Page 162 of Dragon 7

"But you are mad at me. I can feel it. We are. . .bonded. . .Do you feel it too?"

"I felt your emotions through the whole war." He pursed his lips. "Anger. Sadness. Vengeance. Grief."

What?

The overhead light hummed.

I looked away. "Why are you angry with me, Kenji?"

"You may feel my emotions, but you cannot read my thoughts. How could I ever be angry with my Tiger?"

A shiver rolled down my back. "Still. . .you cleared the room. . ."

"I did."

"Why not just have me come to you?"

"Because a king does not summon a queen."

I blinked and turned back to him.

He continued to stare at me. "What was the sacrifice, Tora?"

Oh, no. Not that.

Chapter twenty-six

The Things We Carry

Nyomi

Kenji’s question kept ringing in my head like a bell being struck over and over.

The overhead light stretched thin.

The tile under my feet drifted.

I almost stopped breathing.

Does he know? Is that why he is mad? How could he know? He can't know.

The thoughts came at me in a rush, tripping over one another, none of them finishing before the next one started. My skin went hot. My heart went cold.

Did somebody tell him? Who could have told him? The Silent Ones? Why would they do that?

The bond throbbed under my sternum. I pressed my palm flat over the place it lived.

My other hand went to my stomach.

If he knows. . .

Nausea climbed up the back of my throat.

My eyes watered, but I would not shed tears. I couldn’t. If he didn’t know, I wouldn’t tell him. If he did know, I didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe, I was a selfish coward. Perhaps, I was weak or wrong. . .so wrong. I killed our baby, so he could win a war.

What kind of woman did that make me?

If he knew. . could he forgive me? I’m still not sure I can forgive myself. . .