45 lines
No EOL
2.3 KiB
Markdown
45 lines
No EOL
2.3 KiB
Markdown
The fire had burned low, casting long shadows across the shattered stone. Sleep did not come easily to any of them—not after what they’d seen, not after what they’d lost.
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It was Eris who spoke first, her voice low and certain.
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“We’ve seen enough.”
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Sari, seated beside her with one leg folded beneath her and her talisman swaying from her neck, nodded slowly. “She is the Queen Returned.”
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Telaryn looked up from the blade resting across her lap, her gaze sharp—but unreadable. Halven tensed, but said nothing.
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Weylan stared between the Veyari women, wide-eyed. “What do you mean, Queen?”
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“Not a throne-bound monarch,” Eris said. “Not a title of court and decree. She bears the mark of the Nameless Queen—blood for blood, power for pain. Her coming was carved into the oldest stone of our people.”
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Sari’s eyes glittered with a deeper knowing. “The blade awakens only for the heir. And the heir returns only when the world is wounded deeply enough to call her back.”
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Halven frowned, thoughtful. “You believe this was always meant to happen?”
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“Not fate,” said Sari. “Pattern. A wound repeats unless it is cut out.”
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Telaryn stirred slightly. “And you would follow me?”
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Eris stood, her short spear resting against one shoulder. “We already do.”
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“You gave death,” Sari added, “but also deliverance. That spirit binder… he would have broken us. What you did saved us.”
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Halven hesitated. “But at what cost?”
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Sari met his eyes. “Ask your spirits. Ours are mountain-buried and wind-bound. They do not ask for kindness. Only purpose.”
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There was silence again, but it no longer felt uncertain.
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Weylan moved closer to Telaryn’s side. “Whatever this is, you’re our best chance now.”
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Telaryn’s expression didn’t change, but something behind her eyes shifted—acceptance or the hardening of conviction. Perhaps both.
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“You said the Queen was sealed away,” she asked Eris quietly. “Is that what I broke?”
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“No,” Eris replied. “What you broke was the waiting.”
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Sari leaned forward, her voice nearly a whisper. “Now comes the reckoning.”
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The fire cracked, throwing up a small shower of sparks. Telaryn looked into it, as if trying to read the future in flame and ash.
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“We march at dawn,” she said. No one disagreed. |