I suppose this was what he meant.
The threads of fate fall where they may, and somehow, I followed them here.
The second time Raithe found me was at Rustwood Mill. Another cry for vengeance. He said the wrath I’d carried then was the same as before, only tempered by time, sharpened in fury and deepened by darkness. But something in me had changed. He sensed that Torhiel had already begun to call. I had already tasted a fragment of the power she offered.
He asked why I hadn’t answered, why I’d turned away from her summons, why I ignored the pull to return to her. But I had something stronger than Torhiel’s call.
I had love.
And it tethered me, anchoring me to that place. What I felt was unshakable. Nothing could have pulled me from Caz. No god, no devil, no divine force could have undone what we had.
But when Caz left, when he broke me and shattered me into pieces, Torhiel found the cracks. And in those fractures, she sank her claws.
But the armor I’d built around myself didn’t let her in easily. Torhiel pressed, insistent, but I resisted, holding her at bay as I bided my time. Then I was taken, locked away in Hyrall. It was a place so distant it may as well have been another world. There, the darkness inside me dimmed to almost nothing. Gadriel extinguished every flicker of emotion, leavingbehind only apathy. Even my wrath, so innate and integral, couldn’t reach me in that place.
But Torhiel had planted her seed in me long before, by birthright and by time. And eventually, I escaped. Freedom was the force that drove me forward, but now I knew there was something else guiding me.
The third time Raithe answered my call was in Falhurst. He felt it again, the bottomless well of rage, the cry for vengeance so raw it echoed like a battle hymn. And he came. This time, we were no longer children. We had grown, and the power within us had grown too.
Still, he asked nothing in return.
He gave, and I took. Greedily. I drank in his power and unleashed it like a storm. Chaos followed in my wake. I slaughtered, destroyed, and maimed anyone who dared to threaten me. Wrath flowed through me like breath, like blood, like life itself.
In the aftermath of that destruction was when I finally answered Torhiel’s call.
Her song could no longer be ignored. So, I went west. Farther than I’d ever been, farther than I’d ever seen, across shifting terrain, only to end up here. Even in Falhurst, Torhiel’s power reached me. It wrapped around me, staving off hunger, thirst, and sleep, driving me back to her. Raithe had known all along that I belonged here. For nearly a decade and a half, I should have returned to Torhiel. But something had always held me back.
Now my life was fractured, scattered into too many pieces, with too many unanswered questions. I was more afraid, more confused, and more lost than I had ever been.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps crunch against the moss that broke my thoughts. I squeezed my eyes shut, body tensing, then went limp. I slowed my breathing until it was quiet and shallow.
“Odessa,” Raithe’s low voice curled around my ears. “I know you’re awake.”
I sighed, then began gathering the nerve to face him. My body shifted slightly on the moss, and there he was, in all his brilliance. He stood over me, as striking as ever, with a steel vial extended in his hand like an offering.
“Drink. It’s freshly tapped,” he said, crouching beside me and bringing it closer. “The pain will be back soon.”
He was right. I could feel the fog creeping through my mind, threatening to pull me under. Still, the pain scared me more than he did. I shot him a glare, part gratitude, part resentment, and swallowed the sap in one gulp.
Almost at once, the fog began to lift. The silvery light of the forest brightened, blooming into a gentle glow. My senses sharpened, clearer than they’d ever been, even on my best days in Hyrall, wrapped in silk sheets and spoon-fed lavish meals.
“I need to check your shoulder wound.”
I looked to my shoulder. “I’m sure it’s fine.”
“You almost died, Odessa,” Raithe said. “I need to check how it’s healing.”
“It feels fine,” I replied, still wary of him.
Raithe had always belonged to a part of my life I kept buried, hidden deep. Seeing him here now felt surreal. I had spent so long avoiding this truth. Spent so long pretending it didn’t exist. I always believed I was strong, that I had resolve. So why did I feel so small now? Why did I feel so weak?
“Odessa,” he said again, and there was something in his expression, something caught between fear and fury. “I’m only going to ask once more.”
“Fine,” I snapped, yanking the shoulder of my dress down. I instantly regretted it. Pain shot through me as the fabric scraped over the wound.
When Raithe saw it, his eyes turned dark.
“No,” he murmured, a deep frown settling across his brow. “Youshould be getting better. The poultice…” He crouched lower, face just inches from mine, inspecting the wound more closely. “It should be healing.”
