Page 2 of Threaded

Her, the younger sister breathed.

Yes, agreed the elder.Her.

* * *

Far across those same realms, in a golden palace nestled between ancient mountains and a glimmering ocean, a queen shot awake in her bed.

Her heart pounded. The pools of her magic deep in her gut rolled like a maelstrom through the seas. The taste of ash lingered on her tongue.

And she knew.

Her consort grumbled sleepily beside her as she wrapped a silk robe around her body. She strode from her bedchambers, into her living quarters, and out onto an expansive balcony facing the mountains. The night was clear, the stars twinkling, and above her the twin moons glowed as matching crescents in the sky—one gold, one silver. As the queen watched, the gold moon began to pulse, like a heartbeat, its rhythm matching the beat of her own in her chest.

Lifting a shaky hand, she watched a single droplet of liquid gold push its way through her skin and onto the pad of her finger. It lingered there for a moment, as if saying farewell, before shooting into the sky like a soul ascending to the realm of the gods. The droplet arched through the sky, and the queen watched its path until it winked out of her sight.

My time is over, she thought.

Thus begins our twenty-one-year wait.

CHAPTER1

Mariah Salis had always found it easier to tumble head-first into chaos than to sit comfortably still in peace.

Chaos didn’t fit in a quiet, antiquated place like Andburgh. Wildness didn’t belong in a woman; not when everyone around her stared her down like she was a beast in need of taming.

For that was all she was. A cornered animal, snapping at her chains, itching for the day when she could finally be set free.

“Focus, Mariah. Again.”

Her father’s deep voice cut through the darkness of her thoughts. She grunted a response before hauling herself up from where she’d landed in the dirt. Dusting herself off, Mariah picked up the worn handle of the training sword, the dulled blade rusted and cracked along its edges. She turned and mounted the fallen birch tree again, the trunk just thick enough to stand on with one foot in front of the other, and just smooth enough that one wrong step could send her careening off into the hard, packed earth below.

Of course, on the day when Mariah had wanted nothing more than to embrace the chaos lurking beneath her skin, her father had chosen to give a lesson onbalance.

But Mariah had no interest in feeling balanced. Especially not today, not when her birthday loomed in the distance, both a beacon of hope and an omen of unwanted servitude. She wouldn’t let the latter come to fruition, however—no, she would be sure to hide herself far beyond the distant shores of the Mirrored Sea before she let that happen.

Birthdays weren’t good for much, but at least this one, her twenty-first, she would finally have the excuse she’d waited for to leave this place.

After all, it wasn’t unusual for a woman to disappear from Andburgh shortly after turning twenty-one. In fact, it was pretty common.

Mariah just had to figure out how.

“Take a breath. Gather your balance. Then start again.” Her father folded his arms across his chest, his gold-hazel stare shining with encouragement. Wex Salis was the sort of man who got along with everyone, his easy-going nature allowing the other shrew-nosed residents of their town to forgive the peculiarity in which he raised his daughter.

Mariah loved him for that glowing positivity.

Right now, however, it annoyed her.

She inhaled a steadying breath before refocusing her gaze on the log beneath her, on the sword in her hands, on the emerald of the leaves of the Ivory Forest around her. She grounded herself on the otherwise unsteady surface under her feet and then began again. Her steps moved across the log, her body turning with each step, her arms lifting that dulled blade and swinging it in a smooth progression: left slice, high parry, right slice, low parry, right jab. She felt herself flowing across the log, imagining herself like a dancing leaf caught on a breeze, ready to carry her far, far away.

She loved these lessons with her father, and not just because they gave her the skills necessary to wield sword and dagger and arrow. Mariah loved them because they gave her the tools to one day float away from Andburgh, just like that leaf on the wind. Her family was her world, but she’d grown tired of the small scope of what surrounded her. She craved adventure and passion and all the things she could never find here in this town on the crossroads.

Sheespeciallythirsted for a chance to swing her sword and have it be met with the clash of real steel.

It was that last thought that had her next step coming down too forcefully, had her arms hauling her blade through the air too quickly. The slight loss of control sent her balance tipping, the soles of her boots slipping down the smooth bark of the trunk. Her hands released the smooth leather pommel of the training sword as she fell, crashing into the packed earth below.

Again.

Her breath whooshed from her lungs, her ears ringing from the impact. Distantly, Mariah could hear the sound of soft snickering, followed by athumpand a grumble. She clenched her teeth and forced her eyes open, turning her head to cast a dark glare at her brother. He lingered against a solid oak tree, his face twisted into a pout as he rubbed his upper arm. Her father stood beside him, smiling patiently down at Mariah.

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