I’m sorry, King Yoel. I won’t be able to give him your gift after all.
And yet Dyna kneeled to retrieve the box when something else caught her eye. Beneath an overturned chair, the edge of something glinted in the light. She moved the chair and sucked in a soft breath at the sight of a flat silver bowl, scalloped like a seashell. Dyna carefully picked up the water mirror. It felt heavy in her hands as she turned it over. Iridescent mother-of-pearl lined the inside.
How could Lord Jophiel leave this behind?
Dyna stood at the rush of footsteps thudding down the hall. Soon her friends entered the room.
“Here you are,” Zev said with a sigh of relief. It wasn’t as if she could go anywhere else. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m not sure…” Dyna replied, thoughtfully frowning at the mirror. But coming here may have been a good thing, after all.
“What is that, my lady?” Rawn asked her.
“Nothing of importance.” Dyna turned to them. “Well? Does he have it?”
They nodded, though Lucenna looked furious.
“He has a dagger honed from the talon of a Skelling,” Rawn confirmed.
Dyna looked out to the sleepy town of Skelling Rise and smiled. “Good.”
Tarn wasn’t immortal yet, nor did he have Jökull’s full power, so they may not need the talon. But it would be her contingency plan in case he made it to the island before her.
It was about time she got ahead of her enemies.
“Don’t tell me you’re truly considering his request,” Lucenna said.
“I am.”
Zev frowned. “Why?”
“Because he may help us turn the tide against Tarn,” Dyna said, watching the snow flurries drifting down.
“I don’t like it.”
She closed her eyes against the sharp wind streaming through the windows, letting it blow against her numb cheeks. “You don’t have to like it, Zev. This is happening whether you agree or not.”
Before, others told her where to go and what to do. They told her what she was capable of and what she lacked. Letting others decide her path is what brought her here.
Well, she was making the decisions now.
“This is a bad idea,” Lucenna said. “We can’t trust him.”
Dyna whirled around, snarling through her teeth, “I trust no one.”
It didn’t occur to her how venomous the words sounded until she saw the hurt and shock on their faces.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice broke, and she rushed to them with her arms extended. “Of course, I don’t mean you. You’re all I have.”
They gathered her in an embrace, and she buried her face in Zev’s chest. His warm arms wrapped around her. “You won’t leave me, will you?” she whispered.
Because she couldn’t withstand losing anyone else.
He squeezed her tight. “Never.”
Come back...Dyna cried out, but she couldn’t give sound to the words.Please stay!
Her voice was locked away in her throat as he walked away from her. She threw out her hand, but her fingers missed the edge of his black wings by inches.
