My breaths come and go so quickly it’s hardly as if I’m breathing at all. A sharp pain in my chest forms and with it, the darkness I’ve held off for so long creeps into the edges of my vision. My throat tightens and hands tremble.
I rip the knife from under my pillow and throw it across the cell. It hits the bars with a loudclang.
Shoving the pillow over my head, I welcome the darkness this time. I embrace the sweep of shadows as I close my eyes and lose myself to sleep.
“Can you see it, love?” Sorin’s voice pulls my attention, and when I turn to him, he smiles, his white teeth flashing against his dark stubble.“Right there.” He points just past my shoulder. I follow his finger until I see it.
A tiny yellow bird is perched on a low branch of a nearby pine.
A smile spreads over my face. “What is it?”
The bird sings, high chirps drifting through the woods. Its bright yellow and dark feathers are prominent in the otherwise gray and green surroundings.
“It’s beautiful.” I take a step closer, but heavy raindrops hit the branch. The bird flies away.
“A goldfinch.” Sorin wraps his arms around my middle and kisses the side of my neck. “They are meant to bring good fortune.”
I cast him a smile over my shoulder. “You believe that superstition?”
“Of course.” He smiles, cheek dimpling just as the rain increases, soaking our hair and clothes. Laughing, he grabs my hand as we sprint through the forest.
“Some good fortune!” I yell over the rising storm.
“I never said goodweather!” He laughs, his hand still clasped in mine.
Dark clouds roll in, blocking any light from beyond the pines. A gall of wind splits between us, breaking our hands apart.
“Sorin!” I stumble, tripping over an exposed root. “Sorin!”
The wind whips around me again, pulling at my hair, sending twigs and branches through the air. They bite and cut against my skin. I scream Sorin’s name again, but through the storm and the darkness, he never answers.
Ten
Sorin
“I am not staying behind,”Agnes says across the table from Sam, Jarek, and myself at Mahaffey’s. She crosses her arms, her honey eyes piercing like daggers.
To avoid her gaze, I focus on the pub. Only a few patrons are here this early in the day. The constant rain from outside pounds on the door and slams against the windows. The blight is even more severe now that the colder weather has hit, but Jeanette was able to round up a few bowls of porridge to hold us over. I stir the creamy oats but don’t take a bite, before I glance back at my mother.
Her eyes are still narrowed, her lips pursed.
“Mother,” I say with a sigh. Stubborn dragon as always. A part of me wishes Ulric was here, I know he’d be on my side in this. “You’re not stayingbehind, you’re staying to make sure Park has all the help he needs. The people here look up to you. They know what you and William have done for them, you’re an asset, and I need you here.”
Sam mumbles something. I can’t hear what she says, but still it grates my nerves.
“If you have something to say, Sam, by all means the floor is yours.”
Her brows pinch together so, naturally, I cast her my best grin.
“You should stay here, Mum. Just as Sorin says.” She looks to our mother before returning to her food.
I finish off the last of my bland porridge, a plan beginning to form. “Agnes, Letty, and Eviey will stay here to help Park rally those who are with us if the need for their help arises in Valebridge. Sam—” I turn to her, but she doesn’t look up from her bowl, so I readjust and focus on Jarek. “You two will come back with me to the Jade Guild. There we’ll work with Thaddeus and Evren to form a plan to get me into the castle for the Autumn Moon.”
Sam pushes her empty bowl to the middle of the table. “You’re awfully confident the council and Guilds will be willing to verify you as the rightful heir.”
“And is my confidence a bad thing?”
“No.” She looks me in the eye. “But it could be a dangerous thing. What if you go there, show them this piece of parchment, and they simply decidenotto believe you. What then?”
