“You cannot, my lady. If it has the sword, it has everything.”
“The sword wants me to give it back. Then we will have everything and he will not.” These are not my words, but I need Warden to understand. He has to understand.
There is a time for everything. There is a time for my link with the sword, and my link with the Thegn to come to an end.
This is the time.
He will understand, won’t he?
Warden cups my chin, tilting it up to ensure all I can see is him. My handsome Brag. The one constant in all of this, in my life, in my world.
“If that is what you want, Hazel. If that’s what your heart tells you,” he rumbles, his deep voice undercutting the maelstrom, centring me. “Do what needs to be done.”
“You trust me?”
“Always. Why wouldn’t I? You are my fated one, my lady. You are my everything. I hold you in my heart and my heart trusts you entirely.”
Warmth flows through me. The sort which blooms like a flower, delicate, strong, permanent. He accepted me for what I was the moment he found me. Warden had no interest in my lost memories, my background. He wanted the person in front of him. The person I am.
The woman with a sword in a howling gale, facing down a magical enemy in order to save us both.
I am that woman. Maybe I’ve always been her. I know, whatever happens next, I want to continue to be her. I don’t need my lost memories. Not when I have Warden.
“Do what you need to do,” he says, pressing his lips against my forehead. “I will be at your back.”
He releases me and I turn to face the Thegn.
“You want the sword?”
“It belongs to me.” The wind whips around us, stronger than ever, strong enough I’m not sure I can stay on my feet much longer.
I lunge forward, allowing myself to be caught up in the swirl, letting it catch my skirts, filling them. Because I know Warden will have my back.
Something tugs at the sword, but it’s not time to let it go, not yet. I hold it, pulling it back, pulling it to me. A roar greater than the wind fills my ears. My feet leave the ground. I am tethered to Warden, but I still can’t let go of the sword.
“Mine!” the Thegn bellows. “You, your sword, your amulet. They are all mine.”
“I think you’ll find I belong to Warden, and you cannot have me.” I can’t believe my words could have reached him, but I get a loud howl of anger in return.
“Then the Brag must die.”
“He’ll have to be mortal for that.”
“And so he is.”
Lightning spears flash all around, striking the earth, searing the air, charging it so my hair crackles.
Now? Please let it be now.
NOW.
I thrust the sword upwards, piercing the form of the Thegn, which is partially smoke and wholly something else. The weapon is pulled from my grip, sucked up and inside the creature which rises higher and higher above us.
“You have done well, little female,” it booms. “Give me everything.”
My entire body is tugged hard, away from the ground, away from Warden. I look back and see he has a hold of me still, his face a mask of determination and his eyes somehow different.
“No.”
