Page 29 of Daughter of the Ninth Line: Part Two

There were only two people in all of Ebrus capable of inflicting harm on Vox, and I could stand against neither of them. Moving my fingers away from the painful, raised skin, I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him tightly to me. I didn’t say I was sorry, didn’t offer him empty platitudes.

I’d been where he had, at the hands of a man who shared my blood and was meant to love and protect me, but didn’t. “I know this feeling,” I told him simply. “It’s their failing, not yours.”

Vox’s body went taut again, his eyes running over my face, finding the secrets that I was laying bare before him but was too cowardly to say out loud. He knew, though. I could see his understanding in the way his jaw tensed. “I’ll kill him,” he growled.

I couldn’t help but laugh. He absolutely could, but not today. “Okay, my Ice Prince. But do it later. I want to cuddle first.”

Huffing a small laugh, he rolled onto his back and gathered me up against his chest. That had to hurt the lash wounds on his back, but he didn’t seem to mind. Acacia had given me a poultice to put on my injuries after the Eugene incident, so later, I’d use some of that on Vox’s lashes to help ease the pain. Hopefully by tomorrow, they’d be gone.

But right now? I would just lay here and hope that this moment was enough to heal the wounds that no one else could see.

Eighteen

Hayle

She smelled like him. It riled the beast that lived inside me, until I swore he was about to rip out of my skin. They weren’t even trying to hide it, not really. Anyone with eyes could see the way their gazes lingered on each other, the small touches, the way he was protective of the Ninth Line conscript.

It meant people gave her a wide berth, almost as wide as the one she gave me. If she saw me coming, she turned and went the other way. If I was in the same class as her, she’d sit on the other side of the room. She was avoiding me, and it made me both angry and despondent—a completely unreasonable response. She didn’t owe me anything. I barely knew her. I knew more about her family history than I did about Avalon herself.

Braxus growled beside me, but it wasn’t an alert to tell me of a threat. It was the kind of growl he aimed at pups who were doing stupid things that were going to get them hurt, or who needed to be corrected. It was his annoyed sound.

“What?” I snapped at him, and he clacked his teeth back at me. He might be consideredmyhound, but no one owned Braxus. We were partners, up until the time he decided he was done with me. “Sorry, Braxus.”

Sighing heavily, he cast an annoyed expression at Alucius, which was how I knew the message they wanted to impart was going to be about feelings. Braxus tore apart my enemies, but Alucius helped me navigate the beast within.

She sent me an image of her and Braxus snuggling. They were a mated pair; it’s why they were so good at their job. Then she sent me an image of me and Avalon snuggling too.

I looked down at her. “I know that I want her, but I can’t just steal her from the First Line Heir. She has free will.”

Alucius huffed and looked at Braxus, who nipped my fingers, no doubt on her command.

“Ouch. That was out of line,” I grumbled down at them both. It didn’t really hurt, but I was beginning to get the impression that they were frustrated.

Alucius sent me another image, this time of her and Braxus standing side by side, strong and united, followed by a similar image of Avalon and I, shoulder to shoulder, with me looking down at her adoringly. That had definitely never happened, so she wasn’t sending me something she’d seen in the past.

Walking around me, Alucius licked at Braxus’s muzzle. They were mates.

Oh.

Ohhh.

“You think she’s my mate?”

Alucius nudged my hand anxiously.

More?I blinked down at my loyal companion, and she gave a look that very clearly expressed that I was being a silly pup. “No, I understand, but also, it can’t be. You think she’s my soulmate? My Soul Tie?”

She licked my hand with her long tongue, the same way she’d congratulated her puppies when they learned a new trick.

I shook my head. “I can’t be her Soul Tie.” I thought about the pulling in my chest that had almost been instantaneous. Likemy soulknewhers and wanted her more than anything. “She basically runs the other way anytime she sees me. Also, she’s with Vox, and while I find that aggravating, I don’t want to rip his face off the way a soulmate would, if they saw another male with his hands all over his Soul Tie.”

I mean, I’d been tempted to tear his face off more than a time or two, and since Avalon had arrived, that impulse had basically doubled. But not enough. I’d heard stories about Soul Ties, about the way their bodies had found each other in each life—sometimes as lovers, sometimes as adversaries, but forever twined together. My grandparents had been a Soul Tie, and my grandfather had once ripped the arms of a man who’d thought to touch my grandmother without her permission.

Braxus tilted his head, the universal hound gesture forI don’t knowor possiblydid someone drop you on your head as a pup?

I shrugged. “She would make a fine mate; no one’s arguing that. She’s beautiful, and like…” I struggled to explain how my heart felt when I was near her. “Like that feeling you get after a long run in woods you know like the back of your hand.” Like home.

Alucius huffed and trotted away, her tail high, so I knew just how annoyed she was with me. Braxus stayed by my side as I made my way toward our battle history class, thinking about what the hounds believed. I trusted them in all things. Well, almost all things—Braxus had once let me chase a polecat as a kid, knowing I’d get sprayed. It had been a valuable lesson, I guess, but I’d stunk for a week afterwards.

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