Voice of the Banished by Shelly Campbell

Author:Shelly Campbell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989423363
Publisher: Mythos & Ink

—YARA—

Another mate. The words knifed into me. Akrist didn’t understand. Just like he hadn’t understood the night I was announced as Na-Jhalar’s chani. I’d seen his eyes before I ducked into the Speaker’s hut—the shock, the naked fear, and, simmering beneath it all, disgust. Akrist had been so repulsed by a choice I’d been cornered into that he hadn’t spoken to me for months afterward. That same fear swam in his eyes now. It was only a matter of time until disgust followed.

Heat churned in my stomach. “No,” I said, voice quavering. “No other mate.” My mouth clamped shut. When he finds out what you’ve done, it will break him, and he already looks so broken. I swallowed. “I’ve been alone here.” My voice cracked. Liar. Not alone. You shared your bed with anyone willing to trade. You sold yourself. Tell him now. Wipe that loving look off his face and tell him what you really are, Yara. Someone undeserving of love. More animal than human, not the girl he promised himself to.

“I’ve done things…” Air swept out of me. I balled my fists and tried again. “I’ve done things I’m not proud of to protect Sun, but none of them were my mates, Akrist. None of them held my heart.”

He’d leave now. I steeled myself for it. Guides, I’d just found him again and now I’d lose him.

But instead of leaving, his eyes softened.

“I’m so sorry.” Akrist’s voice broke. “This is my fault. If we’d left camp together… if we’d taken the daeson away earlier…”

Tears stung my eyes and every emotion in me boiled over. “None of this is your fault. They took you! They treated you like an animal. I heard you screaming when they branded you. I heard Vax—” A weak sob wrung the rest of my air out of me. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t save the man I loved. “I heard Vax die, and then you were gone. They just took you. And I… I left to save myself.”

Akrist pulled me against his chest and I let him. I breathed in the smell of him as Sun squirmed between us, still nursing, oblivious. “Listen to me.” He breathed into my hair. “I love you, Yara, and no-one will ever take me from you again. Please, let me bring you somewhere where you don’t have to hide Sun. We’re going to change the world, and I can’t do it without you.”

Change the world. Mother of Yurrii. He sounded like an insurgent, full of charged words and fresh fire. It would have thrilled the old me, but now, with our fragile child cradled between us, Akrist’s words terrified me. But I would go with him. If he wanted me, nothing would stop me from being by his side.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.