Epilogue #2
“Why not?!” Her voice rose precipitously, a ring of hysteria that made Silva wince. She understood now why they had chosen a noisy sports bar for this. It had gone unnoticed. “You’re the one who needs to take his place! Or did you forget about that, Tate? You’re the heir!”
Silva gritted her teeth. I knew he was a fucking prince.
“She’s going to make the whole realm bleed until he’s back at her side, or you’re there in his place. There’s no one to collect.”
“Then fucking hire someone to do the bleedin’ job. It’s not my problem. There are others in the realm who can keep control. You can’t make me believe there’s not.”
“Aye, but how do you think they’re going to take control?
There’s going to be another war, Tate. She can’t hold power alone.
She never could. There’s going to be a war until someone new wears the crown.
Do you know what that means for the rest of us?
Do you know what happens when the harvest fails? ”
It was Tate’s turn to blow out a hard breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Astrid, I understand what’s going to happen. I understand it’s going to be brutal and bloody, and a lot of innocent folks will die. But I can’t be fucked to care. It’s not my business. I got out.”
“The fuck it’s not your business. It’s your fault, Tate. Do you think war won’t find you on this side? She’s already seeking entrance to our borders.”
“Your Lady won’t allow it.”
“And what happens when she doesn’t have a choice? Can you think of why she wants to get into Winter? Can you think of what she might be seeking in the Hoar Fingers?”
She shouldn’t have sucked down her drink so quickly, Silva realized, feeling a familiar pressure. Her bladder had always been the size of a tiny pea, and since giving birth, it had shrunk even further.
“The Bone Mage.”
“Oh, that scares you. At last. I can see it in your eyes. That you care about. Fuck everyone else.”
Silva slid out of the booth. Fortunately, the bathrooms were right there.
“I’m going to use the restroom,” she whispered, slipping away, going as fast as she could, whimpering a little when there was no soap at the sink.
She was able to hear them again as soon as she pulled open the door, just a few feet away.
“What do you think will happen if she manages that, Tate? What do you think will happen if she finds out there’s another who can take her place? Do you think your little girl will be safe? No matter where you try to hide her?”
Silva felt her blood run cold.
Her hands clenched into fists, taking a step to give the blue-eyed stranger a piece of her mind, but she never had a chance. Tate lunged across the table like a snake, his hand out, pinning Astrid to the back of her booth, his fingers tight around her throat.
“Did you just threaten my daughter, Astrid? Is that what just happened?”
The room had frozen, Silva realized. She felt like she was stuck underwater, the movements of everyone around her slow and blurred.
Everything but the booth before her. There was a clawing pressure at her throat, and she realized she was unable to draw breath at all.
The wisp was unable to answer, her face frozen in a mask of terror, her sapphire eyes bulging at the sight before her.
Tate went on, undeterred, unaffected by whatever thrall held the room.
“Do you think I won’t forget the friendship between us if you did? I assure you, I will. You’ll never see the snow again.”
When he released her, sound came flooding back into the room.
The wisp was gasping. Several humans stumbled, causing an argument near the dartboards.
Tate was still half over the table, his mouth a gaping black maw, his teeth longer than she had ever seen before.
He had been the cause, she realized. Silva was frozen.
Blue eyes flashed to hers. “And would you burn the world down for her, too, Tate?”
His head cocked, mouth still a screaming black hole surrounded in daggers. “Oh, I’d burn it twice.”
Astrid nearly stumbled, pushing herself from the booth, looking down on him, her hands shaking.
“You’re just the same as him. You’re the fucking same.
He made you exactly in his image, and you’re the same kind of bastard.
If war comes, Tate, it will find you. Don’t think the Bonfire Queen won’t get back what’s hers. ”
“I don’t belong to Autumn anymore. I belong to her.
” His head tilted in Silva’s direction, holding Astrid’s eye as he pushed from the booth.
His jaw was knitting itself back together.
“And if war wants to find me, it had better be fucking prepared when it does. I’ll protect my family, Astrid. Make no mistake about that.”
His hand was back in hers, the sports bar passing in a blur as he pulled her through it, stepping back into that well-lit parking lot, the music from next door still audible. Silva tried not to notice the way she shook.
“And that’s why we don’t do things close to home, Silva.”
He didn’t say anything more, and Silva didn’t push.
She didn’t need him to. She trusted him to be there in the morning and to protect her and their daughter.
They were home in a few hours, retrieving their little girl from Dynah’s house, and she didn’t argue when Tate carried her to their bed for the night.
He had told her that first night, she remembered, closing her eyes, feeling her little girl’s soft breath against her neck, and his heavy arm around them both. She could tell by the way his heart raced that sleep wouldn’t be finding him anytime soon. He had warned her that very first night.
He was the scariest thing in the dark.