anything for stars sake, Saedra?!”
Saedra. Saedra. Saedra. He kept calling her Saedra instead of sesi or petit coincin. Already she felt the distance growing between them. Her fingers trembled on the satchel. She worked her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Tell me!” he roared, leaning forward.
“I can’t!” she snapped, all her rage at being forced to reply combined in the answer. “I can’t tell you everything right now. Just...please, can you please let it go for now? I promise once we’re away from Quantoon, I can tell you anything about my time here.”
Garik continued to stare and Saedra was scared he would push until she revealed the truth. Then it would be all over. She firmed her shoulders and drew in a deep breath, waiting for the fallout. Not only would he not like her, but he’d probably not want her to be his bond mate any more despite what he said about it being a life long commitment.
“Don’t you think that’s important information for me to have?” he asked. His tone was milder but it wasn’t hard to hear the condemnation.
Thoughts and answers ran through Saedra’s mind until she settled on one. “If you knew who I was, who my father was—you would not have left that cell with me.”
It was a certainty she couldn’t explain. If Garik knew Maurin was her father he wouldn’t have trusted her, he wouldn’t have escaped with her and she wouldn’t have made it by herself. Call her selfish, but she wasn’t the only one who’d benefited from her actions.
Garik snorted, “Fine, rabische. In this, I will allow you to hold your secrets longer.”
Stunned. That was how she felt right now. Saedra licked her lips. “Are you trying to trick me?”
“No, but just remember this—lies have a way of coming back at the worst of times.”
As if she didn’t have enough to worry over. Fear straightened her spine, though a part of her wanted to cower from his barely leashed anger. “Will you still help me even though I can’t share everything with you right now?”
“Yes.”
Saedra swiped a hand over her hair, wishing she hadn’t looped it in a bun. She turned away from him, the instinct to hide her relief as much a part of her as her scar.
A hand landed on her shoulder roughly, stopping her before she could get far. Garik turned her to face him. “Bond mates don’t lie to one another.”
Tears burned the back of her eyelids, but Saedra didn’t let them fall. He was calm now but his voice held a layer of ice that hadn’t been there before. She sniffed in determination. “I’m sorry, if it means anything.”
She wouldn’t use her fear and the terror she lived under daily as justification. Lying no matter the expected result was wrong. She could at least own that. Her only hope, her only saving grace, was that the bond he’d reluctantly entered with her would salvage some thread of a future together.
Garik tipped her face up, ensuring she met the metallic glint of his gaze. “Don’t keep any more secrets, sesi. This one is enough and bothers me deeply that you are unwilling to tell me.”
Breath wooshed out of her at hearing the endearment she’d thought lost to her. She tried to convey how earnest she was in her reply. “I won’t. I can’t say it won’t happen again because my future is up in the air, but I’m going to try my best not to hold things back.”
“You misunderstand me. No lies, petit coincin. That is not negotiable.”
Right. Hard line. “Alright. No lies. None.”
Her breathing settled as soon as she made the promise. They were in this together.
“Good.” His smile started small then grew until it stretched his lips wide over the even rows of his teeth. Saedra gaped as corresponding joy exploded inside of her.
She leaped into Garik’s arms and he caught her weight with ease. A moment later, she pulled back slightly but kept her hands on his shoulders, needing the contact. Was it her imagination or did he look much improved from his stint in her father’s dungeons? She could have sworn he’d been far more injured when she’d broken into his cell.
His face was less strained. He was definitely getting his strength back. She had no idea how he’d gone from the weak, beaten condition she’d found him in last night to this version. “You’re healing, aren’t you?”
He nodded. “Almost full strength. Possibly by tomorrow.”
Perhaps his genetics, but she didn’t quite believe that