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Marius and I still hadn’t made up after he’d tried to leave Derrick to die. My anger had ebbed significantly, but we rarely had time to say more than a few words to one another. Marius kept himself busy up on the battlements, since Malvolia refused to leave her room. I wasn’t sure if Marius was that committed to maintaining order, or just more concerned with avoiding my wrath.
I tensed when I heard a rap on the door, for I knew it was Marius on the other side. I could hear my mate’s heavy breathing and sense his soul calling to mine. He slipped inside, sitting beside me on the bed. “How is he?”
“Worse.” I dipped the cloth in water and ran it over Derrick’s forehead again.
Marius frowned at that line cutting across Derrick’s chest. When she’d first told us about the infection, he’d wanted to cut it out, but Gadea had said that would only cause it to spread faster.
“Any word from our children?” I asked while lovingly stroking Derrick’s arm.
“No, nothing.”
I stiffened at that. Where were they? And were they okay? “Have you seen any more signs of the wyvern?”
“No.”
“And my sister?” I asked, forcing a note of indifference into my voice. What did I care about the bitch?
“Still keeps to her room.”
I clucked my tongue. “All over a horse.” A hideous, beastly horse at that.
“He was her familiar.”
I shot him a glare. Was that censure I heard in his voice? “I refuse to pity her. I’ve lost far too many friends to count, and my home while I mourned you for too long.” Heat flushed my face and neck as a flood of rage surged through my veins. And, yes, losing a familiar was particularly painful for a witch, but not more so than what the thousands of children she’d orphaned had had to endure. “Now we might lose Derrick if Tari doesn’t—” My throat pinched, my words cutting off midsentence as moisture flooded my eyes. I couldn’t voice aloud my fears, afraid they’d come to pass.
“Flora,” Marius whispered, gently grasping my shoulder. “The people of Delfi need you. Caldaria, Windhaven, and now Delfi are all without monarchs.”
I shook him off with a snarl. “Malvolia tried to kill me just for thinking I coveted her crown.”
“You don’t have a choice.” He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “We must move everyone back to Thebes. The temple is running out of supplies. The soldiers won’t listen to me.” He visibly swallowed, giving me a pleading look. “They need an Avias.”
Icy fear swept up my spine. “What if the demon king is waiting to attack us when we flee?”
“It’s a chance we must take.” He grasped my hands, desperation flaring in his eyes. “Either that or starve.”
I frowned down at our joined hands. “Very well.”
I tensed when Marius loudly cleared his throat.
“Flora, won’t you forgive me?” His voice broke and cracked like splintered glass, tugging on my heart. “I went too long without your love. To have you so near and not be able to hold you is worse torture than living in that prison.”
I stared down at our joined hands. “You were going to let him die.”
“To keep you safe.” He squeezed my hands. “I would’ve wanted him to do the same if it were me.”
I was tired of having this same argument. “You wouldn’t have kept me safe. Don’t you see that?” I pulled away from him, my heart pounding a painful thud in my ears. “I refuse to mourn my mate again.”
His eyes bulged. “Wh-what are you saying?”
I swiped tears from my eyes, speaking through thought when my throat constricted. That I will take my own life if I lose either of you.
I gasped when he flung himself toward me, grasping my shoulders. “Flora, no!”
Unable to overcome the sobs that wracked my body, I buried my face in my hands, tears flooding my eyes. I can’t go through that again, I projected to him. I can’t! Why couldn’t he understand I wouldn’t survive losing another mate?
He held me tight while I sobbed against his chest, overcome with so much sorrow, I could scarcely think or breathe. I don’t know for how long I cried as he whispered words of love and comfort into my ear. He pulled me into his lap, stroking my back while rocking me. Oh, how I missed being held by Marius. He’d always been the most tender of my two mates, the one most attuned to my feelings. I hated that we haven’t been talking, and I berated myself for holding onto my anger.
My lips found his, and I kissed him deeply. I’m sorry, I projected to him.
