Page 198 of Veil of Blood and Bone

“He was a jötun, a frost giant from a different world.”

Helene turns her head as Forest draws closer. It’s bizarre to watch her look him in the eye when she won’t meet mine. I open my mouth but the prick of my fangs stops me short.

There’s no small smile to be found until Audra stumbles forward. The sisters embrace, and I’m numb.

There’s a strange gulf between my body and my emotions. This physical form heals well enough. There is no shaking. Nothing beside the thrumming of my heart as it matches Helene’s terribly rushed pace and a lingering pain it's too soon to label as a problem.

The part of me that ever felt anything floated away a long time ago. I stopped being frightened of it.

But the way my mind loses its grip? That worries me.

“Are you okay?” Helene holds Audra at arm’s length and her gaze travels over the girl from top to bottom.

The girl has no answer. Her hair loose, plastered to her by the ice, makes her look so young.

“I’m sorry, kid.” Helene’s voice breaks. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

The newfound silence is deafening.

Panic bleeds out of us while the two sisters cling to each other, their eyes squeezed tight, the relief of their reunion palpable.

It bursts through my awareness and leaves agony behind.

Suddenly I’m exhausted.

Forest staggers over to the two of them and gathers both in the shelter of his arms, holding them tight enough to his chest to suffocate.

“I land the killing blow and she still goes to him first.” Wren rolls his eyes as if to say typical.

I catch my reflection in his eyes, though. Stricken. Spattered with the odd ichor of the fallen frost giant, my clothes torn and my legs blackened with sodden dead skin.

Alive. For how long?

We’ve tried to alter the outcome before. I’ve stayed away from her. Moved halfway across the world to break the cycle with distance. I spent a full five hundred years asleep, sealing myself away in a tomb in Nigeria.

Inevitably, Helene ends up drained. Stabbed. Shot. Hung. Decapitated. There is no limit to the way she perishes yet it’s always by my hand.

She always bleeds no matter the care we take or the control. The totality of her death threatens to suffocate me.

So what if we brought Isvargr down?

This is only the beginning.

Wind stills, and a new rush of pine needles crest the top of the bank near my knees.

The winter storm steals most hints of autumn, and this snow will take more than a plow to erase. With the unnatural cold setting in and gripping this place, winter’s come early.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready for some more delicious coffee,” Wren says, breaking the tense silence. “What do you say, monster? Let's get you home.”

The implications are clear. She’d tried to run. This is how it turned out.

“I’m down for coffee if you’re buying.” Audra doesn’t move.

She can’t.

Responding to her unspoken weakness, Forest hoists her into his arms. “Then let’s go. We’ve lingered here too long.”

“I’ll lead the way.”