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He nudged it away.
Please.
The other end was silent. She wasn’t sure why he couldn’t hear her anymore. But it felt like he was choosing not to.
Unsure how to start persuading a serpent to change their mind, Thessa sat across from him and sighed. “I’m sorry about Echidna. I can’t begin to understand the connection you two had. I know this has something to do with it, but she wouldn’t want this. She lived longer than any serpent was ever meant to. She wanted you to live, as you were meant to. I know she helped you remember last time, but maybe it can be me this time.”
You remember me, don’t you?
Nothing.
Her heart wrenched inside her chest, but she spoke through the pain. “You are not the beast you were made to be.”
You never were.
The serpent tucked himself in tighter, as if ignoring her.
She couldn’t take this any longer. Thessa opened the door and murmured, “Come back to me,” before slipping out.
Jussal was standing there beside Sila, his shoulders were tense. Several healers waited too, desperate to tend to him.
“Well?” Jussal asked.
She shook her head, holding the door shut. “He knows it’s me … I think. But it doesn’t change anything.”
“But the last time he ate.” Jussal scratched his head. “It wasn’t like this.”
Her voice wavered. “I think we have to let him go.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Thessa opened the carriage door with trembling hands. “We have to.”
Without hesitation, the serpent poked his head out and flicked his tongue. Like a mouse freed of its trap, Soren slithered out and into the woods, never looking back.
Jussal held up his hands, stopping Emiel and the healers from chasing after him. “She’s right.”
Thessa stood there, unwilling to look away from the scaled figure blurring into the distance.
The next morningThessa ate a few sour berries before packing her things. She never had much of anything, and now, she had even less.
“Are you ready?” Leora asked. A majority of their camp had left the day or two after battle, while the rest trickled out last night.
“I suppose. Thanks for waiting with me.” Thessa had stayed one more night, just in case Soren would return.
Leora, Emiel, and Wayland had stayed too, helping pack up and burning what remained of camp.
“Of course. They’re done harnessing the horses, we can go … if you’re sure.” Leora held out her hand, the hand she’d always offered Thessa. Whether it was on her back, her shoulder, or drifting between them, without ever needing anything in return, Leora’s hand was always there.
Thessa took it and stood. It was time to let him go. “I’m ready.”
Hades and Ares led their carriage back to Wilcrest.
Emiel and Leora shared one bench, while Thessa squished herself beside a hoard of tent materials.
The barren path had been a persistent reminder of whoshe’d shared it with, time and time again. Soren was gone because of her. She’d never let herself heal from this wound—it was pain she deserved to feel.
Somewhere between Mabelton and Wilcrest, a small plume of smoke filtered through the trees.