“Now you know,” she said hoarsely, forcing herself to hold his gaze. “What I was so afraid of. Why I wouldn’t tell you anything about me. And why I was in the Shadow Woods.”
Silence stretched between them.
“It’s impossible,” he said at last.
“I know. And I don’t understand it any more than you do,” she croaked out, disgusted by the patterns on her arm they both couldn’t seem to stop staring at. “I—I don’t even understand what happened just now. The Shadows have never protected me outside the Woods before.”
“Outside the Woods?” Asterious repeated, a spark of troubling realization settling in his eyes. “You’re…you’re the Witch.”
She looked up at him, lost for words, her silence a damning confirmation. And she decided there was nothing worth holding back any longer.
“You want the whole truth? The whole damn truth you’ve been trying to pry out of me all these weeks?” She drew in a breath, steadying herself against the memories clawing their way up.
“Your father’s Inquisitors found me when I was fifteen,” she said. “Dawnmire had been spared from their reach for so long. Until one day they came, searching the village for any signs of magic. My mother hid me well, but our house sat on the outskirts of the village. Far away where it was harder to hear the screams of an outcast, abandoned wind witch…”
Asterious remained silent, lips pressed together in a thin line. Unreadable.
“They took their time with her. I left my hiding spot when I couldn’t take the sound of her screams anymore…disillusioned and stupid enough to think I could try to stop them. They killed her in front of me and burned down everything, but not before she begged me to run.” She went on. “They hunted me through three villages, across the river, and finally through the Bleak Wilderness. I ran until my lungs tore and my feet bled. And when I couldn’t run anymore, I fled into the Shadow Woods.” Her voice dropped. “I knew they wouldn’t follow me there. I knew no one would.”
The forest seemed to press closer, branches creaking faintly overhead. She laughed softly, without humor. “And you took me from them—from the only place I’ve ever truly been safe—and expected me to just let you in.”
“You lied to me.” Asterious said it quietly, but his words cut deeper than if he had shouted.
“I didn’t tell you. There’s a difference.” She corrected, bitterness creeping into her voice. “You would’ve killed me. Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t have.”
“I don’t kill without reason. I’ve tried to make you see that. To make you see that I was more than what my father made of me. But instead, I only let you make a fool of me.”
“Then I suppose we’re even. Because you are hiding something, too. You’ve created this illusion that you’ve told me everything there is to know about you. But there’s still something you’re holding back, and you think I’m too stupid to notice. You’re a hypocrite—no, don’t deny it! It’s clear to see by what you did to those creatures..." Her throat burned. “What you did tome.” She tore at her collar, pulling it down to reveal her scarred shoulder, forever marred by the wolf beast’s claws.
His lips twitched and his eyes narrowed, jaw clenching as though restraining some underlying emotion he dared not show. As if caught in a trap he didn’t want to face.
“And that’s exactly why you need to leave.” Something dark flashed across his expression. Too quick to name.
Her heart stuttered. “You…you want me to leave? After all that work to get me to agree to help you.”
“That’s just it,” he growled. “I don’t think you can help me anymore. Not like I thought.”
The words stung, but worse the callousness beneath it. The distance. As if he were so easily willing to throw away whatever bond was starting to form between them. As if all of it—every moment between them, with the horses in the meadows, the shared dinners over campfires, the stolen glances and lingering touches—meant nothing. As if all she’d ever been to him was a tool. A tool he no longer knew how to use.
“So you discard me when I no longer serve your purpose?”
“Rather when you are no longer safe with me.” Asterious exhaled, staring at the ground. “I wanted your help when I thought it could fix things. But now I see that it would only destroy us both.”
It felt like a kick in the gut. She swallowed down the sting. “What does that even mean? That I’m sowretchedyou’d rather let the kingdom fall apart than let me have a hand in saving it?”
“That’s enough,” Asterious said sharply.
She stopped, her vision bleary as tears burned behind her eyes. She wouldn’t let him see her cry again. But if he’d just explain himself instead of speaking in circles…
For a long moment, he said nothing at all. Then he turned away from her, dragging a hand through his hair as though trying to ground himself.
“You cannot stay,” he said.
Her stomach sank.
“You need to leave,” he repeated. “Immediately.”
She stared at him. “What about the Shadowblood’s Blade? Your sister? Yourmother?” Surely the mention of that would make him realize how unreasonable he was being.
