Evelyn bristled. “Failed in part because your House hides behind shadows whilst Thorne bleeds men and Sorrel stations watchers. Meanwhile the traitor is walking through your apparently impenetrable shields.”
“Enough,” Tobias interrupted curtly. “Lady Serena, Lord Kaelen, please speak your purpose. I assume you come with a message from your mother.”
“We do,” Kaelen replied, inclining his head slightly. “Our mother has decreed in light of the theft of the Fire Shard – Fatàn will look after its own. Our borders will be shielded. No more Sorrel hunters. No more Thorne patrols. You will call your men away. From tomorrow, no banner but our own shall cross. It will be considered trespass.”
Evelyn’s voice shot through the stunned silence. “Trespass? But we have an agreement – the Accords – you cannot simply withdraw from the rest of Vallenna. Not now. Not with the Shards gone, and the risk of Draknor–”
“We can, and we have,” Kaelen interrupted. “You may send your hawks, if you wish. If there are sightings of your fugitives within our lands, we will inform you. But it is exceptionally unlikely they remain so far north.”
The words were heavy. Final and deliberate.
“Your mother brought us prophecy mere weeks ago,” Simone said. “When the Shards of the Arcanth are whole once more, Draknor’s forces will strike upon our shores.” She leaned forward. “Sebastian Thorne and Karalynna Hale hold all four Shards. Tell us, is the condition met? Have they doomed us all?”
The chamber held its breath.
Serena inclined her head, her tone infuriatingly serene. “We See too much. To interpret prophecy, explain, persuade? No, we cannot. It would risk steering events to ends of our own making. We provided the Written Future, as agreed when the Arcanth was split to our borderlands.”
“Oh, that Accord you adhere to,” Evelyn said bitterly.
Serena ignored her. “The Council must do as it sees fit.”
Merrick scowled. “And what we saw fit to do was to name them as traitors.”
“Then that is what they are,” Serena said, unblinking.
Alaric’s expression hardened. “So you do believe their path leads us to Draknor? To ruin?”
“It is not about what we believe,” she answered, her voice ringing with finality. “We do not act. We do not interfere.”
At that, they turned on their heel and walked out of the chamber, their faces devoid of any emotion.
“Wait–” Simone called sharply. “We’re not finished–”
But the twins did not slow, nor did they spare a backwards glance. Once they had disappeared from view the room erupted, voices overlapping in fury, in fear, in denial. But Tobias did not speak. He was watching the empty doorway. Fatàn always knew far more than they said. Their mother did not waste decrees on caution and their house had never in all its histories abandoned Vallenna. Shielding their borders now, after the Fire Shard had fallen, after prophecy had already shaken the chamber into panic – this was not withdrawal. It was calculation. A plan.
Either they feared something crossing into their lands... or they were protecting something already within.
Perhaps both.
The board was set now, the pieces moving beyond his reach. For all his rank, his soldiers, he had no more moves to make. All he could do was watch. Pray that they’d seen his son’s survival Written in their visions. And the woman Sebastian had chosen. He did not think his son would survive losing her. No commander could plan for it. No father would wish to watch it.
He would not ask. They would not tell.
Keep running, Sebastian. For Gods’ sake – keep running. And when Draknor lands on our shores... I’ll be there. At your side.
But until then – he could do nothing but hope his son did not walk into a trap he couldn’t see.
CHAPTER 34
THE HEALER AND THE WARRIOR
The Future is Written.
–The Creed of House Fatàn
They left the Durent mountains the next morning after a night of uneasy rest. They’d had to put their failure with the Shards aside and begin their journey north. Kara’s insides were knotted with dread, growing worse with every mile. Back towards Fatàn – the place her nightmares had been born – the border less than a day’s ride away.
The memories surfaced again and again.
