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The maid scurries closely by her side, her heeled shoes loud on the cobblestones as she struggles to keep up.
9/18/24 I already like the maid, she seems to like Rooke despite the wake scare and it doesn’t seem she’s told anyone about it, especially not an exaggerated version like the maid outside Arlie’s birthing room…
Saving Roan's life and caring for him through his healing might have been enough for her to creep beneath their defenses and go in for the kill.
9/18/24 Or maybe it was also breaking the curse?
Something about the perceptive look in the witch’s watchful eyes earlier leads me through the maze of hallways
9/18/24 Yeah, something about her look of appraisal that wasn’t negative this time, huh…
Shocking that they would bring Tyton, though I don’t think the forest wants to harm him…
9/18/24 I was going to say something along those lines as well. I can’t even believe Tyton and Tauron agreed to such an assignment easily…
Tyton steps closer to me, his eyes not yet glowing or manic from the trees but the trip clearly playing with his mind already. “A Favored Child returned. Let's see what secrets you keep, witch.”
9/18/24 Yeah, let’s forget the fact that she’s even allowing you to enter her forest on a quest to save YOUR friend, lets plan to violate her privacy while we’re at it… Idiot.
“Why does the witch look like she’s going to burst out in song while Prince Tyton is fighting to not throw up?” Reed murmurs.
9/18/24 🤣🤣🤣🤣 She’s Snow White right now! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Tyton shakes his head, his horse still calm under a sure rider. “They don't like that. You shouldn't fight with them, Soren. They're older than we are.” He doesn't mean the trees that we can see before us.
9/18/24 So why doesn’t she speak to them to calm them?
Tauron wouldn’t have ever gotten through…
9/18/24 👆🤣🤣🤣
Nudging Northern Star until she continues down the path, I soak in the rays of the midday sun as we finally reach the clearing.
9/18/24 For you to have just said time is not in your side, y’all sure are meandering through the forest at a leisurely pace…
The arrows from Kharl's forces still lie embedded in the ground, with the telltale raven feathers of the fletching that are his calling card, and the horses weave around them as a grave silence falls over the group.
9/18/24 Oh and he knows those arrows too! So now will the dummy finally see? Will Tyton finally see? Will they now understand what happened to the Favored Children and why the trees have been upset!
I hope he notices the raven arrows and gets a freaking clue.
It wasn't until I heard Tyton’s words that I understood their creation, the outlines slowly taking shape until I could see the massacre that took place. The fallen members of the witch's coven, her family, nothing left of them but a field of the most sacred flowers.
9/18/24 Good. He realizes…
knew she had lost someone close to her, I knew that it put her own life in peril thanks to the fear that lingered and the small snippets of information I could ease out of her, but I didn’t suspect something like this. My suspicions of her true motives grow heavier within me, a weight I struggle to hold onto with the blooms of the dead surrounding us, but the survival of my kingdom and my people rely on my clear head.
9/18/24 This dang a-hole! Even after realizing how wrong you were about what was happening back then and seeing the reality of it now, you’re still trying to paint her in a bad light. For shame, Soren.
a long stream of madness falling from his lips. “She was only eight. Eight summers in the forest, hearing its song in her heart.
9/18/24 He calls that a stream of madness? Recounting the lives cut short and the horror that befell these innocent people?
I scowl at her, ignoring the incredulous look on Reed’s face. No matter how persistent the gossip at Yregar is, he still somehow missed that small detail of the atrocity I’m trapped in.
9/18/24 Reed is very perceptive but his brain omits most things concerning the word “witch” 🤣🤣🤣🤣
She takes one look at my face and clicks her tongue at me, shaking her head as though I'm disappointing her.
9/18/24 Because YOU ARE disappointing her.
There’s no harm in following the witch now, no way she can overpower me or outsmart me,
9/18/24 Right, like she didn’t just immobilize both you and Tauron without even looking at you a few days ago…
Another witch was slain in here, a member of her family dying at my enemy's hand.
9/18/24 Yes, at YOUR enemy’s hand, which also makes him HER enemy, dummy! So get over this crap that she works for or with him.
This place is evil.
9/18/24 No hope for this lost soul…
Well… it’s true.
9/18/24 I mean, she practically told you so already, though…
Reed jerks his hands on his own reins to trot after her, intent on dragging her back before me. “It’s a dress, nothing more and nothing less. I’m bringing it in the box because I don't want it to be damaged on the ride home.”
9/18/24 I wouldn’t have answered yet and let Reed TRY to drag me back and see what happens…. Also, did anyone notice she said “home”? Not back or to Yregar?
“Why would she need a dress? Why would that have anything to do with a witch’s wedding? I thought they just dance naked under the moon—“
9/18/24 Lordt…
“The high fae forget that the first victims of Kharl's war were the witches themselves.”
9/18/24 FACTS! Chew on that Soren! Mull that over for a bit! Find yourself wanting! 🙄🙄
All of the witches in the Northern Lands were there because they had no better option. I heard countless stories from them of the hunt for our people that drove us all from our homes and the trees that love us. That’s the truth of the kingdom you’re fighting so hard for. That is the truth of your war.”
9/18/24 Yes, THAT truth Soren… I see why she hated you upon arrival now. You likely did kill a lot of innocent witches during these times…
The witch didn’t take any of the flowers blooming from the fallen witches, instead harvesting them from a small patch in the garden where they were once cultivated in abundance by her coven’s diligent hands.
9/18/24 Is he truly saying something positive about a witch coven! Who IS this guy? Lol
She doesn't answer with words, but her shoulders push back as she straightens. My guess is correct—the eight-year-old was her sister.
9/18/24 I hope he doesn’t say anything stupid…
She doesn't seem to care that there are maids and servants within this castle that she could demand service from.
9/18/24 Do you hear yourself? You’re saying a witch has the power to command people in YOUR castle…. YOUR Castle… a WITCH..
I place the wooden box on the workbench, and she turns to look at me, her eyes guarded as a seething anger simmers behind them. I motion toward her prize. “You're going to open it and show me, or I’ll destroy it for the safety of the castle.
9/18/24 and he just had to ruin it with his words…
“I’ll lock it in my chambers until you manage to convince me that going ahead with our marriage is the best thing for the kingdom,” I say with a smirk. She shakes her head at me, clicking her tongue disapprovingly. “You've got it all wrong, Prince Soren—you're the one who's going to have to convince me of such a thing, because right now, I’d set you on fire just to watch the flames consume you.”
9/18/24 He just needs to come to terms with the fact that he needs her, not really the other way around. She could escape and return to her forest or leave altogether and go back to the welcoming Northern Lands. She should tell him that.
“If my sister's name ever crosses your lips again, or my brother's for that matter, I’ll end your bloodline. I’ll do it and laugh as the Fates open to destroy us all, I swear on my coven’s name.” She says it with the same sincerity that she explained to my cousin her husband’s condition and the way she told us about the wishes of the trees. She says it like there’s no question of her capability, like every word is as indubitable as the Fates’ commands of us.
9/18/24 Damn right. Tell his ass, Rooke. This ain’t a game! That’s my family. She’s taking yours seriously and being respectful, do the same.
Something happened while you were healing. The Fates have granted us a miracle.”
9/18/24 I’m pretty sure it happened BEFORE he was healing, hell, before he as even hurt…
The maid scowls at it as though presenting the Snowsong prince with a remedy is a difficult task,
9/18/24 I just realized, why hasn’t Arlie named the baby when they already said they named them Roan? But then again, maybe the first one was already named Roan to them… no wait, didn’t someone call him another name. 🤔 Can’t remember now.
Right… so how do you make poison again?
9/18/24 👆🤣🤣🤣
The witch stands with a leather satchel bound around her arm and a frosty look on her face as she descends the last of the castle steps into the courtyard beside Airlie.
9/18/24 So baby Snowstorm or whatever it is, is making his first appearance outside to the masses right now.
Her eyes never turn toward me, whatever attempt she was making to find common ground now abandoned, and a cold smirk of satisfaction stretches across my lips.
9/18/24 Childish idiot.
Knowing they bare,y have enough food their for themselves let alone hosting others…🙄🙄
9/18/24 That woman is deplorable.
Bit when Rooke pulled him out she said he had amber eyes…
9/18/24 👆That part! Do they change colors?
Gosh he’s dumb.
9/18/24 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Idiot.
let her weave her deceptions…and drown her in them the moment I can.
9/18/24 Boo, it seems like you’re the only one drowning, drowning in the lies you keep telling yourself.
Didn’t she just say it would be too strenuous for her?
9/18/24 👆 That’s what I read…
I want to poke at her, to claw at her mind the way she does mine, but her promise of death still lies between us. The threat was treasonous enough to have her hanged even if she wasn’t a witch, but I keep all the cutting words trapped inside my chest as I observe her instead.
9/18/24 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Yeah, that’s why you’re keeping quiet, just because you want to observe. 🤣🤣🤣
Though I was hoping my irreverent treatment and the long wait would scare her away,
9/18/24 Why would it scare her? Annoy her entitled ass, sure, but now scare.
Shoving her out of the castle gates is the only course of action I want to take but, without offering her an escort, it isn't safe for her to return to the Unseelie Court,
9/18/24 She can leave the exact same way she arrived, with her three guards.
there was a witch here in this castle, granted freedoms by all of you, simply because she knows the names of some plants and can brew a pot of tea! These are not the decisions of a king, Soren! Not one strong enough to lead this kingdom and restore our way of life.”
9/18/24 Simply because of some plants and tea? What about the fact that your grandson is even alive! He should just kill her, balance be damned…
It's a peculiar feeling to defend the witch so vehemently, but for Airlie’s sake I will.
9/18/24 For Arlie’s sake, huh?
Who knows if they'll be able to cast the curse once more, or if my Fates-blessed mate will be able to break it again if they do.
9/18/24 Ooooh, he said Fates-BLESSED mate and not cursed!
the carefully rendered likeness that the Sol King himself had brought to life with his magic in the most horrifying way.
9/18/24 I thought Rooke said it was hard to describe what they looked like and that when they did take form it was of your worst nightmare or something.
I might just slip Airlie that image to use against her mother, if this is the result.
9/18/24 That’s what I’m saying! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Well then obviously not… 🙄🙄
9/18/24 👆 That part…
Well, she was thinking about the children in the village before you spoke, but went off on a tangent about unrelated shit so I can’t understand why she would be looking at him in the way he described. I can’t wait to see what the author continues the dialogue with…
9/18/24 👆 That part…
