Page 64

Chapter 64

Saelyn

I WOULD BE SEVENTEEN IN ONE DAY AND FRETTED OVER THE SILLIEST THINGS

We appeared back in Felgren at the same clearing where my party would commence.

I had been fretting, anxious that day for the party to be perfect. It would be the first party held in Felgren for the last seventeen years.

The Blightress watched Thevin and I hanging decorations across the trees. She saw us laugh, observed how I chastised him, resulting in Thevin’s feigned offense. Even now, looking back at my life, I saw it.

He and I cared deeply for each other, and I hadn’t understood until now just how obvious we had been.

“ You were in his company often, ” the Blightress mused as Thevin and my past self bantered while hanging lanterns.

“ He has been important in my life. ” I shivered, adding quietly, “ One of the only things I could depend on. ”

She frowned at me. “ And your mother? Where is she in this? ”

I shook my head. “ You won’t see much of her in my past. ” I nodded to where Pah - Pah had come to greet us, offering lunch. “ You kept my parents apart for seventeen years. My mother struggled every day of her life. Why don’t you see that? ”

“ It wasn’t I who forced your father to leave, Saelyn . He left of his own will. ”

“ You gave him no other option. ”

She hissed, gripping my hand tightly. “ You do not understand what your father cost me the night he left. You do not know how I mourned you. How I mourned your mother. By the end of this, I assure you, you will. ” Black pooled from our joined hands. “ Saelyn , ” she shouted, and this time, before we flashed away, I watched myself look up into the trees. I remembered wondering who was haunting me.

And holding the hand of my ghost, now I knew.