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Next thing she knew, the smell of fresh moss and salty air occluded her senses. Massive arms were restraining her. One hooked around her chest, while the other pinned her waist back.
Soren held her close as he whispered, “You’ll not run around here like a feral feline, scaring children. Do you hear me?”
“Get off of me!”
“Or what?”
Thessa wrapped her leg around his and tripped him. Dipping out of his grasp, she sprinted for her tent.
It was a useless measure of security. Soren hurled himself inside a second later, tackling her to the ground.
Beneath him, her chest heaved. Every breath she took inadvertently pressed her closer to him. She couldn’t take another lie, yet she couldn’t deny the heat building between her legs, or the ache of her breasts beneath his solid weight.
“Thisisn’t fair,” she eyed the minimal space between their bodies for clarification.
“Maybe, but your existence hasn’t been fair to me.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant. “You can’t expect me to lead your army, to kiss you … I’m not some reincarnate of your late wife,” she chided. “Why do you keep lying to me?”
He huffed, rolling off of her and onto his back.
“How do I tell someone they were gifted the grimoire of my late wife? That I lead a rebellion? That I was given a title I don’t identify with? If you have any conversation pointers, I’d love to hear them.”
She rocked to her side, facing him. “Let’s start withyou, like the experiment you keep mentioning.” A part of her had been desperate to know.
Soren’s eyes drifted to the roof of their tent. “My father is sick, and not in the physical sense. The order to execute our kind led to a century of conflict and fear that molded him. After he guided shadow-wielders and our allies south, that became the very beginning of this rebellion. But his numbers were weak, and there was pressure to rebuild, so he asked all the males and females to …”
“Procreate?”
“Yes.”
“And then what?” she asked.
“One storm-battered night, he rushed my very-pregnant mother to a sea cave. He hunted a Black Sea Serpent successfully, and unleashed its fangs on her womb while reciting a Manifestation Spell. In the days that followed, whatever I am, was born.”
Thessa was horrified. “Why would he do that?”
Soren rolled to his side, facing her. “He was desperate for an heir to all of this; someone to lead. After I turned eighteen—after he saw what became of my magic—he tried to repeat the experiment again … and again. Every other pregnancy failed. My poor mother. She dideverythingmy father asked, including allowing him to have another wife—you met Sila. And my half-brother Brenneth.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Brenneth has your powers too?”
“Hades, no, that would be a nightmare. He has no aim.”
She sniffed, holding back a laugh. “Do you hate him, or something?” Last she saw, his serpent-fingers were strung around his throat.
“No, I envy him. His powers don’t turn intothings. He doesn’t hold the weight of this entire rebellion on his back, and he was raised by a father that I never knew, one that was … kinder.” It was like he had a hard time admitting the change he saw in his father.
Thessa exhaled. “I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing.”
She swallowed, unsure what to make of his honesty, but appreciated it. “What made Brenneth different?”
“He wasn’t an experiment.”
“Sila didn’t go through with it?”
“She did, but her pregnancies failed. Twice. And she wouldn’t allow my father to try again. She left him, moved out of our house, and stayed with the rebellion instead.”