To Oblivion (Lost Queen Book Two)

Chapter 6

I've been here for months and not once has it rained.

Josiah and Jeb both keep insisting that it's just the seasonal change, since apparently fall is their rainy season, but I am trying really hard to not see it as a bad omen. I'm trying not to think too much on the fact that, on the day we started towards Angof, the storm clouds rolled in and unleashed a relentless downpour. The booming thunder is just that, thunder, not a warning to turn back and find another way to win this war.

The horses shift restlessly beneath us as we ride at the front of our small army.

Other than the small whispers of Miles talking to Paisley, the first hours of our journey have been silent. The loud patter of rain hitting armor and the ground drowns out most of what he is saying to her, but I've caught small snippets of their conversations. Most of it has been about what it was like for him, growing up in the human world knowing what he was. How he survived his human father and taking care of his human mother and siblings.

Things that he has never told to anyone, except me. Even I don't know the details of his upbringing before being sent to the human realm, and what it was like for him after. We've never talked about it.

"Stay out of it, Krasivaya," Jeb warns silently. I glare at him but keep my mouth shut and work towards turning my thoughts to something else.

Too bad all the "something else" thoughts are dark and brimming with anxiety. Focusing on Miles and Paisley is the only thing keeping me from spiraling into the unknowns and what ifs. I chew on my lip as we continue our silent trek.

"Alright," Josiah concedes, "You can talk to us about it. But ONLY us. Not him, not Paisley."

My sigh is the only outward indication that I heard him, or that we were speaking to each other at all.

"What's on your mind, love?"

I don't answer them for a few moments, trying to piece together everything that I've noticed over the last week. Thinking back to all of the things that aren't normal about my little brother's behavior, and about the fact that he has shielded himself from me since the moment he came down the stairs after Paisley finished the change.

"He had a crush on her," I started, "Before everything happened. He doesn't realize that I noticed, but I did. He's my best friend, and I guess that even before all of you came into my life, I was tapping into my empathic abilities a little bit. But it's different now. The way he looks at her. The way he is always next to her, like he is ready to jump in front of her and protect her at a moment's notice."

"You think that he is her mate," Jeb surmises, the shock present on his face even though no one else realizes that we are speaking.

"All of the signs are there, but Paisley wouldn't notice them. She doesn't know what to look for, like I didn't. But if he knows, why hasn't he told her? Like I get why he would shut me out, Lucah did the same with his mating bond and Josie with her pregnancy. But why hasn't he told her?" My brow crinkles as I think about it.

"Did you ever consider that her not knowing the signs, is why he hasn't told her?" Josiah asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Krasivaya. She was just thrown into a new world, a new body. That's a lot for anyone to take in. You remember how overwhelming it was, and you were born into this. She was turned, by choice yes, but still. Maybe, he is trying to give her time to acclimate, before throwing a mating bond at her. He is trying to get to know her, and to let her get to know him. When he is finally ready to reveal the bond to her, he will know that she can make her choice because she developed real feelings, not because she thought she was doing what she was supposed to."