“You would do that?” I whispered.
“I would do it for you,” he answered.
“But…but how would you get past the fog?” I asked. “I can help and—”
“Nik,” he rasped. Smoothing his hand against my cheek, wiping away the steady stream of tears. “I will not risk using that power again. It is too dangerous for you.”
For me? Was he worried about my safety now?
“We will need time to plan,” he told me. “But we know of the tunnels that run north. The same ones that the witches used to reach the Dead Mountain,lysi?”
The reminder of the witches made my mouth dry. I remembered the head witch’s rasping tongue as she licked the line of my hot blood. The very memory made me go cold.
“You cannot,” I whispered, realization making my shoulders sag. “You would be walking right to them. You would give them exactly what they want.You.”
A deep exhale left him. His hand slid upwards until his fingers gently threaded through my damp hair. A shiver built up at the base of my spine, pleasurable and warm.
“Have more faith in your husband,rei Morakkari,” he told me. My lips parted. “IamaVorakkar, after all. I have known too many battles in my lifetime and mydarukkarsare trained well.”
“I don’t want it turning into a battle,” I reminded him softly. “I don’t want any more death. I’ve seen you fight. I’ve seen yourdarukkarstrain. It would only be too easy for it to end in bloodshed.”
His head lowered in agreement but his eyes never left mine.
“Will you at least trust me to get you your Tess?” he murmured. “And I swear to you, I will not spill anyone’s blood unless mydarukkars’own lives are in danger.”
A soft, choppy sigh left my lips.
“I regret ever having made that threat to you, Mina,” he told me. And I heard it. I heard the truth in his voice. “Let me make amends for it. I will give you what you want because I do not want you feeling like you havenothing. Truthfully, you have more power than I think you realize. Especially when it comes to me.”
That last part felt like a confession. Vulnerable and deep.
“I do?” I whispered, feeling the hard lump in my throat begin to soften.
Those red eyes flared, his pupils dilating. That tension was beginning to rise between us. Thick and electric.
“Lysi,” he said. “You most certainly do.”
Tentatively, I moved my hand. I moved it to rest on the back of his own, touching his warm skin, running my thumb across the raised scar there.
I didn’t need to say anything.
Wrune didn’t need any words from me.
Could I move forward with him?
Could I give him another chance?
Time will tell, I thought to myself.
Whatever he did next would tell me.
But I’d never been one to hold onto hatred. Hatred was rotten. It ate at you from the inside out.
Moving forward was what I did best. It was one of my biggeststrengths.
And if he kept the promises he’d made to me tonight…then yes.
I thought Iwouldbe able to see where this path with him led.
