Passion Untamed (Feral Warriors #3)(39)

"Since I got there."

"Since you were eight?"

"Yes."

"That's why."

She stared at him, then looked away, as if suddenly fascinated by the paintings on his wall. There was something about her, a sudden brittleness that made him feel like the wrong word would make her shatter.

And he knew.

"He hurt you anyway, didn't he? When you were young." She didn't react, and he didn't push. "You don't have to tell me, Skye. I just want to understand you better."

Slowly, she turned back to him, in her eyes a strange mixture of pain and strength. She met his gaze, held it, as if trying to comprehend him instead.

"Why do you want to understand me?" Why are you being nice to me now when you nearly raped me last night? She didn't have to say the words for him to hear them.

Paenther pushed away from the window and leaned his shoulder against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You've been a contradiction to me from the start. The forthright siren with the sad eyes who led me into the woods, took me into her body, then enthralled me. The gentle witch who was beaten bloody for not forcing herself on me. My instincts have told me all along that you weren't like the other witches I've known. That you were innocent. That's why I couldn't hurt you, even though the part of me that has always hated the Mage wanted to."

He looked up at the ceiling, remembering last night with a crushing ache. "When I saw the cuts, Skye..." When he looked down, he found her watching him with an odd combination of wariness and tears in her eyes. "When I saw the cuts, I knew my instincts were right. Whatever else you might be, you were every bit as much a captive of that place as I was. I judged you without knowing you. I saw the copper rings around your irises and expected the worst from you. And even when I didn't get it, I chalked it up to enthrallment or subterfuge."

He shrugged. "For the first time, I'm listening, Skye. I want to know who you are. And I'll try my damndest to judge you on that and not your race."

The edges of wariness in her expression softened. She brushed away the single tear that had escaped her eye while he spoke and met his gaze. "The first time he raped me was two weeks after he took me from my mother."

Goddess. "I'm sorry." He suddenly wasn't sure he wanted to hear this after all, but he wouldn't turn away from her now. Not after he'd begged her to talk to him. "Why did she let him take you?"

"She tried to hide me, but I wouldn't let her."

"You wanted to go with him?"

"No." She released her legs, digging her fingers into her hair and raking it back. "Going with him was the last thing I wanted." Her words were hot and vehement. "I don't know how he found out I was an enchantress, but he just showed up one day. I detested him on sight. Even then, I think I sensed he was without a soul. He told me to come to him, and I refused, so he grabbed me. One of my dogs attacked him. A small one, unfortunately. The big dogs were all outside."

She wrapped her arms tight around her legs again, pulling into herself. "He killed her with his magic."

"Again, I'm sorry."

She shrugged one slender shoulder. "It was probably a good thing. It told me all I needed to know about him. That night, the leader of our clan, the archsorcerer, told my mother I had to go with him. Birik was too powerful, too dangerous to attempt to cross. But after I went to bed, my mother came to me and told me to run. I'd befriended a human girl a couple of years before in the neighborhood on the other side of the woods and had played with her a couple of times. She wanted me to go there, thinking the humans might hide me."

Skye shook her head, meeting his gaze with remembered fear in her eyes. "But I was afraid Birik would destroy my friend and her family as he'd destroyed my dog. And he would have, I know that now. So I hid in the woods by the house that night so my mother wouldn't try to take me away and endanger herself. When morning came, I went to Birik and told him I was ready to go."

She turned her head, pressing her cheek to her knees. "I don't know if my mother ever forgave me for that." Her voice was soft and low, as if she were speaking to herself. "She was so upset."

"She forgave you. Whether or not she understood why you did it, she never blamed you, Skye. She only wanted to protect you."

Skye lifted her head to look at him, her mouth turning wry, a glimmer of thanks in her eyes. "I hope you're right. I don't know if I saved anyone in the end. My entire clan may be soulless by now."

"You never saw your mother again?"

"No. I never heard from any of them. They disappeared from my life. I've often dreamed of escaping Birik and going back, but I don't know where they are."

She pulled her knees closer to her chest, her eyes taking on a faraway look. "After we left my clan, Birik took me to the caverns and taught me the chant and the dance of the enchantress that raised my power. They were kind of fun, though I didn't like dancing without clothes on. It was too cold, but he insisted I be sky-clad. Then he took me outside and told me to call the animals. Dozens came. In hindsight, I think it made him angry that I could call them so easily when all he could call were snakes. But he selected a beautiful doe and her fawn, and we led them back into the cavern. I was happy. I'd been scared and lonely, and the creatures comforted me. He promised me I could bring them to watch me dance that night."