“You’re a terrifyingly talented actor, Rowan,” she whispers. “For a moment there, even I believed you’d been looking to capture her.”
“I have to be. If the king gets her, I can’t protect her. I won’t let that happen.”
I can’t lose anyone else.
Mara looks up at me, her sharp eyes softening. She’s known me since I was a baby, and then a boy with skinned knees. Long before I was a man with blood on his hands, the High Warden of Greyhollow.
“I’ve seen the way you look at her. You’ve only had that look once before,” she says, giving me a knowing glance.
“What look?”
“The look you got when you first picked up a sword, and now for this girl.” I don’t respond.
I don’t know how.
She’s right.
I know she is.
I can’t lie to myself, let alone Mara.
Elodie has well and truly sunk beneath the cracks in my armour.
“She’s different... Mara. So small and fragile, yet underneath she has this spark, this passion for life that is infectious. She is strength covered in years of polite survival. I don’t think she’s even seen it herself yet. But she will.”
“She’s a lovely girl, Rowan. Truly,” her voice drops into a gentle, motherly caution. “She has a heart that could mend the cracks in this kingdom. But you need to remember something.” I turn to face her, bracing myself for what I know she’s about to say.
“She isn’t from here,” she says softly. “Her home is somewhere else entirely. And I can tell by the way she speaks that place is certainly different to ours. If this works, the unbinding, Widowsbloom. If that gate opens back to her world, she won’t stay, Rowan. Why would she stay in a place that tried to put her in chains? Even if those chains were made of glass.” I feel a dull ache in my chest, more painful than I expected.
“I know that.”
“Do you?” She stands up now, stepping closer and taking my hand. “You are a man of duty, Rowan. Your life is tied to this soil, to your oath. Don’t go losing your heart to a girl who is only passing through. It will break you when she leaves.” I look away, thinking of Elodie’s freckled face, the way her eyes light up when she smiles, the way she teases me with my title.
“I think…” My voice sounds thick and unfamiliar to my own ears. I meet Mara’s gaze. “I think it’s too late for that, Mara. My heart was hers the second she beat me at our first round of chess.” Mara sighs, a sad, knowing smile.
“Then, Rowan. I will be here for you when this is all over. You may not be mine by blood, but you sure as hell are in my heart.” I give her a nod, my tongue finding the side of my cheek, my focus slipping.
“I think we can probably head out now,” I say. Mara nods at me,
“Let’s go make sure my daughter doesn’t make the same mistake her father did.”
Chapter 24
Elodie
The meadow is a sea of silver grass, swaying in the wind. It looks the complete opposite to the golden fields I saw with Rowan days before. My arm still throbs beneath the bandage, the cloth now coated in red.
“My blood. Why did it do that?” I ask Bryn, still unable to process what happened. Bryn keeps her focus on the Black Heel shards as she arranges them in a geometric pattern.
“I wish I knew, Elodie. I have never seen that happen. I know of only one magic connected to blood. The blood you give to cast a rune.” She stops to look at me,
“Maybe it’s because you’re not from here? And the earth recognises it?” It’s a valid explanation, actually. The king said that old magic runs through the veins of this land. Maybe it’s just because I’m an outsider?
“You’re probably right,” I say, easing the panic in my chest. A rustle in the bushes behind me makes me jump, my hand flying to the dagger Rowan shoved into my hand before he left. Two figures emerge from the treeline. Rowan and… Mara. He looks just the High Warden I know he is, his jaw set in a hard line but his eyes find mine instantly. He rushes to my side, his hands catching my face.
“Are you hurt?” he rasps, his eyes lingering on the bandage.
“I’m fine. Rowan, the guards—”
