Page 95 of Cursed Shadows 5

I look into his eyes and I see the end of my career.

I tell no one that.

None but you will understand that sentiment.

Birth can be the end.’

My mouth flattens.

I do not judge her for that sentiment.

I would feel it, too.

‘Home is quiet without you. Even Knife, I wonder, misses you at times.

I found that gruesome brownie riffling through your bedchamber some nights ago. I asked him what he meant by sitting in your wardrobe. He stabbed me with a shard of glass. I suspect he was preparing to cut up your shoes. A surprise if you ever return.’

A smile warps my mouth.

Maybe I miss the little creature.

‘Father is not home, not now, not often.

Monies are a worry.

He accepted an assignment out West, in the Sea Court. The merfolk there are raiding the fishing villages every other night, and Father has taken on the work of negotiating peace.

It won’t last.

It never does.’

Sorrow.

So much sorrow in the way she writes. From thoughts to ink to parchment.

‘Ronan faces an uncertain career, now.

Many believe he led the charge away from you on the mountain. They whisper that he knew you were in the tree, and he turned the focus in another direction.

Treason, is the word they use.

I do worry.

I do not write to ask you for your help. You owe that to no one.

But we all owe something to you.

I watched you every phase. I slept on the stands, Father did, too. We only left for quick feeds and to relieve ourselves.

Some cheered for you, I told you that.

Everyone should have cheered for you.

I watched you take lives with the brutality that comes from the strongest survivors. I watched you cry yourself to sleep, alone in a tree. I watched as death reached out to you time and time again, and you cut it down.

But when you threw yourself and that blade at your love… That is the moment the stands silenced.

It is the moment I cherish.

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