Page 79 of A Touch of Shadows

That she hadn’t forced him back to life.

Because that was what it had felt like. She’d refused to let him go. She’d held him to her, and tangled him with herself and everything she was to keep him with her.

It had almost been too late. If Elodie hadn’t come to her aid, it would have been. Her strength was already draining away. The light wasn’t an innate part of her and only her desperate need had let her use it at last. She would have lost him. And, with him, everything that made her whole.

The ability had already gone. But the darkness was still there. The Nox had claimed her, named her as part of it.

It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.

She was Elodie’s daughter. She’d heard Elodie herself say it.

Everyone had.

Including Roland.

Beforehand, the voices in Knightsford calling her princess had sounded almost sarcastic. Because while they thought she might be Roland’s daughter by the queen, that was still all rumour and hearsay really. Now it was confirmed. And her father’s identity didn’t seem to matter so much anymore.

Queen Aeryn was back, and she had called Wren her daughter in front of countless witnesses of unimpeachable character. No one was going to naysay that, even if there was talk of the queen going on trial.

Some whispered that there would be an inquisition and a thousand punishments looming over her when they returned to Pelias. She would face the judgement of the Aurum and if she failed she would die. Elodie had abandoned her throne. She’d plunged the whole kingdom into war. She had vanished for twenty years. They hated her.

All whispers though. Voices had a nasty habit of falling silent if they caught sight of Wren, or realised she might be there. That she could be listening. And she couldn’t help but listen.

If Elodie was executed, what would become of Wren? Roland intended to put her on the throne, she was sure of it. She couldn’t bear that thought. She wasn’t ready. She wasn’t the right person to wear a crown, not any crown. Especially not the crown of Asteroth. What would the Aurum do with her? It would look inside her and see… what?

Elodie came to check on Finn later in the day. Or so she claimed. Since Wren had refused to move, it was also the only way Elodie could check on Wren. She fussed quietly over them both. She sat down and was about to engage Wren in some kind of painful conversation when Roland arrived at the door as well.

He froze when he saw her like some kind of startled deer.

Given his size, age and gravitas, Wren would have smiled, if the pain in the air between the two of them had not been so palpable.

‘Oh, I’ll…’ he stuttered helplessly. ‘I’ll come back.’

Elodie rose to her feet, hands clasped before her, eyes downcast. She refused to even look at him for more than a second. ‘No, I’ll let you see to your ward. Come along, Wren.’

Wren, of course, didn’t move. No one did. Instead, Wren reached out for Finn’s still hand and wrapped her fingers around it where they belonged. Pointedly.

‘He would have died without Elodie,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t have saved him alone.’

Roland’s nostrils flared just a little. ‘He shouldn’t even have been there.’

‘And he wouldn’t have been if it wasn’t for me,’ Wren finished for him sombrely. ‘I know.’

‘Don’t you dare blame her for it,’ Elodie cut in, that strange deference vanishing in an instant in Wren’s defence.

Roland’s voice came out clipped and sharp. ‘I don’t.’

No doubting who he did blame then. Elodie straightened her back. ‘I should be going.’

‘You aren’t going anywhere.’

Elodie rolled her eyes in a most un-Elodie-like way. She sighed heavily. ‘To my room, Roland. That’s all I meant. Is that acceptable to you, Grandmaster?’

She swept by him and he turned as if to follow her, like he was drawn on an invisible string. Wren didn’t miss the expression of longing on his face, but Elodie did. Perhaps she couldn’t bear to see it.

‘We leave in the morning,’ he called after her. ‘Be ready.’

Elodie didn’t deign to reply.

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