“You should go back to Nythrel.” My words were sharp and short, my mouth barely moving as I uttered them.
“I will not leave you until you tell me it’s final.” His hand fell as soon as he reached toward me. “Until…” The muscles in his jaw pulled tightly. “You tell me you’re choosing to pledge yourself to him.”
An aching pull wound deeply around my heart, tugging on it. Fyn would not stop until he knew I had what I needed. His selflessness was too much to bear.
“Lioran will never think twice about it,” I said.
“You’re doing a poor job convincing me.”
I looked back at him again before pressing my fist against the chamber door.
“Why did you ask about magic in the marketplace?” he asked. “Your word is the only thing they need to move thismarriage pact forward. Once you give it, there will be nothing I can do to get you out of it. Whatever inspired that question… I need to know.”
It was a reminder I didn’t need.
“Let me help you. I want to help you,” he pleaded.
There was so much I wanted to tell him, but the constant shadows that roamed these halls allowed for little conversation to be had about any of it.
“In a little while.” My voice was a low buzz. “I will go for a walk by myself down the hall. Wait for me to knock on the wall between our chambers.”
The starlight terrified me. I had done everything I could to not think about it.
Telling him would probably do nothing, but if I stayed, there would never be another soul I could safely admit it to.
Without another word from him, he entered his chambers as I entered mine.
There were so many secrets I would keep if I kept this life—ones that could alter everything.
I needed strength I couldn’t give myself.
I stuck my hand in the sliver of space beside the wardrobe. It was where I stored my sword when I arrived.
The sword was gone.
Desperately, I searched my things for my satchel. The coarse leather flap slipped from my fingertips. I caught it again, prying it back.
The vials remained.
Glowing purple liquid still swirled inside.
My hair and my clothes could be curated, but the vials were a choice they couldn’t make for me.
Even if the potion’s effect was only temporary at best.
A slender crescent moon lit the night sky. Eva had given me time to rest while Soren was occupied.
When I asked her where the sword had gone, she assured me it was stored safely until it would be needed again—as if they hadn’t just hidden it from me.
They stole it from me.
One moment I was choosing originality, and the next, I was being stripped of it.
I never let myself imagine a future other than my father’s design. When the trajectory of my life changed, it was all ripped from me.
Despair tangled with grief.
Once it took hold, I struggled to break free. When I wielded the sword, I felt alive again.
