64. Bea
BEA
My chain drags heavily as I pace back and forth, waiting for Brennen to return.
With each step, my ankle stings, but I hardly notice.
My mind is too preoccupied with worry, my heart racing and stomach bubbling with fear.
Lolly seems to feel the same, streams of fire flying from her mouth as she dives through the sky, circling low
What is taking him so long? Every few minutes, I glance upstream, just to make sure I don’t see his green kilt appear. Is he in danger? It certainly feels like it, though I can’t explain why.
Relief slams into me when he breaks through the trees, safe. He doesn’t seem injured. At least, not physically, but his hands are shaking, and his eyes burn black with a fury even more potent than when he first arrived here. I feel it tunneling into my bones.
Before I realize my feet are even moving, I run to him, ankle be damned. He meets me halfway, grabbing my forearms and pulling me hard against him. His heart races against my cheek, and I savor the steady rhythm. It means he’s alive. Safe, even if he’s just as afraid as I am.
“It wasn't a woman this time, was it?” I ask into his shirt, my words muffled.
Brennen pulls back, shaking his head. “No. It was Harold,” he says, voice rough.
Harold. The man with the journal. I’d never met him, but it’s clear Brennen’s hurt by his death. “What happened?”
He closes his eyes, wincing as if reliving it. “Cailleach came.” There’s a bite to his words I've never heard before, and it sends a chill down my spine.
“The Cutter?” I shake my head. “I don’t understand. Did she not tell you she knew nothing of the women’s deaths?”
Brennen begins to pace, his boots crunching on the pebbles at a frantic pace. “She did, but she was here, in the village.” He rubs his forehead, then stops, finally meeting my eyes. “How did you know it wasn’t a woman?” he asks.
I close my eyes, picturing the trousers and tunic I washed. Too big to have belonged to a woman. “The clothes that came down belonged to a man,” I say, “but I didn’t know whose they were.”
Brennen goes still, taking in the information the way he always does—piece by piece, methodically analyzing each one to see where they fit.
“What happened after I was pulled back here?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “It happened so fast. I went to find Anna, but the Cutter arrived. They showed her Harold’s book.
She already had his thread.” He takes a step closer to me.
“She knew she was going to kill him before she even came here. When she pinched his thread, he dropped dead in an instant, and his body turned to ash. She didn’t even give him a moment to say goodbye. To let him speak his final words.”
I squeeze my hands together to stop them from shaking. My knees tremble, so weak, I fear even my dàn of steadiness will not be able to stop me from dropping to the ground. Is it truly that easy for Cailleach to end a life?
“But… I had a vision. I was brought to the village, and I washed his clothes. That would mean,” I swallow, afraid to even speak the words aloud. But it’s the only explanation. This death fits the pattern.
Brennen nods, his expression pure darkness. “The Cutter is behind the disappearing women. She’s the one killing them.”
My mind spins, searching for a reason, any reason, she would do such a thing? “Why?” I ask, breathless. “She cuts every thread at the end. Why would these deaths be any different? Why would it cause my visions?”
Brennen’s eyes dim, his mind going somewhere else, and his jaw tightens.
“Because the Cutter isnae meant to decide when someone will die. That is the work of the Weaver and the Measurer. There are laws between them. She told me herself. Laws written by the goddess. Cailleach can only kill outside of her sisters’ will if whoever she’s killing is a threat to the kingdom.
But Harold wasnae a threat to the kingdom. Neither were those women.”
“But how do we know this wasn’t measured?” I ask, my mind struggling to keep up. Why would she want to kill innocent people who weren’t a threat? It makes no sense.
“I’ve seen Cailleach cut threads before.
She slides her fingers along the length until she feels something.
Something to indicate where the end of life was marked, then pinches it off right there.
” He pinches his pointer finger and thumb together.
“Exactly where the Measurer willed it. But today she found the place Harold’s thread was meant to be severed, and went back up.
Inches. Years of life he had left.” His voice shifts, beginning to shake.
“Years. She cut that thread before it was meant to be cut. I’m certain of it.
” He steps forward, wrapping his hands around my biceps and squeezing.
“I think that’s the cause of your visions.
You’re not seeing a natural cause of death, because there isnae one.
You’re seeing the moments before the Cutter ends their life.
Before she kills them, and they scatter into dust. It’s not someone outside of her power at all who’s severing those women’s threads.
It’s Cailleach severing them outside of her sisters’ design. ”
I press a trembling hand to my mouth. If what he’s saying is true, how will we ever save these women?
These people? The Cutter has endless power.
“No. There has to be another explanation,” I say, closing my eyes.
It’s naive. Ridiculously so, but I want to believe it so badly.
Some ceatharnaich I’m certain Brennen could defeat, but a Fate?
He pulls me against him, his chin resting on top of my head, holding me together.
“It’s the only explanation that makes sense.
Once the Weaver and Measurer have done their part, the threads remain in the Cutter’s castle.
I’ve stood beneath them, thousands upon thousands of shimmering strings.
” I sense the moment his rage shifts to self-blame, his body going taut.
“I cannae believe I didn’t think of this before. ”
“But why only women until now? And why Harold?”
His voice drops impossibly low. “Harold was a warning to me. To stop asking questions and follow her will. But the women…” he shakes his head. “I dinnae ken. But whatever the reason, it isnae good enough. We have to stop her.”
I nod, but don’t tell Brennen what I’m thinking. About the fear coiling in my gut.
He needs to be careful, because if Cailleach believes he is against her, no one will be safe. Not him, and not his family. There is no balance in the system where Cailleach breaks the rules. She can sever any thread she wishes, even before its time, with no consequences.
Any thread but mine.