She looked angelic, tranquil and at ease. Content with setting eyes on her, I immediately regretted my intent to interrupt her. Before I could retreat, she spotted me. Her expression was neutral—not surprising. She didn’temotemuch. I stepped down to the riverbank.
“It’s beautiful here,” she said evenly.
“Yes.” I watched her wading in the river. “Yes, it is.”
When offered a hand, she whispered a quiet thank you before taking it. I hoisted her up onto the bank. Her hand stayed in mine. She seemed too distracted to notice; I was too selfish to retreat.
“That sound…” Asterie paused with a finger pointed at the river below, and I listened to the bubbling trickle of the river. “It might be the greatest magic I’ve ever witnessed.”
She squeezed my hand.
“How do you not spend all day here? I would…”
For once, I had nothing charming to say. So I settled for the truth. “I think the prophecy spoke to me too.”
Her brow creased, and her mouth hung open, exposing that slight gap in her teeth.Surprise.I logged that emotion as my new favorite. She turned to meet my gaze before looking down at our bound hands. I gripped her fingers gently so she wouldn’t pull them away.
“Two hundred years ago…it told me to ‘find her.’ I had no way of leaving here, but since that day, I’ve felt…restless.” It was illogical, but it all poured out of me as fast and erratic as the river below us. “I think you are ‘her’…”
Her surprise settled back into that infuriating, indifferent expression she wore as a mask.
“The moment I saw that Lynx attack you in the woods, it was like somethingsnapped. I don’t know what it means or why I was supposed to find you. But I woke up this morning panicked, thinking you’d left without me. I couldn’t settle until I saw you,” I finished, almost out of breath.
This connection, this feeling, like a taught rope that pulled me near.
I’d felt this before.It was a nagging thought that I wanted to dismiss.
Her tone stayed even as she reasoned, “Surely it’s just the prophecy’s way of swaying you to come with us. What if ‘her’is the Queen? She was the one who knew where to find you.” She sounded so sure of herself.
I shook my head. “Don’t you feel it—a pull between us? It feels dangerous.”
She withdrew her hand forcefully and shook her head. “We all have a purpose. You have a great one, Fenris—with orwithoutme. We are connected only in our service to the Queen. To Luz.”
Without Asterie.What an absurd thing to fear after knowing her less than twenty-four hours. My attention caught on the blue glimmering orbs floating peacefully down the river to attempt to calm my irrational anxiety.
No good could come of our alliance, not while she remained loyal to the cause she set out for. And yet, I didn’t know if I’d be strong enough to give her up.
“Fenris.” Her voice was reassuring. “If you are compelled to come with us out of some odd, misplaced affection toward me, I won’t stop you. It doesn’t matter to mewhyyou join us so long as you do.”
Her rejection felt like a bruise being pressed and a relief all at once. I was glad the boy Commander wasn’t here to witness my humiliation. Needing to recover some sense of my pride, I changed the subject.
“What are they?” The blue orbs continued to float further down the river.
She smiled sadly. “Memorandums.”
“I’m familiar with the term, but I’ve never seen them created like that.” Usually they were magically set into stones, sometimes buried with the dead in their graves.
These memorandums were as beautiful as the hand that created them—bright blue orbs of pulsing energy that seemed to flicker like water catching starlight.
“If we do not make it to Luz, they will hopefully make it to my Sister in the West Corridor. I left without explanation. They document my journey so far.” She paused. “In case I don’t get the chance to tell them myself.”
“What if they make it into the wrong hands?”
She looked me in the eye with a determination that couldn’t be swayed. “What if they make it into therighthands?”
I raised a brow because our definitions of right and wrong hands seemed slightly different.
“I’ve charmed them to only be unlocked by my Sisters. It will be fine.”
