Page 43 of A Song of Saints and Swans
They immediately fell into a heated discussion, with my mother excitedly waving a letter in his face. I didn’t need to see the royal seal to know what it was. Gerard looked stricken, but he wasn’t beggingherto stay. Instead, he kept gesturing toward the girl playing by the water, and I immediately understood what was happening.
He didn’t want to letmego.
It was my mother’s turn to look upset—her conflicted gaze darting between me and the letter clenched in her hand. Their discussion grew hushed after that until my mother nodded and pulled Gerard in for a hug. Their embrace was not at all romantic, but still spoke volumes about the closeness of their relationship.
He protected her and offered to do the same for me.
Tears were streaming down my face as I watched my mother return to her wagon, only to leave again a few minutes later and take flight without saying goodbye.
And without looking back.
My gaze drifted to the lakeshore again, where Gerard had rejoined the child. A casual observer would have assumed they were watching a father with his daughter, and they would be correct.
The man who raised me may have known I wasn’t his from day one, but he still treated me as if I were his own. This included offering me every opportunity a shifter could expect, and some they couldn’t.
Like a future as clan leader.
He owed me nothing, yet was ready to give me everything.
I didn’t knowwhyI was never reunited with my birth parents—and why I never heard from them again—but I suspected Gerard could tell me more.
“Would you like to know what happened to your parents, Anthia?” The disembodied voice brought me back to the World Tree with a start.
“Do you remember your mother’s love?”
No.
“Do you remember your mother?”
Also no.
“Do you remember how it felt to be loved?”
Yes.
Regardless of what he knew, Gerard continued to protect me by choosing to let me believe a fractured fairy tale, rather than break my heart with the truth.
My voice shook, but I forced myself to reply. “If Ger—myfatherknows the details, I’d rather hear it from him.”
We both owe each other that.
“As you wish.” The voice was quiet for a moment, as if to show respect for my decision. “What else would you like to know?”
That was a much easier question to answer. “How to save Jarilo, how to rightfully return Margo to human form, and how to stop the plans of the Facility, once and for all.”
Epilogue: Winter’s Death, Rebirth, and Dreams
ANTHIA
“You know, dearest, it’s always a thrill watching humans light straw effigies of you on fire before drowning them in the river.”
Marena rolled her eyes, but I caught the smile twitching at her lips as we left the human festivities behind. “Don’t get smug, just because your little bout of godly impotence has cleared up so spring could finally arrive.”
“Impotence?!That wasn't…” Jarilo sputtered, making us all laugh as he yanked me closer. “No, our beautiful consort is to thank for my dramatic rebirth.”
Even after all the ways these two had explored my body over the past several weeks, I still blushed at the attention.
“It was nothing.” I waved the hand holding my powderedponchiki.“I was just born this way.”
