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“All you had to do was aid me.” The words came from his throat, but his mouth didn’t move at all. But they were not his words, nor his voice. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
They werehers.
“Everyone you have ever loved is marked for death. I will become you, and through you, I will doeverythinghe has ever asked of me.”
Ana sobbed against her hands, digging her back into the wall.
“You have noidea what you’ve done,” the koldyna rasped, then the decrepit man who had once been her father crumbled and collapsed onto his bed like a sack of flour.
Ana tried to return to his side, but Ludya had her in a firm hold from behind. “Come. Now!”
“I won’t leave him, Ludya!” Ana wrestled against Ludya’s grasp, but she was too weak to overpower her.
“We’ll return for him when we can. Butyoumust go.Now.Now!”
Ana screamed for her father as Ludya dragged her from the room and toward the servant staircase at the opposite end of the hall.
“Where are you taking me?” Ana rasped as she half stumbled down the steps.
“Somewhere safe,” Ludya said, shifting her hold to steady Ana. “Safe for now, anyway. Tomorrow... nien, nien. For now, we will not think of tomorrow. There is only tonight.” Ludya sniffled and pushed a faster pace. “Just tonight.”
Chapter14
The Cider Festival
Despite the rain threatening the horizon—at least it wasn’tsnow, the villagers said—everyone in Witchwood Cross was down in the market. Even the stalwart hermits had emerged for the treasured annual tradition, a celebration as odd as it was cherished.
Apples only grew in one orchard in the Cross, the one behind Fanghelm. The rest were brought up from Wulfsgate in an endless stream of overflowing wagons, which were still pouring in from the North Compass Road. Tyreste stood in the doorway of the Tavern at the Top of the World and marveled at the Vjestik’s ardor for a simple fruit.
Men and women alike salivated as the wagons passed on their way to the market center. Merchants and traders had been preparing their booths for weeks, and now they waited, breaths swirling in anticipation.
“People used to come from all over the Northerlands for this.” Agnes appeared at his side. She propped her hand on the doorframe with a washrag as they watched the wagons roll in. “Or so Stojan says, but the man has an imagination on him like you wouldn’t believe.”
“I don’t understand it,” Tyreste said, shaking his head. “But I understand the coin it brings into the tavern. So, two cheers for apples.” He unenthusiastically pumped a hand into the air.
Agnes chuckled. The mirthful sound died into a soft sigh. “I didn’t think I’d miss Pern and Evert so soon. Evert especially used to love the Cider Festival. Or maybe he just enjoyed the lawful opportunity to smash applesauce in the faces of his elders. We may never know the truth.” She nudged a hip against him. “Where were you when they left? Headache, my eye.”
Tyreste kept his gaze on the road. He watched some children, their little animated arms shaking their entire bodies, wave at the waggoneers as they passed. He hadn’t joined the family at dawn to see his siblings leave, begging off with a headache that wasn’talllie. His head did hurt, as well as his heart, his mind... his everything. He carried so much grief on his back, he didn’t know where to set it down.
But even more than Pern and Evert, he missed Ana. Time had softened the things about her he’d found maddening. He woke in pain; he fell asleep in pain. Only in his dreams was he whole again, lost to the shape of her.
She was alone and afraid, and in an effort to respect her wish to be left alone, he’d left her even more alone and even more afraid. After his encounter with Magda in the tavern, the one he still couldn’t quite believe had been real, he’d doubled down on convincing himself staying away was the right choice, the only choice.
There was a word for that.
Fucking coward.
Two words.
“I couldn’t do it.” Emotion clogged his throat. “Saying good-bye is different for me than it is for all of you.”
Agnes had seemed ready to level him with another good ribbing, but she sighed softly and ran a hand between his shoulders instead. “I know, brother. I think they know it too.” She tilted her head back and inhaled the cool air. “Something happened between you and Addy, didn’t it?”
Tyr flicked his eyes toward the side in a warning.
“Make it right,” Agnes said. She stepped back and swatted him with the rag. “For the same reason you couldn’t say good-bye to Pern and Ev. Yeah?”
Tyr nodded without looking at her. He waited for her to leave before checking the sky. Close to noontide. Nessa should have been there already.
