Chapter 19

Iwas worried. I'd seen her get angry and leave to be in private, but I'd never seen her lose complete control of her Tempris abilities. Even when Esylle was still having issues controlling herself, she had never gotten to the point that Sorcha was at. I hoped wherever she flew off to, she was calming herself and would get her answers from Volaris when she got back.

I also wanted to know more from him about why they seemed to think she was sent by their God. Esylle would hate it. She was convinced this girl was Lisana. Maybe she was right, maybe she wasn't. Esylle didn't care about the things she could do. She was happy to have her child back and was trying to figure out how to get Sorcha to be comfortable around her. Esylle just wanted Sorcha to be happy.

So did I. Belisarus had done a number on her and I didn't understand because he really seemed to care for Esylle. Even if she wasn't Lisana, she should have been raised on Nestran around other people. I didn't know the first things about the tribes' god sending them a girl for peace, but she at least would have had more than one friend.

I led Volaris back to our camp. Everyone with us so far was trustworthy now that Tollam was gone, but they may react badly, even if he was with me. The soldiers with us were astute enough to know that things could have been very different after the war, but it wasn't because of humans. The tribes had every reason to hate us.

"Put those away," I told them. "He's not here to hurt anyone and he will be traveling to Idric with us. He has some of the answers about Sorcha that have been hidden from her. I don't know how much of it is true and how much of it is lore, but what he's told me so far makes some sense, given how she is. She got upset and left again. When she calms down and comes back, I will let him explain.

"There is also something else you should know. Tollam tried to attack Sorcha, and she turned him into a goat. Volaris and his son walked him through changing back. He was the horse we saw charge through the camp. I've been told he can change back into a man, and I have no doubt he's going back to the Barons to tell them about the girl. When this gets to them, they will come for her and the tribes will protect her because of who she is to them. This is possibly another war starting."

Bastan fell out laughing.

"I love that for him. She's been comparing him to the goats she had in her yard growing up and the worms they got this whole time."

"What about my father?" Esylle asked, concerned.

Volaris finally spoke. "I sent my son back to get a message to him. Your father will be safe in our camp, and we will protect him. We have always known you hide yourselves from the humans."

"How could you let her leave again?" Esylle asked me. "Especially now that the humans could know about her?"

I sighed. I thought it was clear to literally everyone at this point that I couldn't make that girl do a damned thing. She made it pretty clear she was terrified of hurting people, but Sono was right. Sorcha had given us a pretty big warning with her fire before she flew off. And even though I'd never seen anyone do this before, the flaming eagle she flew off as was pretty fierce. If I had still been a Baron, I would have immediately changed my family's coat of arms.

"I couldn't stop her. She lost control and nearly burned us alive. I'm hoping she will be calmer when she gets back."

"I don't understand," Esylle said. "You said something was going on with her and we wouldn't see her for a few days. What happened besides Tollam attacking her? How did you push her to the point that she lost control like that? Why did she leave, and you tell us we wouldn't see her for a few days? I thought you didn't want her leaving. Look what happened when she did! How could you be so irresponsible with her?"

Esylle tended to ask a lot of questions when she was upset or angry. I usually tried to answer all of them, but she was upset with me this time. I would have found a way to explain the Senso to her, but I really didn't want Esylle to know that Sorcha tried to mate with me first.

I didn't kiss her back, and I knew she didn't really want to. There was a lot I didn't understand about the Senso. Clearly, if I thought it would go away in a few days. She was operating off instinct, and I was probably the only one who smelled decent. Sorcha was probably just as embarrassed about it as I was. Esylle didn't need to know about it.

Thankfully, Volaris swooped in to save me.

"She had to be away from you," Volaris answered for me. "My son took care of it so she could be around people again and it was an honor that she allowed him to."

"What does that mean?" Esylle asked.

"I found out she's nineteen years of age. Things happen to tribe members at that age, and she was experiencing it for the first time. She was acting on primal instinct and couldn't be around us. I thought it would go away in a few days and she could come back to us, but Volaris said it wouldn't go away until she addressed it. She allowed Sono to fix it for her."

"What primal instinct? You're acting like you don't want to tell me something."

Ah, fuck. I was going to let Volaris take this one. I wasn't going to be the one to tell the love of my life that the girl she thought was her daughter just had sex with a boy she just met because she'd go feral if she didn't. Esylle was going to be pissed. Sono was Volaris's boy, and he had gone to make sure Joron got out of the palace. Yeah, I wasn't a coward, but I also wasn't stupid. Let Esylle get mad at Volaris about this.

"She was experiencing her first Senso. It's going to happen to her every year from now on. That fool, Belisarus, didn't explain to her this would happen, and she didn't know what she was supposed to do. Sono took care of it for her, made sure she enjoyed it, and the pain was minimal."

I could feel the heat rising around us. Esylle's eyes had slipped and there were flames dancing in them. Oh, this was going to be bad. If this were any other situation and Sorcha had the usual upbringing, I'd have been enjoying the shit out of this.

"I don't know what Senso is, but it sounds like you're trying to tell me that your son laid with my daughter like he was her husband!" Esylle yelled.

Sorcha had already blown up on us once. Esylle was older and had been trained to control her emotions around some really annoying Barons, but she was also certain Sorcha was her child and now we had a Tempris mama bear who was going to set the Farkhi king on fire unless we could explain to her why this needed to happen.

I tried to step in, but she ran to Volaris and punched him right in the face. Damn. She'd been learning when I was awkwardly trying to teach her to fight while hiding my erection. That was the sexiest I'd ever seen her, and I'd seen her in some gorgeous gowns at balls.

"You should not have let your son do that!"

Volaris calmly pinned her hands down. "Tempris don't experience this. She would have gone feral if Sono hadn't helped her. Think about what she can do! If that girl went feral and lost reason, she could raze all of Nestran."

Esylle stormed off to sulk. She knew Volaris was right just like I did. I didn't like it either. I'd briefly worked as a bouncer and bookkeeper in a brothel in Guttertown when I got banished. I wasn't like the other Barons when it came to sex. Esylle wasn't a prude behind closed doors either. She was the prim princess in public, but she could crack jokes. We were both upset because she literally found out about sex about five minutes before she had it and that shouldn't happen to anyone.

"Can you go get her?" I asked Volaris.

"Not if she's still aflame like she was. She's just going to draw attention to herself. I can get as close to her as I can, but if she still has flames coming off her, I can't get close. People can't see her like that."

I was worried when Volaris left. It wasn't just about Sorcha. Joron was my friend. He'd always been good to me. We needed to get Joron out safely and there was the entire issue of Tollam. We really should have killed him before now. This was going to be another war if he figured out how to change back when he got back to Folcard. The Barons pretended to hate the tribes on the surface because they weren't human, but they coveted their abilities. They'd all want Sorcha, and we'd all protect her.

But the love of my life was upset, even if she had no idea I loved her. I always made it better for her.

She glared at me. "Why didn't you tell me that's why she left and that is why we had to stay here?"

Yeah, I had to tell her.

"There was nothing you could have done. I was embarrassed. I was alone, and she was confused and thought I was a compatible mate. When I realized what she was going through, I told her to make herself small and not come back until the feeling passed. Everything I had read was that the feeling would go away in a few days. I didn't know it wouldn't until Volaris and Sono showed up. I know you don't like what he did, but she agreed to it, and he helped her."

"Belisarus should have told her about this. He should have told me the tribes go through this when he was tutoring me."

"Even if a part of her is like your family, there are other parts of her that are not. She's going to experience things you haven't because even though she's similar to you, she is also different. Even if both of you knew what was happening, you couldn't have done anything. Only Sono could. I hate that he didn't tell her, too."

"What did all of you do to make her lose control?"

I tried explaining everything that went down before Sorcha flew off.

"It was my fault. Volaris knows why she's this way and says he knows what she's meant for."

"And what is that?"

"They think she was sent by their god to bring peace. I didn't know what it meant, and I still don't. We won't get those answers until we get to Idric."

"Why do you need to do anything with her after we get to Idric? She wants to stay there, even though I'm hoping to convince her to come back with me even if for some reason, she's not Lisana."

"That's part of what made her lose control. We were planning things without asking her. I don't know much about their god, Essos, and neither do you since your family was forbidden to worship him after the wars. Volaris is convinced he sent her. What if she is the way she is because he's right? Belisarus taught her nothing. Maybe she belongs with the tribes. You didn't see their reaction to her when I first exposed her. They all seem to know exactly why she is the way she is and how to train her how to use her gifts."

"If the humans find out, they are going to want to use her. The Barons will want her to change them and the rest of them will think she's dangerous because she gives the Barons more power."

"I have no doubt Tollam is on his way back there now to expose her. When she gets back, we need to make it to Idric as soon as possible so you will be safe."