Page 52 of To Touch A Silent Fury

“But he didn’t joust,” I said, softly, trying to find any new realitybut this.

Thread Ersimmon shrugged. “Whatever element your Fate has bonded to clearly doesn’t care for that triviality.”

“Does he know?” I asked, my voice barely more than a ghost in the wind now.

The Thread shook his head, just once. “I don’t think so. I don’t think anyone will think past the deaths to consider it.”

I swallowed. “But what now? I am the last woman he would marry.”

He grimaced. “Then become something he needs, the bride he cannot refuse. But first, you must leave this place before anyone realises you are still bound, or kills you just to be sure.”

I stared at him, realising this might be the last time we ever saw each other. “And you?”

“I will return to Eavenfold.”

Doddering, old Thread Ersimmon. Bearer of a path I’d never wanted, let alone respected. I had ridiculed his offering along with everyone else, huffed at his sleepy demeanour. I had barely known him in the two spans I’d spent on Eavenfold. Yet he had protected me in every possible way, even those I would never have thought of, and now I had to leave him forever.

I was overcome with the feeling that I was terribly, horribly, naive. And yet I didn’t know how not to be. Tears pricked at my eyes. “It is strange. Eavenfold was always a prison to me, and now I crave the sanctuary of it.”

The Thread reached his arms out, and I fell into them. It had been so long since anyone other than Seth had offered me an embrace. I sobbed out when he patted my hair. “I’m so sorry this happened to you. You did not deserve it, and I hoped for better for you.”

I shuddered as another sob wracked my body. “Thank you.”

“I will be there,” he said, his chest rumbling against me. “When you bring this world to its knees.”

I pulled back from him as he offered me my cloak. I’d forgotten it entirely; he must have picked it up in the arena for me. I touched its grey hood, the scratchy fabric yet another home I hadn’t appreciated. “I’ve never been alone before. Not truly.”

“Stay true to yourself, always. And remember, this is your Fate. It was dealt to you for a reason, and it will give you the power you need. You are a Brother of Eavenfold, now and forever.”

I pulled the grey cloak around my shoulders, feeling its comforting weight as I lifted the hood. I stared at the Thread, memorising the grooves of his face. I hoped I would see them again, before they had time to set in much deeper.

Then I turned towards the docks and ran faster than I ever had, as the acrid smell of smoke made my eyes water and my stomach roll.

Love.

That was what I had felt on the Thread. I knew it was for me, and I don’t know when I’d earned it, but it broke something in me to feel it and leave it behind. He was the fourth person who had loved me, and I was losing him too.

My parents were lands away, and Seth was nowhere to be found. I had no one once more.

But I had something to hold tight to, as the screams and the flash of burning flesh jolted behind my eyes every time I closed them.

I still had my Fate.

And I knew its condition, now, in full and with no chance for further alterations.

I must marry Langnathin, the Dragon Prince of the Sightlands. I must marry the man who had just killed four men so he could watch my Fate Break before his eyes.

Become something he needs, the bride hecannot refuse.

The Thread’swords rolled in my head, and as my feet pounded down the wooden jetty, I knew exactly where I needed to go. For I knew what Langnathin sought, and by my blood, I would not let him get it.

14

Tani

The falling snow clung to the strands of hair falling over my face. I brushed them away as I maintained my hold of the wolf’s paw. I pushed the chewed-up leaves into my cheek so I could breathe out. A cloud of breath escaped into the night sky as he whimpered.

“Hold still,” I whispered, gripping again. It was a nasty thorn, puncturing deep into the velvety pad of his huge paws. He was an adolescent, but you wouldn’t know that from the size of his feet. “It’ll only be another moment.”