Page 124 of First Ritual

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Page 124 of First Ritual

Even if I couldn’t salvage my future. Or myself.

My anger exploded. Ripping off my foraging bag, I emptied the contents onto the ground, then threw my boline knife, gaining gross satisfaction when it thudded into a tree.

“Tempest?”

I whirled to face a barefoot Wild.

He took in the pile of foraged goods at my feet. The knife in the tree. The belt on the ground.

I turned my back on him to pick up my foraging bag. “What do you want?”

“To walk at dawn without a fucking crowd. And without witnessing someone’s tantrum.”

I could guess he was referring to me with that second part. “The crowd is your fault. Must’ve gotten out that the one-and-only Wild comes here at dawn.”

“Your fault,” he countered. “The young magus want to be like you. The returned Corentine walks at dawn. She sticks to the old ways. She adores the ancestors. Bedwyr started it. He wouldn’t stop talking about you, and they look up to him.”

Damn you, Bedwyr. I slung my bag over my shoulder. “Yeah, well, not anymore.” The ancestors and old ways could go fuck themselves.

“Why not anymore?” he asked softly.

I wrenched my boline from the poor tree and slid the blade into its sheath. “Have a good day, Wild.”

He caught my arm as I made to walk past him. “Talk to me, Tempest.”

That request was beginning to get under my skin.

“If you won’t talk to me, then talk to someone,” he urged. “Rooke.”

I forced myself to relax. “Good idea. I will.”

Wild narrowed his gaze. “You’re lying.”

Could he feel the lightning sparking in my eyes? “You’re going to let me go now, and I’m going to get on with my day. You’ll get on with yours too.”

“We need to keep figuring this out. There’s an answer. I can feel it. Don’t lose hope.” A growl entered his voice.

Too late. “I’m done.”

His shock was plain. “You’re what?”

“Done. With research on this ritual. Don’t worry about my tether stuff, obviously. If I’m not helping you, you don’t need to help me. But that’s it. I’m finished. Don’t talk to me about it anymore.”

Wild touched my forehead, and I hissed an exhale at the unexpected, gentle contact.

“What is it that I don’t understand?” Dark eyes glinted with grimoire curiosity.

“Unsure. Good luck with your problem.” I tried to keep walking.

“Our problem.”

Guilt twinged in my heart, the emotion plucked like a guitar string.

Wild stepped closer to grab my other arm and bring us nearly nose to nose. “You don’t get to make decisions for both of us. We make them together. I talk with you, and you talk with me. When we do that, things go okay.”

The urge to cry surged within me so strong and fast that I almost, almost fell into Wild’s arms to sob my fucking tired, sad heart out.

Almost.




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