Page 19 of Winds of Destiny

“Cam, he’s myking. What kind of subject would I be if I disregarded his will?”

I’ve gone from weary to furious so fast I’m shaking with it. “This is just guilt,” I say flatly. “You’re letting my father’s words about Doric get into your head. There’snoreason for you to feel guilty, Turo! You don’t owe my father anything—you’ve more than paid him back over the years with your service.”

“Zephyth is in a precarious position without Doric,” Turo points out. “Huridell is protected due to its location, so you’ll be safe there. But until Huridell sends the reinforcements they’ve promised, the only one who’s trained to run the spy network is me. Asking anyone else to do it would be suicide.”

“So?” I know I’m being irrational, but I don’t care. I’m about to lose the home and family I love. I will not survive losing Turo as well. “Let our people stay safe inside the city until they send soldiers!”

“What about our caravans?” Turo asks sharply. “Who will scout whether the route is clear for them? Would you let King Embros’s forces fall on them like a pike on a school of guppies? Will you leave your people so undefended? Would you leave Gilraen undefended?”

That shot brings tears to my eyes. It’s not fair.

“You’re not responsible for my sister’s safety, you’re responsible formysafety,” I shout, any composure long gone. I grab him by the arms and shake him, my grip hard enough to hurt.Let him feel a fraction of the pain I do right now, maybe it will help get my point through his thick head.“You can’t leave me alone with them. You can’t. I love you. I can’t do this without you, Turo, please!”

He looks agonized. “We have to learn to let each other go.”

His quiet in the face of my fury is maddening. I want him to lash out, to show me the heat and the passion and the need for me that I’ve always,alwaysknown he has in his heart. I want him to chooseme.

“You’re as good as married,” he goes on, as though marriage would ever be enough to keep me from loving Turo. “You’re going to be someone else’s to protect—”

“I’m yours. I’ll always be— Argh! Why are you so thickheaded?” I yell the question at the night sky before turning back to him and pinning him with my gaze. “I want you. YouknowI want you. I’vealwayswanted you. I’ve loved you for so long.”

I lean in, touching our foreheads together.

This is as far as we’ve ever gone before, so close to a kiss but not quite there.

No more.

“Just love me back,” I whisper, then tilt my head and bring our lips together.

Oh…Oh. It’s as good as I’ve always known it would be. His lips are soft against mine, but there are teeth, too, nipping as I open my mouth and let him in. He clutches the back of my head and drags me in deeper. I’m surrounded by him, weak against his ferocity and the adoration I always dreamed about. This is everything I want, this iseverything—

He pulls away.

It’s like being dunked into a cold bath—I can’t breathe, and everything suddenly seems chilled.

“We mustn’t do this,” Turo pants. His lips glisten in the moonlight, wet from my tongue.

I can feel the spot where he bit my lip. I want to feel it again. I want to push, but…

“We mustn’t,” he says again, letting me go this time. The blade he stabbed me with a minute ago expands sharply, a tiny paring knife grown to a five-foot broadsword in the space of two words.

“Turo.” I breathe his name like it’s a prayer, like this is my last hope for salvation. It is.Please don’t do this to me. “Come to Huridell with me.Staywith me. Please.”

“We can’t,” he says.

“We can!” I insist.

“Ican’t!” he finally shouts.

And that’s it. I’m done.

The ache is a wound now. I’m bleeding inside, all the love I feel for him used against me. It’s killing me to look at him, to be with him right now. I have to go. I press to my feet, wavering a little.

Turo reaches out to steady my leg, but I wrench it away from him.

“Fuck you,” I spit at him. “You don’t get to care for me anymore.”

“Cam…”

---