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With eyes wide, she stares up at me. I can see the moment she realizes what I mean. “The dark fae soul-matter.”
“Yes. It’s getting harder to control. Ever since—”
“Ember.”
I nod. “And now she’s—fuck!” I whirl and slam my fist into the nearest tree. Bones crack, knuckles bleed, but it’s not enough. I want to take the whole damned forest down with me. Tree by tree.
“Why would she leave? And why would Fin take her?”
I swallow hard. “Taranus forced her into marriage.”
“She’s mated to him?”
Shaking my head, I walk over to where she’d been sleeping. “I got to her before he’d forced himself on her. They did not finish the tethering.”
“Then what—oh, bloody hell. She’s human.”
“Yes.”
“Which means that since they did not do the second blood transfer, that connection is killing her.”
“Yes.”
“So she went back to him? To save herself? That doesn’t seem like her. And Fin certainly wouldn’t—”
“She’s not trying to save herself,” I tell Heelean. “When Ember arrived here, she’d been on her death bed. Being here in Faerie stalled the disease killing her.” I meet her gaze with a heart nearly as heavy as the day I discovered what happened to Niahm. “Ember is going back to her world to die because she believes that will fulfill the prophecy.”
Heelean gasps and covers her mouth. “But how? The prophecy—”
“States that the true king will take her as mate,” I finish. “Ember thinks that it’s her death that will solidify the new king because her death will end Taranus’s life. He took her as mate, an action that will result inhisdeath.”
“You believe she is sacrificing herself for this world.”
“Yes. She asked me to help her. To take her home so she could die.” The words are vile on my tongue; acid that burns my throat even as I speak them. “I told her no, that we would find another way.”
“What other way?”
When I whirl on her, she throws up both hands. “Not that I agree with her, Rafferty, I’m merely trying to understand the thought process that would have her sneaking away from you in the middle of the night.”
Sighing, I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I told her we could find a witch to break the connection.”
“Then you would kill Taranus.”
“Of fucking course,” I growl, my temper igniting.
“Ember wishes to save you that pain,” she says, softly. “What I can’t understand, though, is why she would say no once you told her how you felt. Which, you did, right?”
I swallow hard. “I told her the truth.”
“Which is?”
“That she is not meant for me.”
“You bloody fool!” Heelean yells.
“What the hell else was I supposed to say? It’s the truth!”
“You tell her that you can never be together then wonder why she runs off to die! You damned men, I swear, you wouldn’t know your own ass from a hole in the ground, that’s the damned truth.”
