Page 79 of Between Soul and Vessel
I scowled at the memory.
Back then, I had been so caught up in my need for revenge I had ignored all the signs—that she was my mate. I had wasted precious time I could have had with her, if only I hadn’t been so painfully blind.
I hated what I had done to Sage, and yet, she had forgiven me for it. All of it.
So, if she could do that for me, I could do it for her.
In fact, I already had.
Kaleb sighed. “I miss Sage.”
“I do too,” I conceded, looking up at the swaying green canopy. Creator above,howI missed her.
“I wish she was here so I could talk to her about Fallon,” Kaleb said, the anger in his voice gone. Now, all that was left was sadness. “She’d know what to do.”
“I know I’m not nearly the listener that she is, but I can try to be, if you want to talk about it,” I offered.
Kaleb gave me a skeptical look, but he let out a long sigh and then word-vomited all over me. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t. I had planned to ask Fallon to marry me, can you believe that?” He gave a sardonic chuckle. “But then Sage died, and I put everything on pause. I just . . . I couldn’t imagine committing my life to another and not having my sister—my best friend—there. When we learned she wasalive and where she was, I felt hope again, so I started to think about asking Fallon to be my wife.” He shook his head in disbelief and scoffed. “I’m an idiot. I thought what we had was strong, but clearly, I was wrong. She tossed what we had to the side so easily.” He began to wipe at his watering eyes with his bruised hand, the knuckles split and bloody.
I didn’t know what to say.
Kaleb and I were vastly different. And despite there being some similarities with this situation—our females fucking someone else—the elements at play were vastly different. Ryker wasn’t Fallon’spurely trashex-husband. Kaleb hadn’t robbed Fallon of her powers and tormented her for decades. Kaleb also hadn’t hunted Fallon down in the forest, shadow chained her, and tricked her into forging the mating bond with him through a hate fuck. Kaleb hadn’t forced Fallon to live with him in his castle, knowing the bond would keep her from running away. Kaleb hadn’t—
Fuck, I was a bastard.
It was a wonder Sage had been able to forgive me after all of that. And yet, she had. The goddess was a saint.
I let out a sigh and rolled my neck, looking to Kaleb. “Do you want my thoughts or what I think Sage would say?”
Kaleb stopped and turned toward me. “What Sage would say.”
Facing him, I put my hand on his shoulder, as I felt like that was something Sage would do. “Do you need me to go kick her ass?”
Kaleb barked out a laugh.
I cracked a grin.
“Yeah, she would say that. She’d be all too happy to go another round with Fallon,” Kaleb said.
I was about to reply, but I heard sounds—voices coming from the north, which was the opposite direction of our camp. I looked at Kaleb, whose mortal ears probably hadn’t detected them yet, and placed my finger against my lips.
What’s wrong?he mouthed, his eyebrows weaving together.
I pointed over to a large rock, indicating we should hide behind it.
He nodded, and we crouch walked our way over to it, my shadows wrapping around us.
The voices became louder—two females.
Through the trees, I got a glimpse of them. They were strange-looking beings—gray skin, white markings, tall, and obscenely slender. It was as if their bodies had been stretched out, arms, legs, and necks elongated.
“Since Imari returned, she has become a menace. Acting like she’s better than everyone else. There is no way we can get the new system up and running in two months’ time,” said the female whose hair was pulled tightly back, secured with a leather tie. She was the tallest of the two.
The other one replied, “We do not have a choice. It is an order that has come from the empress herself, so we must do all that we can to make sure we get it done.”
“Wow, look who sounds like Imari now,” the taller female huffed, her speed picking up.
The other one quickened her pace so she could catch upwith her. When she did, she said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come across that way.”
