Epilogue
VERA
I rubbed the two letters in my grip, the smoothness of the parchment at odds with the roughness of the contents. It was fitting, I supposed. Pretty things often hid the harsh reality beneath.
As if I hadn’t already read them a thousand times, I flicked the first one open, my eyes scanning my own handwriting in the low torchlight of the docks.
To Mother and Nox,
Thank you both for everything you’ve done to get my life back to some semblance of normal. Being with you again has reminded me what it’s like to have a family, and I love you more than you could possibly know.
But nothing about my life has ever been normal. And for so long, I’ve been forced to do what others wanted me to. I need to figure out where I go from here, and I don’t think I can do that in Drakorum. There’s too much pain there. Too many memories.
I’ll come back when I’m ready. Don’t try to search for me. All I want is for you to live your lives—you deserve that as much as I do.
I love you,
Vera
Would my big brother listen to my request? I didn’t know. But I doubted he’d be able to find me anyway. Not where I was going.
A rustle of wind shook my hair free from my cloak’s hood, blonde waves streaked with red dye blowing in front of my face. I gazed out at the moon hovering above the waters of the Sea of Scarab. The gangplank shifted beneath my feet, urging me to make a decision.
Backward or forward. Past or future.
I glanced down at the second letter, caressing its edges with a gentleness I rarely felt these days. This one was shorter. Barely worth opening.
Swift,
Please forgive me.
Your songbird
Taking several herbs from the pouch inside my cloak, I placed them on my lips and murmured a spell. Instantly, both letters erupted into flames and vanished from my grasp.
My boots creaked on the wood as I crossed onto the looming ship. A sort of dark, expectant eagerness shifted in the air, making my stomach tighten in anticipation.
“Where ya headed, miss?” the captain called to me.
I swallowed and put my hand to my hip, feeling the outline of the map and a bag of gold through my cloak. “North,” I replied, voice raspy.
“To Emberfell?”
My lip twitched, a string pulling the corner into a ghostly smile. “Not quite.” His features screwed in confusion until I threw a money purse on the deck in front of him. “How far north out of the empire will this get me?”
A low whistle left his lips. “For that, I’ll take ya to the skies itself.”
“Perfect.”
I finally had a mission. A purpose.
And I wouldn’t stop until I burned him to the ground.
To be continued in the 4th and final book…