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To The Leather Man.
I nearly fall back on my butt. The letter Dessin had me find. The clue. I was right! It was from Sophia. His mother was writing to a friend. But what did it say? I can already tell this is a different letter. I read it as she writes.
She told me more about the prophecy today. I know she must have made a stop at your house as well. What am I to do? Let fate decide the future of my boys? I tried to run with them already. You saw how far that got me. They are everywhere. Not just the men that rule this city, but the ones that rule elsewhere. I think I have a plan… meet me in the red at midnight.
Her pen hovers over the parchment, a moment to decide if that’s all she has to say before she tears out the page and folds it into an envelope.
Sophia’s bedroom door bursts open, causing us both to flinch. In comes a little boy with brown hair and warm-chocolate eyes. He smiles at his mom, pleased with himself that he managed to scare her. I glance back at Sophia, who is wiping her eyes of the remaining tears.
“Kane,” she says, sniffling.
Kane.He can’t be older than the age of six. My heart instinctively curls in on itself, trying to protect my soul from shattering at the sight of him.
“What’s wrong, Momma?”
She holds her arms out to him, pushing the leather journal away. Kane wastes no time as he soars into his mother’s arms, hugging her tightly as she kisses his head.
“Momma’s a little sad right now, sweet boy. I’m going to need you to grow up very quickly, and it’s not fair. It’s not fair at all.” Her voice is soothing, like warm milk after a nightmare.
Kane nuzzles in her arms. “I can grow up fast.”
God, that voice is so innocent. So small. He was just a child. A sweet little boy.
Sophia’s beautiful eyes well up with tears again. “Skylenna and Arthur are going to need you. To watch over them. To take care of them. It’s a horrible burden I’m leaving with you.”
My stomach drops, twisting into a painful knot.Skylenna and Arthur are going to need you.He had this burden at such a young age. The responsibility to protect me. To always be at my side.
Kane leans away from her embrace, using his little hand to wipe the tears dripping down to her jaw. His small face tilts up, showing her a look of strength and determination.
“I’m going to marry her one day, Momma.”
Sophia’s soft eyes lighten, and she begins to smile. “Is that so?”
Kane nods once. “Yep. I’ll protect her and take good care of her until we’re all grown up. Then I’m going to marry her in the Red Oaks. And you and her daddy will be there too. And and and… we’ll have babies! And they’ll be twins too!”
Sophia’s brow wrinkles. “Does little Skylenna know about this plan of yours?”
“I bet she does.” Kane sits up, nodding his head to her bookshelf. “It’s like the story of DaiSzek and Knightingale. The fae and elf warriors who ended the colonies’ war thousands of years ago. They were soul mates.” He smirks to himself. “Skylenna is my soul mate.”
The muscles in my jaw tighten as I attempt to jam my emotions back down my throat.
“I’m sure she is.” Sophia caresses his cheek with her trembling thumb. “That’s an important story to remember. It isn’t fiction. It’s the history of these seven forests that surround our city. They were at war with each other. The dark elves, fae, snow elves, nymphs, druids… DaiSzek and Knightingale were warriors that sacrificed themselves to open the veil long enough to let those magical beings cross back over to their own world before they could accidentally destroy the humans with magical warfare. They left behind their descendants, those born without special gifts.”
She adjusts his brown suspenders. “Every great war needs two warrior saviors like DaiSzek and Knightingale. It’s a prophecy.”
The jerking sensation of falling backward catches me by surprise. I suck in a sharp breath as I sway back into the old, forgotten bedroom of Sophia Valdawell.
He believed I was his soul mate as a young boy. My hands clutch at my chest as I try to control my lost breath. But there was something else. Sophia told him the story about DaiSzek and Knightingale to remember. She said it was prophecy. Could she have heard that from the colonies of the forest? If so… could it be the same war Judas warned us about?
My head is spinning with more questions.
I need to find the receiver of her letters. The Leather Man. She said to meet her at midnight in the red. My fingers drum against my chin. The Red Oaks?
When Dessin first brought me there, he said it meant something to Kane’s past too.
I stumble through the bedroom door to the hallway, determined to find more pieces, more clues, more of anything I can make sense of. But as my hand touches the glossy wooden wall, I freeze. The sounds of a woman screaming soak through every cell of my body. A boy crying. Men grunting. It surrounds me like a storm cloud. It’s as if my soul is being shredded, tossed into a spar of clashing swords. I double over, holding my stomach, preparing to vomit across the dusty walnut floors. The agony in the air hangs on my heart like cement blocks.
It’s happening, isn’t it? I can’t go in there. I’m not… stable enough to watch the worst day of Kane’s life.
