‘Ash? What happened? What did you do?’
He paused, back still to her, shadows cast by the fire dancing along his figure. Then he glanced over his shoulder, meeting the gaze of the young wyverian woman who, like so many of them, carried secrets stitched into her skin like runes. That was the world they lived in now, one forged by silence and burden.
And yet, perhaps Ash was the worst among them.
‘It’s all my fault,’ he said, the words like stones in his mouth.
‘But why?’ she asked, bewildered. ‘Why would Hagan do all of this because of you?’
Ash swallowed, as though forcing down the last piece of a truth long left to rot.
‘Because… I’m the reason his mother took her own life.’
…
Ash woke with a jolt as something soft and unexpected struck him across the face. He blinked groggily, sitting upright on the modest cot, only to find Adriana lounging against the doorframe, arms folded and one brow arched in playful defiance.
‘Ah, marvellous, you’re awake,’ she said with a wicked little smile. ‘I need help with the crops. Chop-chop, then.’
And before he could even muster a protest or reach for something to preserve a shred of dignity, she had turned with a swish of her hips and sauntered off.
He rubbed the back of his neck, groaning softly, and sat for a while in the stillness of morning. The sounds of the waking world filtered in through the thin curtains: birdsong, the rustle of leaves, distant voices. A lone sunbeam crept across the room and landed warm upon his face. He closed his eyes, savouring it for just a breath longer as if the light could chase away memory.
Until Adriana shrieked his name with the volume of a warhorn.
Ash stumbled out into the sunlight, where he found the goddess already on her knees, elbows deep in soil, tending the crops with all the delicate reverence of a priestess at altar. She didn’t look up, only waved a hand in imperious summons.
‘You’re a menace,’ he muttered.
‘Oh, hush, don’t start with me,’ she replied breezily. ‘You’re always so moody in the mornings, Ash Acheron. Just like that husband of mine…’ She paused, lifting her head and glancing about the small field with mock theatricality. ‘Goodness knows where he’s run off to. Off committing unspeakable acts, I should imagine.’
Her grin widened just as Ash pointed.
‘Isn’t that him, s-stuck in the mud over there?’
A few paces off, a very irate wyverian thrashed about waist-deep in muck, howling furiously while Cronan tried unsuccessfully to tug him free.
Adriana rolled her eyes with regal exasperation. ‘And to think he was once one of the most powerful…’ She turned back to her work, digging her fingers into the earth with renewed focus. ‘Now come along, then. Pull them up gently, by the roots yes, just like that or they’ll spoil. We’re replanting them over there.’
Ash obeyed her wordless guidance in silence, his hands working the soil while the morning passed in a gentle hush. But after a while, Adriana paused, her hands still in the earth, and turned to face him with narrowed eyes.
‘You’ve got some explaining to do.’
Ash squinted up at her, the sunlight slanting low and golden across his features.
‘Don’t you dare give me those puppy eyes,’ she warned. ‘You can’t just drop a line likeI’m the reason Hagan’s mother died, and that’s why he started this entire bloody messthen walk away as though I’m supposed to be perfectly fine with it. Begin.’
‘Begin what?’
‘Talking. Explaining. Confessing. Pick your poison, Ash Acheron, but if you don’t start unravelling the truth, I swear I’ll bash your head so deep into the dirt that neither past nor future will bother you again.’
A corner of his mouth curved upward.
‘Don’t smile like that.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because it’s charming, and I’m supposed to be furious with you.’ She yanked a stubborn root from the soil with more force than necessary. ‘And it’s very difficult to stay angry at someone that’s so damnably cute.’
