‘I can’t leave him!’I tried to pull the reins out of his powerful grip.
‘Yes, you can.We have a deal, and we can do this the hard way, or the easy way.’He looked at me determinedly, and Braya and their soldiers closed in around me.I looked back and saw Atlas checking Torgrin’s unconscious body.
‘He’s all right.Go, Caris, before he wakes and stops you!’Atlas shouted.
The general let me have the reins back, but I hesitated.
Torgrin had kept this secret from me despite knowing what I was from the moment we met.What else had he kept from me?Last night, he had let me believe I caused the shock of power between us.He had left me all alone, thinking I had done something wrong.And Atlas had helped keep his secret.
The general’s expression was one of impatience rather than surprise.He had known his son was a Storm Weaver.The only male Weaver born in centuries?Or ever?The general had tried to warn me when we made our deal.He had said Torgrin would not let me leave him.
Torgrin had called me back here with his lightning, but why?Was he angry I left him?Because he had left me first.A moment ago, I would have taken the consequences of breaking my word with General Toro, but the longer I thought about staying, the more I wanted to go.
There was only more heartache for me here.
There was no way of knowing what awaited me in the north, but I wasn’t willing to risk any more of my heart here in Pedion.
Torgrin was slowly getting to his feet.The glow beneath his skin was gone.His eyes fixed on mine as Atlas helped him stand on unsteady legs.Torgrin’s eyes had returned to obsidian, and they were pleading with me.
It was like when we were children.I was on the riverbank again, but now there was no-one to push me into the rapids.This time, I was jumping in alone.
I turned my horse back to the road, leaving the Storm Weaver behind me.
EPILOGUE
TORGRIN
Last winter
‘This looks like the place Tor.’Atlas pulled on his horse’s reins, and I did the same.
We had safely brought Lord Warwick and his family to Murus a fortnight ago.After ensuring the fortress was secure, Atlas suggested looking for the woman we kept dreaming about.
In the years since pushing that girl into the river, I had felt a pull to find her.To see that she was alive with my own eyes.Atlas had dreamed of the woman riding a fierce black mare along the banks of the Red River.At the same time, I dreamed of her in a forge, hammering a glowing blade.
Once we arrived in Murus, finding out if a blacksmith had a forge on the Red River was easy.There was only one forge, and it was two days ride from Murus.
So here we were.
‘What if she’s not here?What if she never made it out of the river alive?’I asked Atlas.
‘She is here.We are meant to find her just as we were meant to find each other.I can feel it in my bones.Fate will bring us together, whether we like it or not.’
‘Do you really believe all that?’Despite the dreams, I still found it hard to believe.
‘Yes,’ Atlas said firmly.
I dismounted and walked towards the forge, where a white-haired man was sharpening a sword on a spinning stone wheel.
‘What are you going to say to him?’Atlas asked, matching his strides with mine.‘Maybe, “Is the girl we pushed in the river ten years ago living here?”’He chuckled.‘Or, “Have you seen our dream girl?”’
The scraping sound of stone against metal halted as the white-haired man abruptly stood.
‘What are you doing here?’he snarled, coming out of the forge with a sword in his grip.
Fuck.I flung out a hand to halt Atlas.This could turn bad.
‘I know why you’re here, and you can tell King Hared he can’t have her!’
