Page 29 of Stolen Thorn Bride

Her silence was so long, he began to fear she didn’t mean to answer.

“It’s complicated, Dechlan,” she said finally. “And humiliating.”

The impulse to ease her pain seemed to come quite naturally. “There is nothing humiliating about strength, Kasia. I can only imagine what courage it must have required—to hide your true self from everyone while bearing a burden you were not intended to bear.” He willed her to hear his sincerity, and when she finally turned to look at him, he could have sworn there were tears on her cheeks.

“How…” Her eyes squeezed shut, and she took a deep, shuddering breath. “No one else has ever understood that. I’ve never been able to share with anyone what it feels like. How exhausting it is.”

He was surprised by the depth of his desire to comfort her in her distress, but remained silent, hoping she would say more.

Eventually, she let out a long sigh, and her shoulders dropped. “My mother left us when I was thirteen,” she said matter-of-factly. “My other siblings were seven, one, and nearly a newborn. My father is a soldier, and when he returned to his post right after Liam was born, something in my mother just broke. She’d begged him not to go, and couldn’t handle the burden of caring for all of us on her own, so she ran away.”

The betrayal of it stunned him. “She left you alone to care for them?”

Kasia nodded. “I wasn’t sure Liam would live, but I’d heard about the mage woman living in the forest—heard she had a goat—and thought maybe she could help.”

“She did,” he guessed.

“She saved us,” Kasia admitted. “She never had children of her own, but she helped me however she could. And when the others were old enough to be on their own, she gave me a job. Let me tend her animals and her garden in exchange for food.”

“And when your father found out?”

“I didn’t tell him everything,” she confessed. “I didn’t tell him about Gianessa, but I wrote him a letter, told him what had happened with Mother, and begged him to come home.”

Dechlan could see where this was going and felt his rage begin to grow.

“He said he was too busy. Told me I was old enough to handle things and that I would do just fine.” Her voice was flat as she recounted the story, but he could tell her veneer of objectivity was dearly bought. “I don’t think he ever recovered from Mother’s betrayal, but he shows up once a year for a month or so, just for the sake of appearances. Not to see us. We remind him too much of her, I think, and even when he comes, he never stays long. Just long enough to drink, forget, and go back to his post for another year.”

Everyone she should have been able to trust had left her. Left her to carry unimaginable burdens alone. And while their circumstances were not at all the same, Dechlan let himself feel the weight of her story and acknowledged again how deeply he’d wronged her.

She knew. Perhaps she was not an elf or a warrior. Perhaps she had never learned to wield a blade. But she knew what it was to shoulder the weight of responsibilities beyond her strength. Knew what it felt like to gaze into the darkness alone, and wonder if there would ever be an end. Wonder if she was good enough.

She’d had no one to lean on. Nothing to hold on to when the pain drove her to her knees.

And she’d survived all of this while carrying the additional fear of believing herself to be cursed.

“When did you learn about your magic?”

A tree ahead of them had grown down over the path, too low for a rider to pass without bending to avoid the branches. Kasia almost didn’t see it until it was too late, and when she jerked out of the way of the branch, nearly fell from her saddle.

She was saved only by her grip on the harness, and by Aral, who twisted his head around as if checking to make sure she was all right. His steadiness enabled Dechlan to move forward quickly enough to catch his bondmate’s arm until she could regain her seat.

“Sorry.” Her face went red again. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

Dechlan’s mouth opened before he could think better of it. “Shall I tell you of the time I decided it would be fun to race my favorite mount through the stable… and forgot to duck?”

He was rewarded by a puzzled look from his bondmate. Only then did he realize that he’d been trying to make her laugh, and it was a few moments more before he wondered—how long had it been since he’d felt any inclination to levity? He was clearly out of practice. Hopefully, his clumsy attempt at a joke didn’t annoy Kasia into retreating from him again.

“Dare I hope you landed arse-first in the dirt?”

He might have taken his bondmate’s words for antagonism, but her eyes sparked with something else.

Challenge. Amusement. Maybe even hope.

“I was bruised for weeks,” he admitted. “And my pride was bruised for even longer because I’d been attempting to show off for…”

For Miach and Aureann. The three of them had spent that entire summer together. Far closer than merely friends.

“I was fifteen,” Kasia said.