“So, you protected her and ensured she’d be cared for?” Ronyn says.
“I left her,” I remind him.
“You did everything you could to make sure she wasokay,” Darial says.
“Faced with impossible circumstances, barely able to stay alive yourself, you did the right thing,” Kelan agrees. “None of this makes you a bad person.”
I begin to cry softly, recalling her soft chattering voice as I backed away. Nothing will ever smell as sweet as her fluffy red hair. Nothing will ever hurt as much as the memories of her creation.
Darial shifts closer, his hand stretching out for mine. All around me, the furs rustle.
“No,” I say. “Please.” I can’t have them near me when I’m this raw.
“Okay,” Kelan murmurs, his already low husky voice taking on a gravelly tone.
“We’re here,” Ronyn says. “Tell us what you need.”
“I need these memories to be wiped away,” I admit. “I want to beclean.”
“You’re our queen,” Darial says. “You’re perfect in our eyes.”
I sniff, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. “Then maybe you need glasses.”
Kelan scoffs. “We have perfect vision and perfect perception.”
I cover my face with my hands, hiding in the safety of the darkness.
“Tomorrow, I’m leaving,” I whisper. “You should find another mate. Someone with less baggage. Someone who can be yourperfectqueen.”
“There is no one else,” Kelan growls. “No one.”
Ronyn rolls to his back. “The mate bond is only given once, Aura. If you don’t choose us, there will never be anyone else.”
Inexplicably, my heart aches for these strangers. One mate, and they’re givenme? Broken, human me. It doesn’t seem fair.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m sorry I’m not what you need. I’m sorry the goddess didn’t know better.”
“You’re perfect,” Kelan says. “You’re perfect for us.”
“I'm not. I can’t even trust myself to use my magic,” I admit, the confession slipping free before I can stop it. “I can’t even do that.”
“You don’t need your magic,” Ronyn says. “Not anymore.”
I stiffen slightly. “It’s the only thing that has kept me alive.”
“And the thing that has put you in danger.” Darial pulls his hair back from his face.
Ronyn’s voice is rougher when he says. “We’ll help you, Aura. That’s what we’re here for.”
“Sleep now,” Kelan murmurs. “In the morning, everything will be clearer.”
I shiver as the temperature in the cave seems to cool, and Darial tucks a fur around me. His hand is so warm that it radiates through the fur.
If I were a different woman with fewer sharp edges, I could curl into these men and finally find a place to rest in safety. I could leave my past behind and try to find a better future.
But I’m just me, and none of that seems possible.
Sleep eventually drags at me, pulling me under with gentle insistence. My breathing slows. My body sinks deeper into warmth and fur and the comforting presence of three beings who could have broken me and chose to do the opposite.
