self-preservation kicked in. With it came a surge of righteous indignation. Had he just attempted to Persuade her again? She wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t think of any other rational explanation for what felt like a deep emotional attachment to him. Especially since she’d done such an expert job of avoiding him specifically toavoidforming such an attachment.
More furious now than fearful, she yanked her arm out of his grip and snapped, “Let go of me! How dare you manhandle me? And how dare you address me in so familiar a way? You haven’t the right!”
“Oh, yes I do,” he snapped back. “You gave me that right the moment you kissed me that night on the docks.”
The bottom dropped out of her stomach. Oh, sweet Halla, he remembered that kiss! The Persuasions holding back his memories were breaking!
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Hoping to shore up her weakening hold on his memories—or at least cast enough confusion in his mind to make him wonder if those memories were real—she took a deep breath, filled her voice with Persuasion, and said, “Look, they tell me Tildavera couldn’t have saved my life without you. For that you have my gratitude.”
Dilys’s eyes narrowed a little, as if he could sense the pressure on his mind to believe her over his memories. She didn’t want his suspicion to override her efforts, so she pushed a little harder. “And if you’re the one who saved Lily and me from her father, you have my gratitude for that, too. He was a vicious brute who would have killed us both if he could.”
That extra push seemed to be working, as his expression had changed from narrow-eyed suspicion to a sort of intent blankness. “So, thank you, Sealord Merimydion, for your great service to me and my family. Now, I’m sure you are looking forward to spending the day courting my sisters, so don’t let me keep you from it. I know how important it is that you bring one of them home to Calberna as your wife. And I’m sure whichever of my sisters you marry, the two of you will be very, very happy together.” With a final push of Persuasion and coolly regal smile, she turned away and started for the garden gate.
She’d taken two steps when he started to laugh.
“Oh,moa myerina! How in Halla’s name have you managed to fool everyone all these years—how did you manage to fool me!—when you are such a truly terrible liar?”
Despite her plan to make a quick exit, Summer’s mouth dropped open and she turned to glare at him. She wasn’t a terrible liar! She was an excellent liar! “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She sniffed.
“Of course you do.” He smiled. Grimly. “Fair warning,moa kiri: if youeveruse your Voice to try and make me betray my bond to you again, so help me Numahao, I will turn you over my knee and paddle your backside until those sweet cheeks of yours are as red as the Rose on your wrist! As yourakua,I may be bound to you body and soul, but my mind is my own, and not yours to manipulate.”
It took her a few moments to get past the shock of his spanking threat to realize that not only had her efforts at Persuasion failed miserably just now—all her previous Persuasions had been utterly shattered as well.
He rememberedeverything.
Shoto!
Time to make a quick escape.
“Good day, Sealord.” She whirled around and rushed towards the gate.
He darted around her with shocking swiftness. One moment he was several paces behind her, the next he stood between her and freedom. His laughter was gone. “Enough, Gabriella.”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“And I told you that right is mine, given and accepted, and I will use it. As for who killed the man who hurt you, we both know it wasn’t me—even though I would have happily shredded that worthlesskrillowith my own claws had you not destroyed him with your Voice.”
“My—? You think I killed a man with my voice?” She didn’t even have to pretend shock this time. Even she’d never made that particular connection! She’d always said it was the beast—the great and deadly power that made its home inside her—but now that he’d suggested it, she could see he was right. The power pulling from every part of her, leaving her body on a terrible roar—ashoutof killing rage. Dear gods. “Even if such a thing were possible, I can assure you I would never havem-murdereda man in cold blood.” Her tongue tripped over the word as her mind filled with the vivid memory of Lily’s father—mouth open, eyes bulging and filled with terror as he realized he was going to die—and her own hot, savage satisfaction at knowing that she would be the one to end him, to destroy his ability to ever hurt another person again. Gods, how the fury had raged through her. The Summer Rose on her wrist had burned hotter than a forge—as if a piece of the sun itself had lodged itself in her flesh.
“What you did was justice and self-defense, not murder,moa halea,” Dilys said. He reached for her hands. She managed to sweep her left hand behind her back, but he caught the right. His fingers traced the lines on her palm. His thumb brushed across the red Rose on her inner wrist. “And there was nothing cold about it.”
Her mouth went dry. Her skin tingled everywhere he touched, and her Rose warmed rapidly, the heat throbbing in time with her escalating pulse. “If you think I have it in me to kill someone—even a man as horrible as Lily’s father—you’re sorely mistaken. Everyone knows I’m the least powerful of all the Seasons.” The words came out hoarse and shaky. She gave her wrist a tug, trying to free herself, but his grip remained ironclad.
“Another lie. One you have clearly spent a lifetime building. Don’t get me wrong. It was wise of you to hide your true power from the world. There are those who would kill you if they knew what you could do. There are others—far more than I care to count—who would stop at nothing to gain some sort of control over you, to force you to use your gifts for their gain. But between us,moa kiri,this constant lying really must cease. Anything less than absolute truth weakens the bond betweenakuaandliana,and I will not have you hurting yourself that way.”
