Tyne’s mother looked at Meyer.“You don’t have to be his shield.You decided that you didn’t want to be anymore.No one will force you.”
Tyne stared at Meyer for a second before turning his attention back to his mother.“I’m not keeping him away from anything or anyone.”
Tyne hadn’t been kidding when he’d been talking about his mother.There was no support there.Hell, she was telling Meyer that if he wanted, he could take a step back and let Tyne go into the fight with Carlyle on his own.It was almost as if she didn’t want her son to have his shield with him.
“I don’t need to be forced,” he said.“I’m Tyne’s shield.Where he goes, I go.”
“That’s not what you decided before.”
“I didn’t decide anything before.I’m not Peyton.I don’t have any of his memories, and frankly, I’m happy about that because he sounds like an asshole.”
“He’s you.”
“He’s not,” Tyne yelled.He shook his head.“This was a mistake.I don’t know why you wanted to have dinner with us, but I’m done.I never wanted to come back, and I hate that I had to, but it’s the last time you’ll see me.”
“This is Peyton’s birth clan as much as it is yours.You can’t keep him away from it.”
“If Meyer wants to come back once this mess is over, he’ll be free to do so, but I’m never coming back.I have a good life, Mom, and it’s made better by the fact that you’re not in it.”
Tyne moved toward the door.No one tried to stop him, not even his father, who was hovering there.Neither of Tyne’s parents had hugged him or tried to understand him.They weren’t on his side, and if Meyer had to guess, they never had been.
He didn’t want to spend one more second in this room.He turned toward Tyne’s mother, knowing he needed to be clear.“If Tyne isn’t coming back, I’m not, either.This isn’t my home.It might have been once, but Peyton is gone, and he’s never coming back.Apparently, neither am I.”
He turned and quickly went after Tyne.No one tried to stop him, which was a relief.He’d suspected he wouldn’t like this place after what Tyne had told him, and he couldn’t wait to get out of there.
But first, he needed to get to Tyne.
* * * *
TYNE WASN’T SURPRISEDwhen he heard footsteps behind him.He’d left Meyer with his parents, which had been a nasty thing to do, but he hadn’t thought he could stand being in the same room as his mother any longer.He hadn’t meant to abandon Meyer with her, and he was glad that Meyer had left almost as soon as he had.
He didn’t want to talk, though.He didn’t want to see the pity in Meyer’s expression.He’d seen enough of that in the expressions of the clan members when the mess with Peyton had happened.
Tyne’s parents hadn’t supported him, but most of the mages in the clan had understood his pain.He supposed that it had been easy for them to put themselves in his shoes and understand how it would feel if their shield left them.Their support wasn’t what Tyne had needed, though.He’d needed his parents to be there for him, and they hadn’t been.
Next time Jarvis needed something from Tyne’s birth clan, he was coming to get it himself, dammit.Once Tyne was out of the house, he would never return.
He didn’t slow down for Meyer.He slammed the door open when he reached the room where he would spend the night, making it bounce on the wall.He felt incredibly satisfied at the thought that he might have ruined the wall behind the door and had to resist the urge to slam it a few more times.
Instead, he left the door open and flopped onto the couch under the window.He leaned his head back and tilted his face toward the ceiling, not caring one bit who tried following him.
He heard the door close.He didn’t need to look to know who it was.He didn’t even have to say anything.Meyer came to sit on the other side of the couch, not asking anything.
Tyne stayed tense.He expected Meyer to have something to say, but his shield was quiet.Tyne wondered what he thought of the mess that had just happened.Was he happy he didn’t remember anything?Did he feel sorry for Tyne?Tyne felt sorry for himself, so maybe.
“I’m sorry,” Meyer eventually said.
That wasn’t what Tyne had expected him to say.“What are you sorry about?”
“What Peyton did.I can’t imagine leaving you, and we don’t even have the relationship you and Peyton had.What he did was awful.”
It had been.It was why Tyne had kept Meyer at arm's length.He hadn’t wanted to risk putting his heart out there again and having it break a second time.
But Meyer wasn’t Peyton, and Tyne was finally starting to believe that.If he was, he’d have wanted to talk to Amber, right?If Peyton had loved Amber so much, he would’ve left Tyne behind this time, too.
He hadn’t.He’d been uncomfortable and hadn’t even hugged Amber back.He hadn’t asked any questions about her to Tyne’s parents or to Tyne.He’d apologized for something he didn’t remember doing, and he sounded truly sorry.
Meyer wasn’t Peyton, even though they shared the same body.Peyton had never apologized for leaving Tyne.He’d told him what would happen once Carlyle had been defeated, and he’d expected Tyne to accept it.He hadn’t felt sorry for hurting him.
