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“Can you reject me and get it over with?”
Like mouthfuls of glass, each word was a knife to Remmus’ heart, and Ava’s face twisted as she undoubtedly prepared for the worst.
“Why would I reject you?”
“Because I’m the reason your parents are dead,” he snapped. “Because I failed you—again!”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Fury poured through their mating bond, and Remmus steeled himself against the oncoming storm. Like everything else in his life, he’d take his kicks and continue moving forward, even when Ava rightly deserted him.
There was simply no other place to go.
But again, his mate surprised him. “No, Remmus, you saved me again.”
“I didn’t save you the first time!”
Barely resisting the frustration, Remmus stepped away from her when she rose to her feet, needing the distance to keep his head.
Something close to sympathy passed over her features. “But you did, Remmus. Don’t you see? You shielded my mind from your parents.”
“What?”
Ava shook her head, her blonde braid swishing backward over her shoulder as she took a tentative step toward him once more. “You remember when your parents were rounding up the villagers?”
“Of course I do.”
“And I hid beneath the blankets?”
Though he was nearly certain this was a trap, Remmus answered with a simple, “Yes.”
“How did your parents not find me?” Softness entered Ava’s expression, the oceanic blue of her eyes searching his. “They were ancient Raeths of destruction. How did they not find me, a human, when I couldn’t have hidden my psychic signature even if I wanted to?”
As a human child, Ava’s mind would’ve called out on a rudimentary psychic level, his parents unable to ignore her signature.
The only answer was the one she’d already supplied: he must have manifested his Shielding gift to save her. Slowly, Ava’s next step took her within touching distance of him, but she didn’t reach out.
“Even though you were an adolescent yourself, you saved me from them. It’s how I escaped when no one else did.”
“Ava, even if that were true, I’m the reason my parents sought you out!”
The truth flayed him raw. No matter what he’d done to save her, she’d only been put in that position because he’d compromised her.
“Did you do it purposefully?”
“No!” Revulsion flared within him. “How could you think I’d ever purposefully put you in danger?”
She smiled as though his answer made him any less guilty.
“Remmus, you’ve always protected me.” Her fingers reached out, delicately stroking along the front edge of his shirt. “From the moment you saved me from drowning to pulling me out from beneath that webbing yesterday, you’ve always been there for me. People protect what they love.”
When she went to skim her fingers across his chin, he grabbed them, his temper igniting. “No. I’ve only ever put you in danger!”
Gritting his teeth, he shoved himself away from her. He slammed his hands down onto the side table, leaning against it. Memories assaulted him as he struggled to maintain his weak grip on reality.
“Where have you been, Remmus?”
Every muscle in his body stiffened as the whip of his mother’s voice lashed out at him. Eyes darkened with cruelty pierced through him, her gaze seeing far more than he wanted.
