AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I felt comfortable with Sahlyn on such a deep level that I’d never experienced before. And Ishouldn’t. The man had tried tomurder me! But I was also a firm believer in second chances, in coming back from grievances if the person wanted it bad enough and tried hard enough. Sahlyn had proven to me that he was willing to change. Wasn’t my life testament to that?
Sahlyn wanted to break his contract. He wanted out of the queen’s hold, didn’t he?
I’m sure he was telling the truth, but I didn’t want to get hurt more than I already had.
Yanking my tunic over my head, I gave him a cruel look. “Don’t expect things to be like this again, Sahlyn. Not unless you can break your contract from her. I’ll not share. I’ve dealt with that before, and I will not again.”
His eyes were so broken and tortured. I knew I was being unfair, but I was hurting. I had wanted him so desperately, so badly, that all other thoughts had ceased to exist. Not my family, not this journey, not the weapon, the queen, or the dwarves. Nothing. None of it had mattered except him, tonight, this moment. No past, no future, just right now. Nothing but this primal act that connected two people most intimately. I had yearned to share that with him. I’d craved him inside me so much that I would’ve handed Amira my heart on a silver platter for it.
A tear shivered on my lashes, and I dropped my glance. I took a deep, shuddering breath and slipped into the rest of my clothes.
“Autumn, I—”
“Sahlyn, please,” I begged and curled up into a ball next to him, trying not to sob.
He pulled his pants up, reclothed, and then tentatively lay against me. He didn’t put his arms around me, just his warmth against my body. I whimpered once at how easily the queen had even taken this from us. She’d taken him from me even in the great distance that separated her from us.
How much more would she take?
Renewed resolve cascaded into me in such sudden clarity that it struck my body like lightning. The wicked queen would pay for taking everything from me. My name, my ancestors, my life, and now my… I didn’t dare invoke what I considered Sahlyn; it would do no good dwelling on that now.
I didn’t allow my gaze to slide over Sahlyn. We had awoken that morning with his arms wrapped securely around me as I snuggled against him so deeply my nose nearly inhaled the skin of his neck. We’d slipped apart silently and broken camp. Travel had been easy, the company strained, but Iro’s presence had garnered enough happiness from me that what was between—ornotbetween Sahlyn and me, had only been a passing reflection. Iro was more rested than before but still weak. I wondered if he was recovering from an illness, but he gave me no indication of where he had been or what was going on with his weakened state. I was so happy to have him back that I didn’t push.
“You are on the right course, Autumn. This path has always been yours.”
“Are you some kind of oracle?” His words were cryptic enough to be.
“Not quite.”
I groaned at his vague answers, but I guess it didn’t matter what he was.
“Am I supposed to wield this legendary blade as Sahlyn’s friend prophesized?”
Iro fluttered his feathers and looked away from me for so long that I was convinced he’d say nothing more.
“It may be prophesized for you to do these things, Autumn, but fate can change in an instant. There are paths that one can follow, and other people orbit around that course, but there are many interjections that make up the whole of a destiny. Yours was fluttery untilhesaved you, then it solidified into the dwarven prophecy.”
“I’m supposed to save the dwarves?”
“Don’t be delusional and think Amira hasn’t heard a whisper about their existence. The war in Feist is just the tipping point of something far larger than anyone is prepared for.”
I gulped.
“Just know that you are where you are supposed to be in this moment in time.”
Resignation swept through me. Iwaswhere I needed to be.
I glanced at Sahlyn, who watched me intently but pretended not to. A one-sided conversation with a blue jay was bizarre, but Sahlyn’s look wasn’t of judgment or confusion. Instead, it was sorrow filled and remorseful. I quickly looked away as it pierced my chest.
“Just remember, Autumn, that death is not always the answer. Sometimes discovering the root of something is more advantageous than death.”
“Do you mean I shouldn’t kill the queen?”
He fluffed his feathers in annoyance.“Sometimes death is the only way to invoke change. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the only way.”
“But you just said—”
“I’m not referring to the queen.”
