Chapter 28 #2
Silas sighs and continues, “Malachi isn’t our father, and I’m grateful to have learned that. Although it’s about thirty years too late. He’s a real monster, just as we’ve known our whole lives, a Traveler—a leech that latched onto our family years ago—and now he’s gone.”
A sob leaves her throat. “Silas, you are the King of Andorwood now.”
“Yes.”
“Thank Gods.” She leans forward, hugging him once more.
“I know you know there is more,” Silas says, leaning away again.
The conversation falls silent, and Fen buries her head in her lap again. She hugs her legs tightly, allowing the words racing through her mind to sink in.
“I’m like you,” she replies, lifting her head.
“Yes.”
“I am a tether.”
He offers her a soft smile. “You are.”
Fen looks at me, and a tear rolls down her cheek. She glances back at Silas, silently trying to process what she’s learned, and accepting something I believe she already knew. I extend my hand and grasp hers. I hold on tight, feeling her tremors take hold.
“That’s who has been calling to me.”
Silas shifts in his seat. “It’s odd at first, like a whisper of a breath, but you get used to it.”
I attempt to understand how this may feel for them, but I’ll never know.
“Do you know…” I try to speak, but she cuts me off.
“Rohhit,” she whispers.
I can’t help the shock that crosses my face, and I see Silas stiffen from the corner of my eye.
“I’m Rohhit Harte’s tether,” she says aloud, and I can feel the fear and relief she experiences as those words come into the open.
“Yes, you are,” I respond, giving Silas time to also process this.
He grabs my hand.
“It’s going to be okay, though. Silas and I can help you through this.”
“I hear him sometimes, screaming. It’s horrible, Briar. He sounds so far away, so desperate for help. I didn’t realize that was happening, but it started about three weeks before you came home.”
When Rohhit was possessed.
I think to myself.
That’s when the tethers snap into place.
“What?” Silas snaps.
“I didn’t want to worry you, and I was confused.
I knew about your dreams and Briar’s, but I never thought the same thing would happen to me.
They started blurry—as if watching the events unfold through a haze—yet they began to build, and the devastation of the dreams started to take over.
” Fen chokes up. “They are using him, Silas. They are making him do horrible things that he doesn’t want to do.
He’s fighting, I can feel it, but he’s losing. ”
“Is that why you’ve been having headaches?” I question.
“I believe so, yes.” She wipes her eyes. “I want to go to him. I need to go to him; it’s difficult to ignore.”
Silas straightens. “You need to ignore it.”
I snap my attention to him. "What? Are you out of your mind?”
“It’s too risky, Briar. I can’t let her wander off searching for Rohhit.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “And what would you have said if she told you to ignore the pull you felt toward me?”
He doesn’t respond.
“Fen, resisting this is going to be impossible. Do you think you can help? Do you think you could pull him back?” I ask.
“I’m not sure. He doesn’t even know me, although I feel like I know him deeply.” She furrows her brow. “Why would he listen to me?”
“Oh, he’ll listen,” I add. “It’s impossible to ignore, believe me, and hopefully, this means he isn’t too far gone, and we can still save him.”
Silas looks at me, his jaw tightening. I know he’s reeling, thinking about when he experienced this exact situation.
He felt deeply for me long before he ever knew me, the intense pull of the tether constantly tugging at him to find me.
He’s horrified watching Fen go insane over someone he’s disliked for a long time.
He hates this, and I know he feels her pain.
I can’t blame him. Asking Fen to do this is dangerous, and there’s no way to know what she’s walking into. She’ll have to face this alone.
Silas sighs. “Then we will come up with a plan, Fen.”
“He needs me,” she whispers. “And somehow, I feel like I need him, too.”
“It’s the pull,” Silas says, understanding exactly what she means.
“It hurts,” she admits, as another tear falls down her cheek.
Silas studies her, and grief settles into his core.
“I’ll help you get stronger with this, and after that, you will help Rohhit,” he announces, understanding her pain. “I’ll help you get to him.”
She looks up with swollen eyes. “Really?”
“Yes,” Silas breathes. “I can’t imagine someone telling me to ignore what I felt for Briar. The pain I would have endured by burying that natural instinct, and the desperation I felt to protect her, would have consumed me. It would have destroyed me, and I’ll never let you experience that.”
A broad smile brightens her face as she leaps forward to hug both Silas and me. Her bright green eyes shine in the crackling fireplace, and a sense of familiarity washes over me when I see them. After letting us go, she settles back into the large chair, snuggling up to a nearby pillow.
“I’m worried about Warrick,” Fen confesses. “He’s such an amazing guy.”
Silas makes a face, and I nudge him.
“You two will figure this out, I promise.” I smile.
She tilts her head to the side, resting in the chair, and closes her eyes.
Silas takes my hand and pulls me to my feet. We’re all worn out, and nothing sounds better to me than resting my head on a pillow beside Silas. We tiptoe toward the hallway, keeping quiet to let Fen get some much-needed sleep.
“Silas?”
We hear her voice calling from the chair. We both turn around and see her sitting back up, a look of concern painted across her beautiful face.
“Yeah?” Silas asks.
She hesitates, as if the question is too painful to ask, and Silas angles his head, waiting for her to continue.
“If Malachi isn’t our father, who is?”
Even the breeze seems to freeze around us. His body goes rigid against mine as he’s asked a question he never thought he would face in his life.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”