Page 195 of Daughter of the Serpent

He stepped closer, pulling something from his tunic. Gold flashed in his palm, glittering in the morning light.

Her breath caught. “The dagger! I thought I'd lost it!”

His eyes glinted. “I found it on my doorstep,” he said. “Like it was waiting to be found.”

She reached out, and the moment her fingers brushed the hilt, warmth spread through her palm - steady, pulsing, alive.

“It protected me,” she whispered. “When Bjorn had me, it… spoke to me.”

Godvick’s gaze sharpened. “Then it has finally chosen you. You are ready.”

“Chosen me?”

He nodded. “Weapons forged by the gods awaken only for those who are ready. It was silent before because it wasn’t time. It was waiting for you to become who you needed to be.”

She looked down at the blade, the gold catching the light like flame. Breath left her, as if she couldn’t believe the truth.“Then I am ready.”

A silence passed between them, thick with everything unspoken. She looked up, tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

“Thank you, Godvick. For everything. For believing in me.”

His smile was soft, his eyes bright with quiet pride as his fingers reached toward her face, grazing along her left eye. “You were always meant for greatness.”

He pulled her into his arms again. She held on tighter than she meant to. He smelled of herbs and salt and home.

“I’m afraid before I go, that I must ask you for one more thing.” She whispered, before pulling back to look into his eyes.

“What is it, child?” He asked.

“My mother…” She started, and she swallowed hard, trying to beat back the sting of her grief.

“Everything is already arranged.” He soothed. “She is to stay with me once she is released.”

She had no words. She crushed him into her arms again.

“Thank you.” She said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“It’s okay Sylvie.” He murmured. “You can go now, with peace. Leave this, your past, behind you. You can take this new path.” He encouraged, and her heart broke open. All these years, all this time - she had been just waiting to take her own destiny into her hands without anything to hold her back anymore.

“Go, child.” he murmured. “Face your fate. And may the gods walk with you.”

She stepped back, blinking away tears. She wanted to hesitate, to memorize every line, every fleck of grey in his weathered eyes. To soak in his warmth, his comfort, even just for a moment longer - but the sea called. The gods whispered.

It was time.

She turned toward the ships, her fingers tightening around the dagger, before putting it back in its place at her side. It hummed at her hip, and she sucked in a deep breath before she stepped forward. The salt air filled her lungs - sharp, bracing, alive. The fear still lingered, but beneath it, something stronger stirred.

She was not without fear. But she would move anyway.

She was not without doubt. But she would press on regardless.

She was not without worry. But she would forge herself into something greater.

Perhaps that was courage - not the absence of fear, but the willingness to walk forward anyway.

This was no longer Rederick’s path.

No hand had forced her here, really.