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He held back a smile, as she talked to him. “I’m ordering new clothes for her today,Mitera. Don’t worry.”
“Good!” she exclaimed before returning to the food she was cooking. “Donnae ye mind his poor manners, child. He’s a good boy, I promise.” She gave me a wink. “Smolder an’ all.”
He glanced at me, and I avoided his gaze as I contained my giggles. He pulled out a chair for me to sit, so I sat. He walked over to the stove to prepare drinks as Ethel carried over two plates loaded down with freshly cooked eggs, bacon, and biscuits.
It smelled delicious. While I’d thought I wasn’t hungry, the moment I tasted food my hunger exploded in my gut, starved for more. “Thank you so much, Miss Ethel. It’s delicious.”
“O’, please child. Jus’ call meMitera. Any time ye need anythin’, donnae hesitate tae ask.”
Her warmth resonated in me, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you,Mitera.”
Damien returned to the table, setting a teacup beside my plate. “Miterahas something for your wounds.”
“That would be nice,” I responded as I lifted the teacup. The delicate aroma of my favorite tea blend and cream filled my lungs. “You made this for me before. How did you know I like my tea like this?”
He settled into his seat and sipped his coffee. “For the same reasons that you know Elena and Lucia.” His fingers ran through my hair as it hung against my cheek, pushing it behind my ear. I caught a glimpse of Ethel smiling over her shoulder, watching him look at me. My chest swelled at the look of endearment on her face, how genuinely happy she seemed to see him like this. It warmed me even more.
He pressed his lips to my temple before setting back in his chair. “Now, eat.”
* * *
“What happened between you and Marcus?” Damien gripped my hand the moment Marcus’ name left my lips.
Ethel had left us moments ago to run some errands, and while our conversations over the last hour had been pleasant, they hadn't been enough to keep my mind from playing through every interaction I ever had with Marcus.
Why had he targeted me? Because I was with Damien? What did he have against Damien to begin with? So much that he would go as far as he had just to upset or hurt him? There had to be more to it than that; I remembered the venom in Marcus’s words every time he mentioned Damien, how he had somehow made me feel so unsafe in my own home. I wanted to hurt him, in every way that he had hurt me, maybe more.
“He was once a very dear friend of mine.”
My head jerked to look at him. “What?”
“It happened many years ago, long before your time.” His voice wavered, and I knew the loss must have hurt him deeply. "He was as much a part of our inner circle as Zephyr, Barrett, and Vincent."
I’d doubted Marcus’ words when he told me he knew Damien, had written it off as some lie to manipulate me.
He continued. “Our kind mate for life. It’s a bond that goes beyond just basic attraction. It’s difficult to put the feeling into words, but it’s like…” He paused, eyes dancing as he thought. “When you find your mate, things change. Everything that is you, your very being, lives for your mate. Your world revolves around their very existence. You would do anything for them… You would die for them.”
His eyes dropped low to where he held my hand. His thumb glided back and forth against my skin in tender sweeps. “We are immortals. We don’t die of old age, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be killed. When one of our kind loses their mate, it isn’t enough to simply mourn their loss. It leaves you broken, lost in ways that words cannot describe, as if a part of your soul breaks away and leaves you permanently incomplete...”
The pain in his eyes shot through me, his sorrow affecting me deeper than I could understand. “Many of our kind don’t live long after losing their mate, they either accept death in battle or take their own lives.” A heavy sigh slipped from his lips.
"I made a mistake.” He clenched his fists, trembling. “Something happened, and I was summoned away to attend to it.”
Images danced across my sight, Damien’s voice an echo in my mind as I found myself walking with Marcus in the distant past. I wasn’t in the kitchen with him anymore. I was elsewhere, in a place far, far away, much like the place he and Elena had trained in my earlier vision.
Damien’s voice echoed through my mind as he spoke, and I watched as what he told me unfolded before my eyes. “Marcus found evidence that there were darklings near our village.”
Marcus walked beside me through the encampment, and I realized I was reliving it through Damien’s eyes. It wasn’t the place I’d seen before, but similar. Marcus' hands moved frantically as he explained the situation to Damien.
“It’s not safe, Marcus. We’ll arrange a party when I get back from the sister camp,” Damien said.
“There were only a few tracks. Its likely only three or four darklings. The tracks ran right past camp, Damien. They’re fresh; we can still catch them,” Marcus urged. “It’d be easy to take out that small of a number.”
I… Damien stood there a moment beside him, his jaw working as he thought. Conflict marred his face, thick in his eyes as he tried to decide the best course of action.
Marcus continued when Damien hesitated. “I’d sleep better knowing the village is safe. They could return in the night.”
Damien’s voice rippled in my mind, speaking the vision into reality as he continued. “I wanted him to wait until I got back, but he pressed, certain that they would be fine without me. I caved and allowed him to take on the mission, as long as he played it save and took extra warriors with him.”
