Page 125 of To Touch A Silent Fury

The noise of the trickling water behind me reminded me of the water dripping down from my reed thatched roof in the forest after a long Ergreen rain.

I held my knees to my chest. The beads pressed against my mouth, and I wrenched them away, breaking the thread as they tumbled to the floor and pooled in my skirt.

It was all lost. Everything I had suffered for years, for nothing. For ego and cruelty, and a life I would never escape.

A scuffling noise snapped my head up.

Someone stood in the shadows.

“Show yourself,” I said, wiping my face with the back of my hand.

He stepped forwards into the moonlight. Langnathin.

I remembered Seth’s warning, then. Me, bleeding on the floor. Langnathin stood over me, his hand bloody. For a brief moment, a fear spiked. But then Langnathin took another step, and I saw the torturous expression on his face.

One day, he might hurt me. I did not believe today was that day. “Langnathin,” I said, my voice dead. “What are you doing here?”

He shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”

I shivered, and the need to sob came back thick and fast. I pressed my hand over my mouth as all of it became so much more real.

“I heard,” he continued. “When I saw you leave with him, I feared the worst. I followed you, sorry. I had to—I had to be sure he wouldn’t hurt you.” He took one more step. “I never thought…”

I couldn’t hold back the cry, then. It broke out of me, the grief of everything that could have been. A tear dropped down my cheek. “What do I do?”

He clutched at his hair as he stared at me with more anguish than I had ever seen. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

I sniffed, trying to smile even as the tears flowed. “My sentiments exactly.”

Langnathin stayed where he was, several steps from me. His voice was stronger when he spoke again. “You must leave the city.”

“Your family will hunt me,” I said. “Half of them to kill me and half of them to drag me back to your brother.”

“You have to try. Better a life on the run than a marriage to him.”

We were both silent. Only the puttering of the fountain and the wind ruffling the branches broke through our melancholic bubble.

I took a deep breath in and let it out shakily. I wiped my nose and peered up at him. “He’s marrying me to take my dragon, isn’t he?”

He nodded, grinding his jaw. “I didn’t think he would do it.”

“But you suspected.”

“Yes.” He gave me a sad smile. “To dissuade him any more would have only made this more likely.”

What did that even mean? Why did everything have to come back to them, and their rivalry? This family had taken everything from me. My Fate was nearly in the grave. My life would be married to the Wragg or on the run. Even my dignity wasfalling fast, because I had started to believe this man before me might actually like me enough to marry himself.

But no. I should have listened to everyone, and now it was too late.

I stood up, keeping my eyes on the floor. “I need to rest, I cannot think.”

Langnathin stepped forwards, reaching out. “Let me walk you back.”

I moved away from him. “No.”

He frowned. “Vorsk—”

“Do not touch me,” I spat, and he dropped his hand instantly. My voice was softer when I spoke again. “You cannot be seen near me. It will only make this worse.”