Page 77 of To Touch A Silent Fury (The Bride of Eavenfold #1)

Tani

“ P rincess, allow me to escort you.”

Theollan walked beside me as I returned to my rooms for the final time, my skirts heavy and my mind exhausted.

If we ever returned, I would either share Lang’s room, or we’d share an executioner.

I wondered which of those choices he’d rather take right now.

Thankfully, the foyer was empty aside from a handful of guards, who made no move to stop me.

By now all the guests were outside, probably idly wondering where the bride and groom were, drinking wine and whispering about my hair and his words. Braxthorn had a lot of damage to undo.

My voice strangled around the unshed tears as I ducked my head to the Brother. “Thank you for your help.”

The stairs were slow going; I struggled with both carrying Hanindred and ascending in an unfathomably layered dress. He was old enough now that he could probably manage to trot up the stairs himself, but I didn’t have it in me to let him go .

Theollan smiled, helpfully lifting the section of my skirt in front of my shoes. “You found your Fate.”

“I did,” I said, my cheeks flushed from the exertion. “What good it will do me is yet to be determined.”

“For what my view is worth, I think you are very brave.”

The hollow pit in my stomach and the weight of Lang’s new hatred lessened in that moment.

“Thank you.” I blew out a breath, needing to talk about anything else.

“I had meant to write it up for you before I escaped, my theory on my strange touch of magic, but since you are here, I will explain it to you myself.”

Theollan nodded as we stepped into the pitiful garden which had, for a time, become an extension of my cage here in Droundhaven. “As you wish, princess.”

I studied the doors and windows, finding no audience. Hanin wriggled in my grip, and reluctantly I set him down.

Immediately, he ran into the man-made pond, drinking and playing. A smile crept over my face, and I kicked off my shoes, feeling the hard-baked earth under the grass with my toes.

This was a story I hardly knew how to tell, one that had come to me in pieces, drifting in the nights since I met Hanindred, and then solidifying, rotating like a gathering ball of snow until it loomed in my mind.

My conclusion was uncertain, but Theollan deserved to know it.

Without his help, Banrillen may never have made me that awful offer, which led me here, alone and despised by the husband I wanted all along.

And more than that, Theollan had been kind to me, and if his Fate would free him, I would do what I could to help.

Raising my chin, I began speaking it out into the world, knowing he was beside me and listening. “I was born alone, but I wasn’t supposed to be. You found my name in a ledger in the Messinvasia, scratched out, alongside another. A brother that never was .

“In the Twin Lands, as the name might suggest, the bond between blood twins is the strongest there can be. Our Founders were twins, Hanindred and Tavedwen. The Shield and the Sword. This, you know. What you don’t know, what you couldn’t know, is what Vellintris said to me the night I found her.

She connected with my mind and called me twinblood .

Before, I thought she was merely referencing my Twin Lands’ blood.

But when Seth told me about the ledger, something changed. ”

I slid my eyes over to Theollan, and he was lost in thought, already pondering towards the conclusion I myself had come to.

“I believe I was never meant to be Moontouched,” I continued.

“My mother said she’d lost a child, a son who ‘should’ve been earlier, then came out blue’.

I’d never understood the comment on his timing.

Earlier? When is it better for a child to be early?

But I think I understand it now. My brother was supposed to be born first. At the stroke of midnight on Ergreen, he was supposed to be a Brother of Eavenfold.

Instead, something happened. I was born first, and I took his magic, I took his Moontouch. ”

Theollan gasped, but it wasn’t surprise. It was pain. His back arched, and his eyes went wide.

I finished speaking. “At Eavenfold, it is our blood they thread to our Fate, binding us to it. That’s why I got the touch when he died. I believe I have his blood in my veins. Twinblood .”

Theollan shuddered, his body convulsing as he fell to his knees.

He gripped the dirt as I stood beside him, nervously hoping.

His hair, already stark white, only gleamed brighter.

He groaned through gritted teeth and raised his hands to claw at his face.

I flinched at the noise, reliving the very recent burning pain.

Seconds later, he sagged, panting ragged breaths into his lungs .

I crouched down beside him. “Theollan.” He groaned. “Are you well?”

He fell back into a seated position on the grass, dazed. “Am I changed?”

His Mark was odd. I hadn’t seen one quite like it before. It was sprawling, escaping into his hairline with half loops and dotted shorter lines.

“Yes.”

He reached up, trying to feel the Mark even though it was flush with his skin just as mine was. “What is it?”

“It’s…” I trailed off, studying the loops and swirls. “It’s some kind of writing, I think.”

“Writing?”

I shrugged. “I cannot make out its meaning. I don’t think it’s the common tongue.”

Theollan crawled over to the nearby pond, where Hanindred floated and splashed.

He studied himself in the rippling water, taking in his distorted reflection.

“Strange, indeed. Could it be a reference to my scholarship, some token of my interest in the written word? I shall have to speak with the Threads.”

I murmured some agreement, keeping far away from the water’s edge. I didn’t want to see my Mark again just yet. The dragon’s maw closing around my head already felt too real, with Kallamont only one command away from making that a reality.

Theollan turned to me with a delight I had never seen on his sombre face. It made him look younger again, and I saw the child he used to be.

“You did it, Tani. You gave me my Fate.” He shook his head, completely dumbfounded. “A twinblood. I’ve never heard of it, and yet if Vellintris knew of it, perhaps there is some record.”

I smiled, and as I did, Hanin flapped his wings in the water hard. I shielded my face as the splash hit both me and Theollan. He laughed, and I answered it with a smaller laugh .

“You would help me?” I swiped the water from my neck. “After the enemies I made today, it is probably better for you to keep your name as clear of mine as possible.”

Theollan inclined his head to me with respect.

“My Fate was bonded to you, and now I am whole. My name will be threaded to yours regardless when people recall that. Besides,” he said, his smirk widening, “you have a bonded sapphire dragon and the blood of both the Sword and the Shield flowing through you. You can manipulate the will of any man through touch, and you’re married to the Scourge of Courvin, complete with his own ruby dragon and most of the armies of the Triad at his command.

” At Lang’s mention, my stomach coiled again, as the guilt and shame of using him rose up once more.

But Theollan only levelled me with a serious expression.

“That is not someone I would bet against.”

I grimaced, even as my heart pounded. “Let us hope the rest of the world shares your fear.”

Theollan stood, brushing the dirt off his hands and knees, before helping me up. His trust and loyalty sang through our touch. I knew he would help me in whatever way he could. Even as I prepared to fly across the lands with a husband who hated me, I hadn’t lost everything.

The Brother of Eavenfold shrugged, uncharacteristically. “Respectfully, Your Grace, you could always make them.”

I smiled despite it all as an almighty roar sounded from above. The shadow of Chaethor passed overhead, her red wings peeling through the wispy clouds. A new Fate awaited me, and I could only hope I was strong enough to meet it.