“Brightness! I don’t even have to ask why you kept it a bright secret. You knew I wouldn’t approve, and you did it anyway.
Anger. Bitterness. A sense of betrayal.
Emotions pounded on the tender spot in Alora’s brain.
“Kaevin, please listen,” she pleaded. “I needed something to make me feel safer. I can’t stand the idea of being helpless again when Vindrake could attack at any time.”
“That’s my responsibility—to protect you.”
Hurt.
She’d heard this ridiculous caveman argument before. “Why? Just because you’re a man? I might get you having this attitude if we lived in Montana, but in Tenavae, a woman can be a warrior.”
“But you’re not a warrior, and I am. You’re my soulmate, and my role is to protect you from harm.”
Fear.
“I want to do my part in protecting you, too. Can’t you see that?” Alora begged.
“What I see is that you don’t trust me to take care of you. I know the reason you lost your faith—because I failed you once before. You won’t even give me a chance to prove myself.”
Shame.
“That’s not what this is about.” Alora clamped her hands on either side of her head, squeezing the pain back. “I want to know how to fight. You can’t always be there for me, Kaevin. We can’t be together twenty-four hours a day. It’s physically impossible.”
“Then perhaps it’s for the best the council is searching for a way to dissolve our soulmate bond, since you find it so distasteful to be with me all the time.”
Kaevin spun on his heal, marching toward the door. Alora wanted to cry out for him to stop, to tell him that’s not what she meant, but her head pounded, the room turning on its side. Losing her balance, she fell back on the mattress, her neck lolling off the edge.
“Are you okay?”
Arista grabbed her shoulders and heaved her back onto the mattress. “I’ll run, fetch him back here.”
“No. Wait.” Through her cloud of pain, Alora reached out to draw power from water, allowing the emotions to flow out as Laethan had taught her. Careful not to draw from the soulmate bond, she was pleased to succeed without hurting Kaevi
n. Laethan had promised her that with practice, strong emotions would flow in and out, causing no pain whatsoever once she learned how to keep her sensing gates open.
As the pain subsided, she once again noted the essence of evil clinging to Arista as the girl hovered at her bedside but decided now wasn’t the time to address it.
“What should we do?” Arista asked.
“I’m going to eat,” said Markaeus, grabbing a handful of berries and tossing them into his mouth. He tore off a piece of meat with his teeth, chewing the tough jerky.
“Perhaps I should talk to him,” Arista proposed. “He’s not angry with me, so he might listen.”
“I should go to him.” Jireo gave a half-hearted attempt at a joke. “I believe the defender bond will prevent him from killing me.”
“I’m the only one who can find him, so I’ll go,” said Alora. “But I need to eat something first. I need my strength back from this morning’s session before I have another emotional encounter with Kaevin.”
“Men!” Arista exclaimed. “They’re only good for one thing.”
“What’s that?” asked Alora, truly curious about her friend’s opinion.
“Reaching things I can’t reach. And if we had enough tall women, like Thalaena, we wouldn’t need men at all,” she declared, with a bob of her chin.
“What about me?” asked Markaeus, around a mouthful of cheese.
Arista smiled and ruffled his hair. “You’re the exception, Markaeus.” With a sideways glance at her brother, she added, “The only one.”