Page 116 of Omen of ice
“Have you left this room for more than ten minutes since returning?” Delkin lounges in the doorway, casually leaning against the frame. He has an apple in hand and is dressed in the Winter Court colors—white and silver; sadly, no hint of orange or green to be seen—the wolf crest on his chest proudly displayed.
“A few times. I was about to go find Tania.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve kept my word.” I hold up the small tear-shaped vial that holds half the druid’s magic. “I’m giving the druid magic back as promised.”
Delkin smiles. There’s pride in his eyes. “Well, then I’ll leave you to it. We’ll talk later.”
“Wait.” I grab his arm as he turns. We’re still getting to know each other, but I have no one else to talk to about this. “My Heartbreaker is broken.” It’s the first time I’ve acknowledged it out loud. I’ve thought about it constantly, but saying it to someone, verbally acknowledging it, somehow allows me to breathe easier.
Delkin’s expression is sad for some reason. “I know.”
“Tania is…” I honestly have no words for what Tania is. She’s strong, and she’s brave, and she’s by far the most stubborn being I have ever encountered. She’s beautiful, and simply the sound of her voice calms the churning in my soul. Before I returned home and was treated with respect, I was alone. I mourned for the mother I never met, felt hatred for the father I’d been fed. I was angry, and it slowly poisoned me. From the moment Tania entered my life, some of that venom eased. It continues to ease. “Tania could bemine.”
“Please don’t say that.”
“What?”
His expression is pained, and he drops his gaze to the floor for a moment. “Tania is a human, Valen.”
“She is,” I agree. “And it makes no difference to me. I’ve decided to tell her how I feel. I believe she feels the same way.” I start for the door. “She is just too proud to admit it first.”
“Valen, wait.” Delkin catches my arm. “Tania is a druid. AnAphelian.”
“I am very glad I found you, Delkin, but I do believe you’ve entered my life a bit too late to tell me who I should and shouldn’t love.”
He closes his eyes and sighs. “I am sorry you feel this way. Under any other circumstance, I would be proud. She’s a fine choice, and I believe she would keep you on your toes. But it cannot be.”
“Why not?” My father, the advocate for humans, is telling me I can’t love one? It’s too late for that now.
“When you sacrificed your freedom to save her, you also sacrificed a future with her. At least an immediate one.”
“You’re making no sense.”
“The Winter Lands have been asleep for a very long time. They’ve been misled, and they will be wary. You have thousands of years of damage to repair. In time, you may be able to change things, but right now…”
“Change what things?”
“In the days of Frostreaver rule, humans were treated not as servants but as friends. They were allies, and they were, on occasion,entertaining. They were never equal. Not in the eyes of the general population.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You looked down on them?”
“No. But the life we live in the village, where everyone is equal, isn’t the life we lived here. That kind of change takes time. I was working toward it when we fell—and I believe you will finish what I began. Withtime. Right now, you need to focus on undoing the damage Liani did. You need to gain their trust—and that won’t happen if you’re amorously linked to a human. A druid, no less. The truth about Aphelian will unsettle the majority and cause doubt to flourish. It will not win you their trust.”
“This can’t be happening.” I sink onto the edge of the bed.
“I should be telling you to make her leave. Her presence at the estate, when the truth comes out, will cause you problems. But I know better than to suggest that.”
“I really can’t be with her?” After everything we went through, all the pain and suffering and obstacles—we deserve to be happy. Of everything Liani did, all the things she stole, this is among the worst.
“Not in the way you want.”
It isn’t his fault. He is the messenger, and I know that. But I’m angry regardless.
He continues. “If she was willing, youmightbe able to take her as a courtesan, but it can’t be what you want. What she would deserve. Not right now.”
I try to speak, but the words won’t come. The anger, the pain, the regret—but no words. Maybe Ishouldask her to leave. Gently suggest she go back to help the druids. They have just as much healing to do as we. If I do that, though, there’s a chance I’ll never see her again. That she’ll disappear and become nothing but a painful memory. One I’m reminded of each and every day through the inseverable link.
