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A charmed apple.
She took it without looking at the crone and pivoted away, tucking the apple under her chin to keep it from falling when she shifted. She wasn’t sure it would work. Usually anything she wore or had stowed into her clothing was safely included in the magic, but she’d never shifted—or shifted back—in the nude before.
Ana lowered her hands to her sides, broke into a sprint, and launched herself into the open. As she caught air, her face elongated into a beak, her feet drawing up and tight into talons. Feathers coated her cold flesh, restoring her sense of warmth—and safety.
A phoenix was, after all, born of fire.
Anastazja soared through the storm, aimed for the peaks of Icebolt.
It was past noontide by the time Tyreste said his good-byes to Asterin and Sesto. Asterin wore his concern for his wife in every tic and frown, and Tyr felt terrible the man had come at all. In the end, it was the only reason he’d agreed to try the translations. Whatever Asterin really believed was in the letters, it was serious enough for him to leave the one person he couldn’t bear to be parted from.
Tyr had once loved Rhiainach Skylark too, but it had taken many years for him to realize she’d never belonged with any man except Asterin Edevane. The love between them was the realest he’d ever seen, and he’d thought with Ana...
No.
That time in his life reminded him too much of his present heartbreak. Would he have been happier to see his old friends if they’d arrived before Ana had walked out on him? It wasn’t their fault the confrontation had brought all his old, buried traumas spilling forth. He didn’t love them less, but he’d felt the Tyr of the past slipping back in, trying to reclaim his place, and that could never,everhappen.
We could stay another night, catch up...
No, no, another storm is expected, and you’ll want to be south of Wulfsgate when it hits. We can catch up another time. Maybe... Maybe I’ll make my way to Riverchapel soon. Springtide is just over the horizon.
A lie, but a kind one. He wanted to mean it. But he knew in his heart there was no going back.
Tyr stretched and cracked his knuckles over the fire. He glanced at the table and the stack of letters half spread along the surface. A candle sat nearby, perhaps too close, and he thought, briefly, what if there were to be an accident...
But then his entire cabin would be lost with it. He’d built the place with his own hands and stubborn determination.
He was swallowing a sip of ale from his mug on the hearth when a soft knock sounded. Adeline never knocked hard because she didn’t know what her knocks sounded like. Not anymore. Not since the fire in Parth.
If it had been anyone but Addy, he’d have ignored it, but she was the one person he’d never slight.
Tyr opened the door, and his little sister smiled at him. She signed on her chest,Can I come in?
He signed back,Of course. I have cider brewing.
Addy beamed at that and flounced in. She glanced around as she always did, like it was her first time, though she was his most frequent visitor. Aside from Rikard—his brother, not the wayward cat jittering at his feet, casually attempting to trip him with every step—and, until recently, Ana, she was his only visitor.
Her shrewd eyes zeroed in on the letters right away. She turned to sign,From Steward Edevane and Abbot Sesto?
Tyr chuckled to himself.Another translation.
Her brows crinkled.Why didn’t they send them by courier?
Because they wanted to see me, obviously.Tyr tousled her hair, pulling a grin from her, but she wasn’t satisfied with the answer.
Will you not tell me the truth?
Tyr sighed and glanced at the stack.The truth is I don’t know. I haven’t translated them yet.
Can I help?
He’d been teaching Adeline the old languages for the past two years. She’d caught on well, enough that he could confidently funnel work her way, so she could pocket some coin of her own. On his way out of town, Asterin had promised a place for her in the company, when she was ready.
But Tyr’s sinking dread returned when he thought of her coming anywhere near whatever was in those letters.
Not today,he signed with a smile he hoped was enough to make her drop it.
Addy scrunched her face into a pout. With a devious grin, she bolted for the table and snatched the letters up before Tyr could stop her.
