Chapter 44
Chapter forty-four
LAST FIRST EVERYTHING
Ornella
Sage had collected our things and was ready to depart for the bathhouse as soon as I returned to the tent.
Putting the interaction with Orlaith behind me, I grabbed a change of clothing and one of the chewy tablets the aes sídhe used to clean their teeth.
The minty flavour made my tongue tingle as I swirled the foamy paste across my teeth.
“What happened with Orlaith?” Sage asked me as he cast a portal before I could give it a try.
“She really has no appreciation for my restraint.”
Sage raised his brows at me and then took my hand to tug me through the portal. I expected to step into the bathhouse that Darragh had been bringing me to the last few weeks. Instead, I recognized the humid underground cavern with the hot springs.
“Sage!” I hissed at my mate as I whirled to face him. “The Fuath have infested these mountains!”
“I already checked the area before you returned to the tent and warded this chamber. We will be perfectly safe,” he tried to reassure me.
“You came here alone?” I gaped at him in disbelief that I had just gotten him back, and he had already gone and put himself at unnecessary risk.
Sage cocked an eyebrow at me in a way I recognized meant that he was offended by the question.
“I realize I am not at full strength right now, but I am not powerless. I cannot… I will not cower from the world. And I will not be ruled by fear or hesitation.”
From the way he said it, I was not sure which of us he was trying to convince, but he had needed to do this.
“I would never expect you to,” I told him, although my words were unconvincing even to my own ears.
The truth was that I truly would have preferred that he stayed in the encampment where he was safe.
At least until I figured out how to release all of the anxiety still churning in me.
“Sage, I almost lost you. I cannot do that again. I will not survive it again,” I insisted, my voice gentle but firm.
His face softened before he stepped forward to thread his fingers through the hair behind my left ear. My eyes closed as he pressed a tender kiss against my forehead.
“I had to bring you here, Summer. We have unfinished business here,” he explained with a purr in his voice that had me flushing even before he leaned back to look at me. Then he winked, making my mouth pop open, and I was unable to even formulate a response before he had turned away from me again.
I watched, breathless, as he made his way to the same stone ledge he had sat on the first time we had come here. Only this time, he set his bathing things down there and began to disrobe without me prodding him.
I had no hope of focusing while he was undressing in front of me, so I turned away. But that did not mean I was not utterly captivated by every soft rustle of every article of his clothing as it hit the floor behind me.
After a moment, I heard him walk over to the pool and slip into the water with a groan of appreciation.
I turned, unable to look away again as his head tilted back and both of his hands rose to comb the damp hair off his face.
My fingers tensed in longing as if they were the ones threading through all those dark strands.
I sucked my lip in between my teeth as my eyes followed the arching column of his throat down to the familial tattoos on his chest and shoulders.
I imagined licking away every water droplet that was rolling down those chiselled abdominals.
It was usually my mark on his shoulder that captivated me the most, but this time, my gaze drifted to the other side where he had said he wanted me to bite again.
“So,” he said significantly, drawing my reluctant eyes away from his body, “we are gouging out eyes now?”
“I only—” I began, but his amused laughter cut me off, making me breathe a sigh of relief that he did not seem to be angry with me.
“You were listening to me,” I guessed, unsure how to feel about that.
It was so inconsistent with all of his reassurances that I would have privacy within the rider bond. Not that Ciaran respected that either.
I peeled off the last of my clothing, and Sage watched me approach the pool as unapologetically as I had stared at him before.
I was sure to sway my hips, his gaze on my naked body like a shot of adrenaline and ecstasy straight to my veins.
He seemed especially appreciative of all the new marks he had made on my neck and breasts.
“You are… Calling you beautiful does not do justice,” he told me, his eyes devouring the sight of my full breasts swaying as I leaned down to sit on the edge of the pool.
“But it is still nice to hear,” I assured him as I set aside the linen bag he’d packed with bathing supplies for me.
I slipped into the water and moaned as the delicious heat enveloped my body. I did not miss the way his pupils dilated or how he shifted at the sound before I went fully under the water to wet my hair.
“Ciaran told me what you said to Orlaith,” he admitted once I had straightened and retrieved my bathing supplies from the edge of the pool.
I abruptly crushed the bar of soap that I’d been about to start lathering in my hands.
“He needs to stay out of my head or he and I are going to have serious issues!” I hissed. And I hoped the asshole heard the threat through our annoying new connection.
“I told him to respect your privacy, but he’s convinced you learn better under pressure. He insists his intrusions will motivate you to learn to block him,” Sage explained, watching me closely as he spoke.
“Meaning I can look forward to much more of him in my head,” I muttered and rolled my eyes in annoyance. “Remind me not to waste my energy saving his life next time if this is how he is going to repay me.”
Sage smirked, but his expression quickly grew serious again, still watching me closely while I lathered my hair. “Summer, I will make him stop if you—”
“It is alright,” I sighed, already knowing Ciaran had a good point about how I learned. And somehow, I trusted the prick would not be like my father and put me in real danger or severe discomfort to force me to learn faster.
Sage eyed me for a moment, ensuring I really meant it, before he nodded. He was quiet for a few moments so we could both focus on bathing, but I could tell that he was not yet done with the serious discussions.
“I am sorry about Orlaith. I thought she was… I will be keeping my distance for my own sake, but I need you to know that whatever you need will be respected.”
I glanced up and smiled in appreciation when I met his sincere gaze.
“I never told you that she admitted to leaving me at the river with Ciaran so he would kill me,” I realized aloud.
His gentle expression slackened briefly with his shock before it hardened. “What?” he ground out.
“The only reason she decided to get you was because she realized you would never forgive her. It seemed unfair to forgive Ciaran and hold a grudge against her so I didn’t see a reason to tell you,” I explained.
“Except for the fact that Ciaran didn’t know how I felt about you. And she did,” Sage disagreed furiously.
“I am actually proud of myself! She tried to hurt me by telling me that I am just like Aodhan, and you hated him. Apparently it makes her and Shay wonder how you would really feel if our bond did not blind you,” I advised him with a smirk. But he was not laughing even a little.
“She said what?” he growled, all traces of gentleness evaporating from his gorgeous face again. “Summer—”
“I know it’s not true! I have become confident enough in our relationship to trust your feelings. Even if you did dislike Aodhan,” I assured him, and Sage sighed.
“I have come to realize that I never made the effort to know your brother the way I was forced to do with you,” Sage admitted as he stroked my cheek in pure adoration. “And I regret that now. I think if I had, then I might have felt rather differently about him.”
He was quiet for a moment with his eyes on my face, and I realized I could actually feel his trepidation at the thought of missing out on knowing me too.
“I just want to know why Orlaith is so fixated on you. Obviously you are an exceptional male, so I can’t blame her for having regrets, but she is with someone new now! And why does Shay feed into it so much?” I scowled.
Sage was quiet as his eyes lowered to the surface of the water between us, and it occurred to me that there may be a reason. One that he was very much aware of.
“Sage?” I prompted him gently, and he nodded as if to assure me that he knew he needed to tell me the truth.
“You once told me that I should tell you about Orlaith when I was ready,” he reminded me.
I nodded as I recalled the flight to check on the village at Aes Suri after the Fuath attacked. He’d told me things between them were complicated, and he hadn’t wanted to share any more than that because he was too ashamed.
But nothing could have prepared me to hear…
“Orlaith was pregnant when I ended things with her. So I don’t think it is only me that she is grieving for.”
My body went suddenly numb, and there was a strange buzzing in my ears. I barely regained the composure to continue listening to what he said next.
“She asked me to make things between us… official. She had broached the topic before, but I was always firm about my commitment to the Wild Hunt. I’d already told her that if she wanted that, then we were not compatible, and she insisted at the time that she was happy with how things were.
But this time she was… persistent. I took it as a sign that her needs were beyond my capacity to fulfill for her and broke things off.
But I didn’t know at the time that she was actually asking because of… ”
“Because of the baby,” I finished, my heart thudding hard when he nodded. “What… Where is…” I trailed off in uncertainty of how to ask him all my questions.