“Have you made your decision?” Isis asks, her tongue tickling my skin.
During the carriage ride back home, I told her what Severin had said on the spire.
“No,” I admit softly. My gaze drifts to my bedroom window. Outside, snow-dusted rooftops glitter in the sunlight, and chimneys send lazy puffs of smoke curling into the pale blue sky. “It would change everything,” I continue. “The shape of my life. The time I have. The people I’d lose...”
Isis is quiet for a moment. Then she says, “Is that what you fear most? Loss?”
My fingers tighten around the letter. “Maybe. I guess so.”
“Loss is part of life,” she says. “You cannot live without losing. It is the balance.”
I reach up to stroke my fingers along Isis’s glossy scales. “You know what it’s like. When you bonded with me, it changed your lifespan.”
“Yes. My life is twined with yours now.” She shifts, coiling a bit tighter around my neck, her version of a hug. “I’ll be with you until the end.”
I nibble my bottom lip. “Was it difficult for you to make that decision?”
She’s quiet for a moment, then says softly, “No.”
My heart warms at her conviction. “Why not?”
“Because I knew I was gaining more than I would lose. I was given an opportunity to experience more—to be bound to something meaningful. To have a connection deeper than most will ever feel.”
Her words settle over me slowly. My vision mists over with tears.
Isis chose this, chose to bond with me, chose to forego her typical lifespan for mine, to be with me until our last breath.
And she wasn’t afraid.
I lift one hand to my chest, press my fingers into the spot where I feel my bond with Severin.
And when I think of it, when I think ofhim, the fear inside me shifts. It feels less like I’d be losing something and more like I’d be choosing something else.
I draw in a slow breath.
I may not yet be ready to make a decision about the bond, but I know for certain that I want to take Alina up on her offer to use the cottage.
Standing from my desk, I move to retrieve my cloak from the hook beside the bedroom door. I clasp it about my neck, being careful to settle the fabric gently over Isis, then lift the letter from the desk and slip it into the inside pocket.
My gaze returns to the window, and for just a moment, I think I feel Severin doing the same, looking out into the twinkling snow bathing the kingdom in a blanket of glittering white. And with him there, nestled inside my chest, I turn for my door, intending to catch up with the courier before he finishes his route.
Chapter 60
Severin
THE CARRIAGE CREAKS AS I step down into the snow, my boots settling into the untouched white blanket.
“Are you sure this is the place?” the driver asks, squinting toward the rural road winding through the trees. It’s buried in snow, and it’s clear no wagons have passed this way recently.
In my chest, there’s a subtle pull, like hearing a whisper from an adjoining room, beckoning to me, and it confirms I’m in the right place.
“Quite,” I say as I fetch my luggage bag from the carriage and close the door. “Thank you.” I reach up to pay the driver with a few shiny eldertokens.
Though the driver doesn’t look convinced, he takes my coins and tips his cap, then clucks to the horse, who starts forward again, bells on its harness tinkling softly in the crisp winter air. The carriage wheels crunch over the snow until the sound fades into silence. Then I’m alone in the cold, my breath steaming around my mouth.
Ahead, the road curves between stands of white-barked trees, their bare branches whispering in the winter wind. Snow drifts across the road in thin tendrils, snaking off into the deep forest.
I draw my cloak tighter around myself, flex my fingers around the strap of my luggage bag, and begin to walk.
