Song of Sorrows and Fate (The Broken Kingdoms, #9)

by L.J. Andrews

I pressed a kiss on his damp forehead, whispering, “In the darkness, a voice small as the song of a bird will guide you toward the song of your heart. This life is not yet done for you, Sol Ferus. It is not yet done for either of you. I will be with you, even when you do not know your own name.”

To me, he was the brightest memory. To me, he was home at long last.

Calista Ode took my heart and soul when we were children. First, as the heir I felt obligated to protect out of gratitude for a king who did not toss me to the cruelty of the world. Next, as a little friend. Two strange young ones no one truly understood. Now, she took everything. My friendship, my voice, my heart, my soul. She could have it all. I was always destined to bow to her. I owned nothing, for everything I had to give had always belonged to the storyteller.

Olaf glanced at me, as though I might reel her back. Fool. I would not stop her voice for anything—her voice was my freedom, my peace, it was the thickest part of my blood that kept my damn heart beating.

“The Norns keep trying to take credit for bringing me back to you,” I said, a smirk on my mouth. “But the truth is, Silas, we bested those stupid fates long before they found us. You were mine before the world broke. You’ve been mine through the lifetimes. You will always be mine.”

“I’ve clung to a fading reality,” he said, dragging his lips across my throat. “Sometimes I do not know what is real, but you have always been my guide in a confusing existence. You are my beacon in the night.” He lifted his head and peered down at me. Silas brushed his thumb over the ridge of my cheek. “I would wait a thousand lifetimes for you.”

Silas held out the dagger he’d taken from the alcove. “This was given to me by a man I greatly respected when I was no bigger than you. He often left to fight battles, and he told me when he left, there would always be another hello. Even if it takes place in the Otherworld, he would be there waiting to say hello. No one who leaves through that door today will ever truly leave.”

We were friends. We were family. We were free.