“Scenting tempers changed everything. . . . I realized how often people say one thing and mean another. How often they want what they can’t have. I saw all these reasons for everything. . . . I couldn’t avoid knowing things people hid.”

Aria’s heartbeat quickened. She found his burned hand. He’d stopped using the bandage the night they left Marron’s. The skin at the top had patches that were too rough and patches that were too smooth. She brought it close and kissed the marbled skin. She’d never have dreamed a scar could be something worth kissing, but she loved every scar on him. She’d found them and kissed them all, and asked to hear each and every story that had left its mark on him.

“What did you learn?” she asked.

“That my father drank so he could bear to be around me. I knew he felt better still when his fists found me. For a while, anyway. Never for long.”

Her eyes filling with tears, Aria pulled him close, feeling how tense he was against her. She’d sensed this piece of him. Somehow she had known. “Perry, what could you have possibly done to deserve that?”

“My . . . I’ve never talked about this before.”

When he sniffed, Aria felt a sob catch in her throat. “You can tell me.”

“I know . . . I’m trying. . . . My mother died birthing me. She died because of me.”

She leaned back so she could see his face. He closed his eyes.

“That wasn’t your fault. You can’t really blame yourself. Perry . . . do you?”

“He did. Why shouldn’t I?”

She remembered what he’d said about killing a woman. She realized he’d been speaking of his mother. “You were an infant! It was an accident. It’s just a horrible thing that happened. It’s a horrible thing your father did to make you feel like that.”

“He just felt what he felt, Aria. There’s no disguising a temper.”

“He was wrong! Did your brother and sister blame you too?”

“Liv never did. And Vale never acted like it, but I can’t be sure. I can’t scent his tempers just like I can’t scent my own. But maybe he did. I’m the only one who carries her Sense. My father gave up everything to be with her. He built a tribe. He had Vale and Liv. And then I came and stole what he loved most. People said it was the curse of mixing blood. They said it finally caught up to him.”

“You didn’t steal anything. It’s just something that happened.”