My mother was dragged by her silver hair from our home, the faces of friends and neighbors huddled together blurred as tears streaked down my cheeks. A keening wail built in my throat as my knees threatened to give, but the shadows held me aloft—refusing to let me look away.
The cold.Goddess,it was so cold as the snow seeped through my patched, worn coat. The buttons were to my throat, too tight as I struggled to breathe.
“Your greed sickens us, little shadow-blessed.” They were a maelstrom around me, pushing and slithering all over my body as she was tied to the stake. “First to spill the blood. First to light the pyre. What would your mother say of your desire? To covet the one they call Kinslayer.”
Stop!
My mind begged, pleaded.Please, stop this.
But my voice would not work as the courtyard was consumed in an all-encompassing flash of blessed flame. I tried to scream, to thrash, anything to escape the horror before me.
Why’re you doing this?
I wanted to ask, to beg as I watched skin bubble and melt, peel from the bodies of people I had once known. And in the midst of them, there she was, a beacon that my eyes could not leave. My beautiful mother thrashing against that stake, her eyes upon the moon as the fire consumed her.
“We are you and you are us,” they soothed, “this guilt is your own.”
Suddenly I was before the pyre and the fire was gone. A cold wind brushed my cheeks as my body shook. Though my mother remained tiedto the stake, her skin and flesh were little more than charred remains. Only wisps of her silver hair remained, brittle and breaking as ash fell all around. Her head turned and my eyes screwed shut as her voice—her beautiful, soft voice—croaked out, “To burn is to be cleansed, little shadow. To die is to be reborn, child. A girl lost and forgotten shall be found. For a boy scorned and risen from ash, a choice lies in wait. A war threatens to overtake, the catalyst or the peace? It is yet to be foreseen.”
She spoke the prophecy like a cursed chant, a thing of terror and pain. Tears were slick upon my cheeks as I refused to open my eyes, my head shaking.
I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.I wanted to scream it, to cry it. To let her know every regret and heartbreak I had experienced over and over for leaving her upon that damned stake.
“Show him the power you behold, child.” The shadows whispered. “Let him see the darkness that consumes your soul. See if he will tie you to the stake before your heart is to break.”
I woke up with a start to sweat slicked skin and a racing heart. My breath released in a puff of frost as I choked on frigid air, a sob sticking in my chest. I scrambled from the blankets, pushing the tent flap open as I crawled upon hands and knees out onto the snow covered forest floor.
My eyes were immediately met with a blazing fire and I flinched back, breaths coming harsh as I fought for my lungs to fill with air.
Please not again. Pleasepleaseplease—
“Syra?”
That voice, Goddess, that voice. A hand found my back and I realized with that steady touch that I was shaking, my whole body convulsing as I lay curled against the frozen ground, my face buried in my arms to block out the flame.
“Syra,”it came softer now, the hand rubbing soothing circles over my back, gentle and caring. “Look at me, little menace.”
With hesitation I lifted my head, immediately finding silver and green. A sob finally broke free as I scrambled out of the snow and flung my arms around him, burying my face against his chest. I felt his own arms band around me, tighten.
“What scared you?” He asked, voice a low murmur, soothing.
My head shook, tears falling freely. “There’s somethingwrongin these woods, Roan. I—I can’t explain, but it—it’s messing with my dreams, my thoughts. I can’t think properly.”
“Look at me.” He said again and I shook my head, my terror still clinging to me. “Look at me.”
His voice changed then, twisted and slithering and I froze, fear oily and slick racing shivers up my spine.
“Face your guilt, little menace.”
I pulled back, freeing myself from the grasp and screamed.
Roan. His handsome face was contorted into a sneer, skin peeling where fresh burns blistered and bubbled his flesh. His face twisted in an expression of such utter disgust that I flinched back.
“Your guilt, your fears,”the shadows raced through the trees, across the snow littered ground. Surrounding me as this—thisthingtilted its head and smiled, sinister and horrible. “They all tie together, don’t they? Two souls chained to their pasts. You fear he won’t accept you, but you fear more that youcan’taccept him, isn’t that right?”
My hands covered my ears, head shaking, my scream brittle. “Stop it! Stopstopstopstop—”
“When will you stop, little menace."They hissed through his mouth, tendrils of darkness escaping through his lips. “When will you face us. The time to cease running is coming, you must decide. Must decide.”
