And though she no longer needed to say her chant out loud, she said it in her mind; a mantra to focus her power and draw the memory forward.
Lui ganeth, lui cathona. Lui ganeth, lui cathona, she chanted. Out of mind, out of body. Out of mind, out of body.
The scent of fallen pine needles surrounded her, and a cool breeze caressed her limbs, stirring her feathers.
“You. Fucking.KILLEDHIM!” Mireille roared, the sword in her hands shaking violently as her fire swelled, crawling up the blade in a crackling blaze.
Ronin backed up a step, pleading. “I didn’t know,” he choked out. “I didn’t know, Mireille.”
“You slaughtered him before I even had a chance to—” Her voice broke, and she was furious to see that Ronin was echoing her tears. Howdarehe.
“Please. I didn’t...”
“You’re a fuckingmonster,” she whispered, pain and regret stealing her breath.
He crashed to his knees. “What can I do? How can I fix this?”
“You can’t.” She towered over him. “Bring out the beast so that I can have my vengeance.”
She angled the flaming steel so close to his face that sweat pebbled across his forehead, and he squinted his eyes against the excruciating heat.
Ronin’s wolf burst forth, a violent shift so swift that he vomited.
The colossal creature crouched back onto his hind legs and sprang for her.
She pivoted away, calling upon her dancer’s grace, and Ronin crashed through the porch, the stairs crumbling to shards beneath him.
Mireille regained her footing and brandished her sword as a crazed smile tore across her face.
She would make himpayfor this. She would make himsuffer. Anything. Anything at all to stop this terrible, soul-shredding grief tearing through her.
It was the last thought in her mind as the white wolf stood, shook off the wooden shards, and rushed?—
Cassandra stopped the memory right before Mireille drove the sword into the wolf’s eye.
Across the tub, a single tear tracked down Mireille’s cheek. “I called him a monster that day. ButIwas the monster.”
“You were devastated. And angry.”
“Donotexcuse what I did to him.”
Cassandra lifted her palms, placating. “Do you know what I saw in that memory?” Mireille raised her head, shame and agony crawling through her silver eyes. “I saw a male desperately in love, looking for any way to right the wrong he did. He was fighting the shift. Trying to call off his wolf. He didn’t want to hurt you.”
“He already had.” Mireille broke Cassandra’s gaze, staring at the damp tiles. “And the only thing I wanted to do in that moment was make him feel an ounce of my pain. How could I have fallen in love with someone who would ruthlessly slaughter humans like that?”
“He regretted it, though, didn’t he?”
Mireille nodded. “It haunted him. What he’d done on that battlefield in Aethalia. How the Empire had used him. He’d admitted as much to me when we were at the Otto estate together.”
“Seems like maybe you were lashing out at him because of what you’d just learned about yourself. Maybe even lashing out at a world that had branded your father a second-class citizen. And using Ronin as a scapegoat.” She softened her voice. “When he didn’t deserve it.”
Mireille dipped her head into her hands. “Creator, what a mess. What do I do?”
“You do what he did today. You apologize.”
“And what? Just admit that what I did was wrong?”
Cassandra smirked. “Yes, that’s usually how apologies work.”
