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January 3 - January 3, 2025
Once, when I was young and full of adolescent self-regard, I asked my father which of my mother’s attributes I possessed. I desperately wanted to know. Were her eyes an endless brown like mine? Did she detest cold weather, too?
My father has never called a meeting this early, not even with his most loyal retainers. A wave of unease ripples through my gut. My father has never called a meeting with me.
Torrent, the great hulk of rage and death, with the blood of his enemies dripping from his sword, freeing an animal caught in our mayhem. He always does this and, when questioned, only shrugs. “Why should they suffer for the sins of their riders?”
“Oh, and I must ask you kindly not to stab any more of my friends. I rather enjoy them, and it puts a real damper on my day.”
She’s…gorgeous. The kind of beauty that knocks a grown man to his knees. The kind a kingdom would worship.
“That’s right, Little Sparrow. It’s the man you almost married. Have you missed me?”
Let wisdom be your staff; grip it firmly. Let compassion be your crown; wear it proudly. And above all, bring joy with you wherever you go. Cling to it with all of your might. For fear is the enemy of the Hyland women.”
They’ve trapped me in what seems to be a room for elders. There’s only a bed, a dresser, a mirror made of silver, and a globe.
She’s far too beautiful. Who burdened her with an older man’s name?
“By the way, you really shouldn’t listen to Teddy. That’s definitely not how heirs are made.”
Only moments ago, I was disgusted at the thought of kissing him, and now? Am I even old enough to kiss? I don’t know. My mother hasn’t prepared me in the slightest for this. I may need to curse Nurse Lydia for not telling me what to do in situations like these.
I only laugh harder. Brave? For fighting a bird?! The Aeradian army must be a wretched sight indeed!
Idalia isn’t crying; she’s laughing. Lorna, Lin, and Torr gaze at her as if she’s gone mad, but I manage a wry smile. I remember this about her. She’s a princess who laughs at inappropriate times and when she doesn’t know what else to do.
If she can’t touch my skin, I won’t give her the satisfaction of getting underneath it.
“Speak like that to her again, and I’ll cut out your tongue,” he says in a low growl.
“I think that’s his brain.” She whispers.
“Wounds from a fight are just reminders,” he answers coolly. “Reminders that we care enough about something to fight for it.”
The Little Sparrow with her fawn eyes. How I wish I could catch her and keep her with me always.
A long, sticky substance dangles in front of me. What in the four hells? I look up and scream.
A giant wolf towers over me.
“I rode the entire way home next to my mother’s dead body. My father spoke to her corpse for most of the trip, whispering that she’d be avenged. I didn’t look at her. Not once. But I could feel her skin pressed against mine, and it grew colder and colder. And, and… the smell…”
“Do you often spend your time praying to gods who do not answer?” The woman cuts in.
“The Great Darkness is in your blood, Idalia. Should you choose to face your fate, you will not survive it. However, should you choose to ignore your fate, the world will be swallowed whole, and all light shall pass away.”
“Let wisdom be your staff,” she murmurs. “Grip it firmly. Let compassion be your crown; wear it proudly. And above all, bring joy with you wherever you go. Cling to it with all your might.”
“The sound of a family. One that decided long ago that it’s better to die together than it is to live apart.”
“What’s your plan, then? Are you going to sing me to death?”
“You might be a singer, but you don’t want to join this dance. Trust me.” He leans close. Too close. “I can assure you… I do.”
“Pay him no mind,” Teddy whispers. “He’s just mad that women are smarter than him.”
“Ya know, I’m wondering something,” Stig says. He looks at the noblewoman. “How are King Lachlan and Princess Theodore so dark while you’re so pasty?”
“My seventh husband once called me pasty!” she says. “In fact, he told me that if we ever visited the mountains of Verdana, he’d lose me in the snow.” Deria heaves an exaggerated sigh. “He died not two weeks later. Shame.”
“I hate children.” The woman’s face is perfectly serious when she answers. Stig lets out a fit of giggles. “You and me both, Aunt Deria!”
“Gods, he’s terrible,” Theodore whispers over to me. Her face is contorted and likely mirrors mine. “My aunt must’ve been very drunk when she heard him.”
Stig’s voice is atrocious, but his confidence is a sight to behold.
“Whatever gift you have, I can honestly say that I don’t possess it.”
Instead of facing the pain, I doused myself in drink, slept with stable boys, and irritated Nurse Lydia until she couldn’t stand to stay in the same room with me.
“Knowledge is deemed dangerous by the wicked. They don’t want those beneath them to learn too much because wisdom threatens power.”
To be with him is to die. But to be without him is no way to live.
