“N-no,” she stuttered. “Unless they want us to know what it’slike to be all alone. We’re twins, so we’ve always done everything together. With the bond, we will also continue to do everything together.”
A chill made the hair on the back of my neck rise.
“Your bond is broken, but ours…” I trailed off, but Darcke’s thought was as clear in my head as if I had been the one to speak it.Is tethering us closer.
“What are you thinking?” Vero asked hesitantly.
“They’re testing the weaknesses of our bond,” I said. “You are so dependent on each other that they want to see how you will make it out of here alone. And we…” I cleared my throat. “Are not.”
“Where are they?” Ottoh demanded. “Are they close?”
“They’re almost here,” Darcke said.I feel you behind me, he added silently.
“I… I think you might be right,” Vero said. “I can barely hear Ottoh anymore.”
They need to finish alone, I thought.
“You need to go,” Darcke said out loud to the Briggen heir. “They’re testing you to see that you can do this alone.”
“Fuck that,” Ottoh snarled. “I am not leaving her here. She’s injured. You might not be excited to be the Sweengard second, but we have trained our entire life for this.”
I made a noise of surprise as I bumped into Darcke’s back. I felt him spin, his hand searching for mine, and as soon as his fingers tangled with mine, Vero’s hand was ripped away.
For a moment the world was quiet. Dark and quiet and filled with anticipation.
Then it exploded in light, as if a star had fallen and enveloped us in its warmth.
So many thoughts attacked me at once—so much anger and frustration and urgency. Letting go of Darcke, I cradled my head in my hands as they continued to overwhelm me, forcing their way into my mind, taking over everything.
“Make it stop,” I pleaded as I pressed my palms against my eyes.
“You make it stop,” he growled. “Get the fuck out of my head.”
Images began flickering before my eyes—too fast for me to make out much at all.
There was snow. Water. Ships. Fire.
Then the same thing again.
Snow. Water. Ships. Fire.
Again. And again.
Each time the fury mounted, filling me until my closed eyelids glowed with crimson.
It was like a wall held the memories back, as if they weren’t allowed to exist. And they didn’t like it. A banging started in my head, hands slamming against an invisible cage until the drumming overtook everything, my very bones vibrating with the effort of holding myself together.
“Stop it,” I screamed. “Stop it!”
Familiar splinters of memory ripped through my thoughts, mixing with the foreign ones.
My mother holding my sisters close.
Viljan’s reflection in the water above me.
My tears dripping into the river.
My father’s smiling face.
