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“That is why you met with him.” I groan.

She nods and finally stops struggling.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, sunshine.” I tighten my hold on her

She leans her head against my chest, looking up at me.

“It’s alright,” she sighs. “What are you going to do now?”

“Nothing,” I tell her, and my lips twitch because it’s an exact repeat of our conversation after I found out about her ruse. Ara relaxes into me, and I lean my cheek against her temple.

“Why was I able to heal you?” I finally voice the question that has been haunting me the whole time.

“Everyone’s magic… feels different, and when I hold mine back…” She shrugs. “It works.”

I remember her trembling, the sweat, her exhaustion. It costs her to do so.

“That’s why you wanted me to stop if you are unconscious.” I realize.

“Yes.” She nods.

Shit, that woman’s conscience is humbling.

“I’m sorry, Ara.” My voice is rough.

She shrugs. “It’s fine.” She laughs humorlessly. “After all, it’s not easy to be faced with the damn monster under the facade.”

I turn her in my arms so I can look into her eyes.

They are red and full of doubt, her lashes and her cheeks still wet. And despite everything she just told me, I have never met anyone more beautiful, inside and out.

I don’t just care for her. I love her.

She didn’t just wriggle into my heart. She owns it.

This incredible woman, who not only doesn’t know how to be cautious but will be hunted if anyone finds out what she is, broke down all my barriers and made herself comfortable as the center of my world.

Her recklessness, her vulnerability makes her the embodiment of my worst nightmare, and still I can’t regret falling for her.

“You’re no monster,” I tell her.

Ara

Tate’s eyes. They are so tender, so tormented, so raw. Like the storm so often brewing in them broke and let me glimpse the devastation left behind. It captivates and terrifies me.

“You’re no monster,” he says.

How can he be so sure of something I’m not even sure of myself?

“I might still become one.” I voice the doubt that has festered in me since the day I found the mark on my skin.

“Forget what some stories say. What do you know ?” Tate challenges me.

“Nothing,” I tell him.

“See, that is not true,” he disagrees. “You know that you can control it. Otherwise, we both wouldn’t be here. You know that you can choose to harm or to protect, like when you stepped in front of me. We both know you saved me that day. You are nothing like the monsters in those stories.”

“Yet,” I add glumly, but I let his words replay in my mind and realize that maybe I had it wrong the whole time.

What if my curse isn’t hiding and biding its time, waiting to take over… but more like a weapon? Something I can wield to harm or to defend, just like Tate said. And he’s right. I am in control. Even nearly frozen solid and tempted by his warmth, I haven’t given in.

He tips my chin up so I have to meet his eyes again.

“I believe in you,” he states firmly, and the way he says it lets warmth rush through me, washing away the last cold tendrils of doubt. “But what is far more important is if you believe in yourself.”

“Yes,” I answer, and I’m surprised that I really do. A smile spreads over Tate’s face, so brilliant I can only stare, but he sobers quickly.

“Now that I know, I promise I won’t heal you while you are unconscious, but I need you to promise me to never choose your own death so carelessly again.” He shakes his head at me. “The moment you lunged for that dagger…fuck, sunshine, I would rather walk the mists than experience that ever again.”

He looks so haunted. I want to reassure him so badly, but I can’t.

“I owe it to them, Tate,” I say softly. “To my family.”

“So you are willing to die for them, but not live…” He breaks off and turns away. “Never mind…Daeva is on her way, and we need to get back anyway.”

“They sacrificed so much for me.” I try to make him understand.

“Ara, I see those things differently. I think we all make our decisions, and we are not responsible or indebted to others just because they happened to make the right one. I will not pressure you into making the decisions I think are the right ones. It’s your life.

I just beg you not to throw it away too easily, okay? ”

I nod, stunned by his sudden outburst.

Tate falls into a broody silence after that.

“Are you close to your family?” I ask Tate, and I’m relieved when he turns to me instead of ignoring me.

“I consider Jared and Nan, his mother, my family, so yes. Otherwise, it would be a no.” He gives me a small smile. “How was growing up with four brothers?”

“Mine take overprotectiveness to a whole new level,” I grumble. “One of the reasons I’m so good at climbing. It was easier to climb out than convince them to let me go out.”

“So they scared off all your admirers?”

“Believe me, every guy ran the other way as soon as they knew who I was,” I answer dryly.

“Cassius, too?”

“Joel?” My eyebrows jump up. “What do you mean?”

“Were you ever… together?”

I snort, and his mouth twitches.“I had a crush on him, but he always treated me like a sister,” I tell him. That answer is met with silence, and for the hundredth time, I wish he was easier to read.

“So if it isn’t Cassius, is there someone else?” Tate’s question sounds casual, but my stomach suddenly feels like one of the birds did a nose dive.

I grin.

“Centurion Kyronos, are you working up to asking me out?” I tease, while Daeva lands right next to us, raising a cloud of dust. I close my eyes to shield them, and a shiver runs down my back when I open them, only to find Tate right next to me.

“If you accept an afternoon ride on Daeva as a date, I am.” He shrugs, but his gaze is intense. “Otherwise, you would have to wait until after Picking.”

I grin up at him.

“I do accept,” I say, and my words turn into laughter when Tate simply picks me up and lifts me onto Daeva’s back.

He gets up behind me, and the way his body presses against mine causes heat to spread through my veins and tingles to race over my skin.

His chest is warm and solid behind me, and I let myself relax into him. I look at him over my shoulder.

“I have been accused of getting others into trouble, so consider yourself warned.”

He snorts.

“Tell me something new. And who says that I don’t like trouble?”