Osric releases my arm. He steps back from me, and his hand curls closed at his side. He looks at the road instead of my face. Black stones litter the path, dust drifts down through the last of the coppery light, and my ears still ring from the force of the wind.
“Explain,” I say. “Dead how? Dead from what? The heat? The storms? I already know the desert kills humans.”
He says nothing. His tail curves high over his shoulder, stinger pointed in my direction.
“You bought me. You signed a contract, put your name beside mine, and you drove me across the desert to your home. Why would you buy a woman who’s as good as dead the moment she steps foot on your land?”
“Esme.”
“What or who am I in danger from?” I step toward him, and he takes another step back. This is turning into a ridiculous dance. “Is it Haara? Does your city want the humans gone? Is it the Scorpii? Some law I don’t know about, some punishment for keeping us? Or is it you? Am I in danger from you?”
“We need to leave,” he says.
“That’s your answer…”
“Get in the car.”
“No. You bolted your door and starved yourself, and when you finally came out, your eyes were black and you wouldn’t tell me why. You gave us an hour to pack, and you wouldn’t tell me why. You drove us out into a storm that could have killed the three of us, and still, you wouldn’t tell me why. Now you say I’m as good as dead, and I should just take your word for it? Your behavior is erratic.”
“The why changes nothing,” he says. “You need to be somewhere else. That’s all that matters.”
“Let’s get this straight, it’s my life we’re discussing here. If I’m as good as dead, I want to know what’s going to kill me. You owe me that much before you push me away.”
“I’m keeping you safe.”
“You’re managing me.” I close the space he created between us, and this time, he holds his ground. I have to tip my head back to look at him. “My parents managed me. They decided what I wore, who I married, and what I was allowed to know. Every decision came with a speech about my own good. You promised me you were different. You told me I could stay as long as I needed, that the choice was mine, yet you’re trying to get rid of me under the pretense of offering me freedom.”
“Esme, please.”
He sounds pained, but I don’t care. I’m not letting him win. He will not drive me away when I want to stay, when I’ve decided that he… That he might be the man for me.
“Curse you, Osric Aren.” My eyes sting with unshed tears. “Curse you and your pretended kindness. You’re no different from the rest of them. You just apologize more.”
I turn my back on him and start walking toward the house. If he won’t drive me home, I’ll walk.
Darina remains standing beside the car with her arms crossed over her chest and dust in her hair. She stares between me and Osric, unsure if she should intervene. She settles on leaning against the car and closing her eyes. I understand her completely. She never asked for my family’s disaster, nor for this.
“Esme, stop.” I can hear Osric behind me, his shoes crunching the cracked dirt.
“No.”
“You can’t walk back. Get in the car and I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” I keep walking. “Drive me to the portal? Pick the city you send me to, while you’re at it?”
“Stop.”
“If you want me gone,” I say, “you’ll have to pick me up and carry me there kicking.”
He reaches for me. His fingers brush my arm, and I jerk away before he can grab me.
I run. The air is hot and dry, I can barely breathe, sweat soaks my back, but I run because there’s something in me that screams it’s the only thing that makes sense.
The road is rough and littered with sharp stones. I don’t let it intimidate me. I’m as fast as I can be, my arms driving, my breath loud in my ears. It’s madness, because there’s nowhere to go that he can’t follow, and nothing at the end of this except his own place.
I look back to see what he’s doing.
He hasn’t moved. Osric stands in the middle of the road where I left him, his body rigid. He’s as tense as a bow pulled taut.
