He gave her a slow smile, crossing his ankles as he leaned his back on the counter. Those silver eyes shining, he said, “Your aunt did warn us you were stubborn.”
Without another word, Sol stomped back into the tavern.
Seven
TO LOVE IS TO BURN
AFTER SEVERAL MINUTESof Solstaring at the Wielders in silence and Nina looking like she might hurl, Lora finally pulled her aside.
They stepped outside to the front yard, where the morning sun was beginning to shine overhead, drying the left-over nighttime rain. Townsfolk filtered in and out of the shops around them, some familiar faces sending them smiles and waves.
A pang of sadness hit Sol as she smiled back.
She wouldn’t see her people again, wouldn’t feel the saltwater breeze on her walks at the beach. She wouldn’t be able to visit her mother’s grave, and as her death anniversary approached, that last realization cut the deepest.
Sol stopped on the street and faced Lora, “I’m not leaving. I don’t care who they think I am or who my mother was, this is my home.”
Her aunt reached into the pocket of her sweater. “Okay, Sol. Read this.” She handed the worn piece of parchment to Sol. “If you still don’t want to go after, I will respect it.”
The parchment crinkled in Sol’s hands, and the slight smell of lavender made her memories stir. “What is this?”
“Your mother left it for you. In case this exact scenario happened, and she was no longer…around.”
Sol blinked at the letter, holding it a little tighter. “I??—”
“Read it, dove.” Lora urged her forward, toward the docks. “Go. Then make your decision.”
And although she should’ve feared the ocean after the night before, Sol clutched the letter to her chest and held her tears all the way to the shore.
SAWYER
SAWYER DIDN’T PARTICULARLYlike Yavenharrow. It was humid and reeked slightly of fish, two things she disliked. They had always avoided this port town in their search for Irene’s child, choosing to take the Rimemere docks out to the Northern Islands instead.
But the gods did indeed have a sense of humor since they ended up finding her here.
She didn’t know what she had expected of Sol. The stories of her Aunt Irene became rather dark toward the end of her reign, and stories were all she had since she was born after the Queen had abandoned her throne. Irene left her people to die and suffer the Jinn's brutal slaughters instead of staying to kill them off like she was meant to.
Sawyer groaned, falling back into the loveseat to stare at the Inn’s ceiling.
Everyone thought she would be the savior, the only Yarrow left in Rimemere after her mother decided she too had enough and jumped to her death in the Melisandre Villa. With Irene gone, her Mother dead, and her Uncle Axel killed during his attempt to flee with Irene, Sawyer was the only one left. But she had been useless, as her Father so lovingly reminded her every time he saw her.
Her Semmena blood had taken to her instead of her Yarrow blood.
And it haunted her every single day.
“You seem oddly deep in thought,” Alix said, sinking to a crouch in front of her. “I’ve never seenyou so quiet.”
“I can be quiet.”
“But you usually aren’t.”
Sawyer sighed. “She’s not what I expected.”
Alix angled his head, his curls drifting with the motion. “What did you expect?”
“I don’t know. Not a stubborn brat.”
“Watch it, Sawyer,” Nina called from behind the loveseat. Sawyer sat up slightly to peer at her best friend, the only person she had never threatened to incinerate. “You will respect the Princess.”
