“What secrets do you know, Marin?” Seamus asked after what felt like forever, trailing behind her like a shadow as she tended the wards. “What have you seen that lets you know what I’ve kept my own counsel about some things—things that I might not have wanted Phelan to know?”
She snorted humorlessly, leading the way around the edges of their settlement, moving past where the wall ended and the lip of the ravine began. Her boots crunched in the snow, shattering the chilly stillness of predawn. “For starters, I know that Thom and I will leave,” she said. “I told your sister that, once. She was going to teach me to do something and I said to her that I wouldn’t always be here.” She sighed, staring into the darkness of the ravines. “My son—my son will be barely old enough to look out for himself but will be far, far wiser than his years. They’ll tell him we’ve died because it’s easier than telling him we left. He might even believe them until the day comes when he leaves with your nephew.”
“Why would you leave?” Seamus whispered, his throat tight, his guts twisting. No. No, it can’t be true—it can’t be this, can’t be them. It wasn’t supposed to come while I was still alive, while any of us were still alive.
Then again, by most accounts, I am dead.
“To search for something,” Marin said softly. “And someone. I know that we’re looking for you for part of that time.”
He felt sick. “I have no intention of leaving.”
“Intention doesn’t play much role in this, Seamus, and you know that. Your brother never intended to fall in love with Thom’s cousin, or become the king of your people, or bring you to grief. Things happen that we have no control over. We just deal with them as they come.”
“He’s lost too much, Marin,” Seamus said. “You know I can’t—”
“I never said that you should tell Phelan anything,” she said. “I said that you should tell me. You should tell me and trust that I won’t breathe a word of it until the time comes when it’s necessary and right to talk about it—if that day ever comes.”
“When that day comes,” Seamus whispered.
Marin stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. “Yes. When that day comes.”
ugh! More waiting! I want to know the secrets too. LOL
Thanks for the new addition.