Wren is a raw ache in my heart. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to talk about that day and what happened to us. She meant everything to me, and then she was ripped away byhim.
I think it’s part of the reason I despise the king. He’s a reflection of the atrocities I grew up with in my household, being ruled and constantly hurt by a figure who was meant to care for us. In truth, all he gave us was heartache and pain.
I often wondered if I was broken, unable to love or be loved after everything that happened. I never wanted to go through losing love again. Having your heart obliterated is not for the faint of heart. I don’t recommend it.
It felt like I wasn’t strong enough, especially as I spent my turns toiling away in the temple. My heart never found the strength to work its pieces back together again. Castor was a girl’s folly, an attachment I formed because I knew it could never be—crushes are not laced in forever. He was a safe bet. I realise that now.
However, this fae prince beside me, who hasn’t let my hand go since we left our sleeping site, is determined to wedge his way into the cracks of my shattered pieces and mould them back together. And I think I’m okay with him doing it.
Piece by piece.
I trust him.
Goddess, I trust him.
I’ve never feltthat would happen for me. Wanting that has always felt like a dream far beyond my capabilities.
Rivern’s tight grip squeezes and lets go ever so slightly, like he knows exactly what I’m thinking as we trek through the Sands. Everything else in my life is so confusing. Gideon, Fury, this task and my kingdom. Rivern feels like the only one with whom I can say with absolute certainty I know where I stand.
The bond beats a steady thrum at my happy thoughts just as my hand is tugged back abruptly.
“What the—” I exclaim, looking down at a circular puddle of water in the sand a short distance from what I assume is our final destination—the void.
“Careful where you stand,” Moyrie remarks too late, her eyelids shifting back into her head, quickly taking stock of the many small puddles around us, all heading to the steep drop-off.
“Where did these come from?” I question. The shiny waterholes shimmer in the light. Crouching down, I run my free hand through the sparkling water, heated from the suns’ rays.
The surface reflects a kaleidoscope of colours as I move my hand back and forth.
“Odd,” I remark quietly towards the rippling water.
That is the last word that comes through my chapped lips, a hand shooting out of the water to grab mine, pulling me under.
It happens so suddenly, I don’t have time to react. I definitely don’t have time to brace myself for the impact of being hauled into the puddle big enough to fit a body through—my body.
eighteen
Rivern
Idon’tlethergo.
I’ll never let her go.
She’s mine, and the body attached to the blue, clawed hand that grasped Dove’s is in for a world of pain.
The shimmering, perfectly shaped circular holes big enough for a body to fit through are the last thing I expected. Especially Dove falling into one. My Dove. My love.
Godsdammit.
My second thought after shouting to the Goddesss is to call for Solen, so I whistle for his return. He was scouting around the void before we stumbled across the puddles. He won’t get back in time. This is an obstacle none of us bargained on.
Her hand was already loose in my hold as our fingers were gingerly woven together when she was pulled under.
When Dove was taken through the hole, a loud gasp leaving her lips, I couldn’t comprehend that her hand was no longer in mine. The erratic thudding in my chest stopped instantly when I saw her feet disappear into the glimmering circle of liquid.
The rhythm of life halts. My eyes are wide, looking down at the water, my body in a state of shock.
It feels like an eternity, but in truth, it is a mere moment before her delicate hand reappears. There’s no other thought thanI must get to her. I must be connected to her. This whole bizarre turn of events seems both drawn out in my mind and over in the blink of an eye. My heart and brain can barely work in sync with each other.
