Daegal shook his head, his expression grim as he offered me his hand. “I can’t tell. It’s just… dark right now.”
I frowned, placing my hand on his. “Is my future etched in stone? Will the shadow find me?”
“Many things can still change,” the elf replied. “Your path is still fluid.”
A breath of relief whooshed out of me. “Thank the goddess.”
Daegal shifted on his feet, a beat passing before he sighed. “That’s not the only thing that I have Seen.” The Fortune Elf helped me to my feet, but kept my fingers in his hand for a moment.
I tilted my head. “What else have you seen?”
A long moment passed as the wind carried whispers of Xander and Jo’s voices. They were approaching quickly. Even in the darkness, I could see that Daegal was biting his lip. Indecision warred on his face as he fought a silent battle with himself.
“Tell me,” I pleaded with him. “Things have been kept from me for my entire life. Please tell me what you saw.”
“Fine,” he said. “I’ve Seen what they called you. I know who you are to the king. Your… purpose.”
My stomach fell to the pit of my body as I gasped and tried to pull my hand from Daegal’s. “Please,” I begged. “Please don’t tell them.”
The Fortune Elf looked at me quizzically. “Xander doesn’t know? He’s your husband.”
I scoffed before I could stop myself. Deciding that avoidingthatparticular question was my best path, I forged ahead. “I can’t go back.” Hardening my voice, I continued, “Iwon’tgo back.”
Daegal shook his head, his hand still squeezing mine. “I would never turn you in. Xander is one of my dearest friends. But there’s one more thing you need to know.”
My stomach twisted as I forced out the question, “What?”
“The path you are on now is dangerous. The shadow is determined to find you.”
I Should Have Known
I’ve Seen who you are to the king.
The Fortune Elf’s words continued to echo through my mind for the rest of the night.
Even after we found a place to camp and set up a watch, his words kept swirling through me. They were the last thing I heard as I fell into a restless sleep on the hard ground and the first thing that greeted me when I woke up a scant few hours later.
They became the backdrop to my footsteps as my companions and I continued to hike through the forests after having eaten a meager meal of stale bread and cheese. The wind rustled through the leaves, carrying the words to my ears as we hiked up hills and over mountains.
My heart pounded in my chest and still, Daegal’s words echoed in my mind.
The shadow is determined to find you.
I should have known I couldn’t just disappear. I should have known that Remington and his evil father would chase me to the ends of the planet. There was no doubt in my mind that this shadow was the male who had haunted me for my entire life. Even if Daegal couldn’t confirm it.
Remington was a sadist and his father…
There was a reason they called him the Crimson King.
Many years ago, when High King Edgar was still a young elf, he had bound the five provinces of Ithenmyr together not through diplomacy, but through war. The bloodiest war Ithenmyr had ever seen.
I shuddered, drawing my cloak around myself.
After everything the two of them put me through, I should have known they wouldn’t let their prized possession slip through their fingertips.
As we walked, the morning slipped into the afternoon. By the time the evening came around, memories I had successfully shoved away for years pushed their way through the flimsy barriers I had erected in my mind.
* * *