She decided it was better than doing nothing. "There is... Blackmail," she said and looked at him.
Rem continued to speak, despite how Ronan’s gaze hardened while Nia translated. "But you’re right, I'm not ready to talk about it. I am trying to deal with it on my own. But I want you to know that I am not having an easy time."
She didn't say more—she couldn’t. Not yet, especially with how the curse crept up through her throat, like she swallowed something hot.
Ronan’s gaze scoured her face—a concentration so complex that he let out more expressions than he had so far—although she could not read the meaning of them.
In the end, Ronan didn’t press it. Instead, he looked at an adjacent shifter and spoke to them, to which Nia guided Rem to her feet.
As Rem stood, Ronan looked back at her, his treated wound still fresh and angry, but he acted as if it weren’t there at all. Nia translated when he spoke to Rem, “He thanks you for the help with his wound. He will not forget your aid.”
Looking into his eyes—the color of frost and its bluer hues—she said, “Thank you for carrying me and coming for me.”
Her head spun when his gaze softened, just ever so, and he nodded for her to leave.
And with that, Rem was dismissed.
Once the whispering of those surrounding the Alpha grew faint in the distance, Nia muttered, “I swear whatever it is, Ronan’s punishment is worse than anything the Callons can give you. Just be careful. Don’t withhold anything you shouldn’t, Rem. Now’s the chance to say it.”
If Remcouldspeak, there was a very strong chance she would have risked trusting him, just then. Especially when his eyes softened on her like that.
But she was damned to be mute. “Just, maybe have someone watch the Callon home or something,” Rem muttered back, surprised the curse allowed her to say that, spotting Deacon in the distance with the hunter.
Nia flippantly said, “He already is, at least according to whatever he is saying just now.”
Rem looked back at him as he spoke with two other males. He moved only his gaze to look her, Ronan’s mouth still moving as he spoke, not missing a beat.
There was nothing she could do about how her body filled with a raw excitement at those stolen looks, and she bashfully turned away. She needed some kind of bath and sleep before considering any of that further. Rem hobbled with a limp, ruminating intently until she asked Nia, “Did he really have me be taken because he thought the hunters would get me?”
Nia nodded and frowned. “The Callons should have told you that.”
“Yeah, they didn’t say much.”
Nia stopped, placing a hand on her hip. “Rem, whatisit?”
Rem frowned. “Nia... I, Ican’t. I want you to know—” she shuddered, her throat spasming from tainted dark magic. She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I just can’tsayit.”
Nia took a step closer, eyeing Rem with an astuteness that was comforting and also growing tiresome. Rem had someone like Nia in her life—sharp as a hunter’s blade—and even that didn’t get Rem the help she needed.
“Whycan’t you say it?”
Rem looked at Deacon, who watched her very carefully. Rem shook her head. “One day, Nia. One day. But not right now.”
Nia followed Rem’s gaze to Deacon, who turned around. “But somethingiswrong, isn't it?"
Rem gave a very slow, purposeful nod. Nia's nostrils flared, the smallest inflections of her facial muscles revealing she was trying to piece it all together.
"So, how far away is Scarlet Howl?" Rem asked with a higher pitch, trying to redirect the conversation as they waited for the shifters to ready their leave.
She couldn’t trust that Deacon wasn’t listening in, and if he was as fast as Ronan said, she didn’t want him taking off to inform Fiona that Rem had betrayed them.
"We'll be there by nightfall, maybe sooner," Nia said, her tone unconvinced. Perhaps Nia even understood that Rem was forced to change subjects.
A shifter walked by, one that Rem didn’t recognize, and Nia bowed her head as they did so. Rem did the same, only for Nia to laugh. “No, Rem, you don’t bow to anyone except Ronan.”
Embarrassed, especially as the shifter raised a brow at her, she looked in the opposite direction and said, “Well, I didn’t know that.”
“It’s just how it is. You’ll get used to it. It’s why I bow my head often. But I am lower rank than you, so don’t mirror me unless I say so.”
