She scowls. “Did you really?”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought. You traveled long; you must eat,” she coaxes.
I take a deep breath, gathering the strength to tell her that more humans have arrived, and I am mated to none of them. She’s old and hardened by grief, but she’s got a tender heart.
I just need to do it.
Someone walks past our home, chattering about the group of humans filling up at least two dozen previously unoccupied houses.
I roll my eyes, but Ma stills and looks at me.
“More humans? How many?”
It’s impossible to miss the way that her countenance brightens. She knows what the humans mean to us Enduares—a chance at a new generation. Mates for everyone in our cave.
Disappointment threads through my heart, and I put away trinkets and fold blankets scattered around the sitting area.
“We rescued several dozen humans from Zlosa. More than thirty.”
My mother stands, and her hand goes over her mouth as her eyes drop to my neck. She immediately sees the absence of my glowing mating marks, and her eyes dim, brows knitting together.
“I take it you didn’t find a mate.”
I pause. “No.”
All the light in my mother’s face is snuffed out as she sinks back to her sad, sullen behavior.
“If there is no song, then you are not mated.”
My fists clench.
“There are more humans in Zlosa. One of them will…” I trail off.
What if none of them are my mate? And even if one was, what if they cast me off like those of my own kind?
“I am sorry, my son. But perhaps it’s for the best,” she says softly. “What do you know of courting a woman? There have never been enough around for you to practice with.”
Her words sting. I carried Melisa and tended to her well enough. She didn’t complain. When I meet the woman the goddess Grutabela has destined to be mine, I could do even more. Force myself tobemore.
“Your lack of faith wounds me,” I say sardonically.
My mother gives me a sad smile and cups my cheek.
“You know I love you. But these things take time. The stones will sing your fate when you are ready.”
As she searches my eyes, she frowns. “I hope you are not so eager to find a mate for my sake. I am fine.”
I reach up and grab her hand. “You are not. You haven’t been. Not since Tirin’s death, and not even before that. You barely move; you leave the house filthy.”
She recoils from my outburst.
I place my palm over the absence of her touch. “Ma, I’m sorry. I?—”
“No, don’t take it back now. I know what this is. You pity me. What a poor woman I am, left alone. Well, Salore, I am alone. My mate is dead. My daughters are dead. My son is dead, but I am not. And neither are you.”
“Yes. I know. But if I find a woman?—”