Page 32 of To Touch A Silent Fury

“Do you mean to tell anyone my Fate?” I asked him.

“I expect to announce it at tomorrow’s ball,” he said. “We cannot hide it. On your wedding day, your Fated Mark would tell him the truth of it. Besides, the secret will come out soon, given the Dragon Prince knows. We must declare it, but I want to see how the suitors respond to you first.”

“Respond?”

“I told Prince Brascillan we were attending the Games,” he said. “I advised him that he could entreat you for a dance at the welcome dinner. When you do not show, he will be concerned, thinking only of you. He will surely seek you out at tomorrow’s preliminary bout.”

I frowned. “You think so?”

“He visited the inn three times in hopes of seeing you in the last two days. You have captivated him, somehow.”

“I barely spoke to him.”

Thread Ersimmon chuckled. “And there is your first lesson in winning the hearts of men.”

“Don’t speak?”

“If in doubt, smile in silence,” he said, and he patted my hand. “Tomorrow, I believe Prince Brascillan will offer you some token of his favour. A kerchief or symbol of his house to wear.”

My cheeks heated as I took this in. “That is something.”

“You must not accept it,” he replied simply.

“What?”

Thread Ersimmon shot me a warning look.

I had come to know that look over the last week, and it indicated I’d reacted poorly. I studied his face and asked my question more slowly. “Why would I refuse him? When he may win it all?”

Thread Ersimmon did not reply for a time, and I began to think he would not. We turned the corner, passing the edge of the rocks, and finally, the arena fell into view.

It was a huge sandstone structure with carved arches and intricate pillars decorated with the heads and feet of every animal upon this span of land and beyond. In each arch was a small hanging fire, casting the building in blazing light, which seemed to stretch high into the night sky above. From inside, the telltale clamour of revelry sounded.

On its main face, above the many columns, the Five were carved in relief. I noted Hain the Healer, the Touchlands Founder, standing aside as the other four slew the Oktorok. Here, he was depicted as Hain the Two-Faced, with one face looking towards the creature, and his legs and second face walking away from the battle. The Five’s great victory was defeating the creature of this very lake, the monster who spun the world and started the moon and sun’s great and eternal journey across our skies. Much of the story was untrue, as stories tend to be. I nodded sympathetically up at Hain as we approached, and the lies the Triad had cast him in.

The Thread squeezed my gloved hand, drawing us to a stop before the looming walls. “You must marry whoever wins. If Prince Brascillan does not win, you can’t have given any indication of affection for him. Tomorrow, you will be a woman of mystery.”

“Will the men not think it an impertinence?”

“Of course,” he said with a smile. “And that’s your second lesson in winning men’s hearts. To be unobtainable is to be desired by all. By the time I announce your Fated condition at the grand ball tomorrow night, you will already have a list of admirers.”

I shook my head and stared back up at the arena. I had absolutely no idea what I was about to walk into, but worse than that, I couldn’t decide if the man who was leading me towards my Fate was a fool, or a greater genius than I had ever realised.

10

Tani

The woman in my room had very little patience. She twisted my long white hair back into braids, with no idea that she was the first woman to have touched my head in nearly two spans. Though judging by this woman’s pulling, my scalp’s attachment to my body might be a temporary condition.

I'd done the best I could on Eavenfold, combing my hair every day and keeping it covered. When I did wash it, I’d largely just been rinsing it in my occasional soapy baths, and she grumbled (for the third time since she had entered my chamber) that it could do with a proper clean. After bracing against my own vanity, I shrugged off the embarrassment. If she had lived two spans of her adolescence in the company of only boys, I doubted she would have known much better.

I remembered the last time my mother had played with my hair, and my heart panged. I still missed her and father a lot, and whilst it had abated over the monotony of my tutelage onEavenfold, the newness of this place made my craving feel like a raw wound.

Once my hair was tortured into place, she fussed over my face, adding hints of rouge and darkness. Then she cleared her throat. “She’s done.”

Thread Ersimmon stepped into the room, which contained a single bed, a weathered desk and chair, a chest for my belongings, and little else. It was the same level of grandeur Seth had claimed on Eavenfold, and whilst it was a step up for me, with its freshly laundered sheets and an extra few feet of space, I was firmly aware that these rooms were some of the lowest available in the arena.

Ersimmon immediately moved to the window, peering through the misty glass down to the edge of the arena grounds with a frown. He looked different, too. He hadn’t dispensed with his grey cloak, but his beard had been freshly trimmed and oiled, and his hair smoothed back into a sleek tail. “The first bout will be announced in a moment.”