Page 114 of The Song Rising

and O, but her Face was most dev’lish surprising!

The famousPale Dreamer, theWhite Binder’s heir,

the Dreamwalker Traitor, a scand’lous Affair!

She struck down her Master with Spirit and Blade,

but to spare us from Bloodshed, her own Hand she stayed.

And to wondering Ears, this Brogue told a Tale

of the Anchor’s Façade and what lies ’yond Death’s Veil.

Monsters stood at her side! Voyants criedUnderqueen!

and they called her the Thaumaturge never yet seen.

’Twas on that fair Evening, with Freedom our Lust,

that the Might ofTHE MIME ORDERrose from the Dust.

TheBinder, incensed, to theARCHONset forth,

and theDreamwalker Queentook her Voice to the North.

And O, what a Spectacle! O what a Show!

Alas for the Unnaturals! Where now shall we go?

For two hundred Years we have fumbled like Fools—

we have feathered our Nests and woven our Spools!

Shall we hide in the Night, where Dread will soon find us

or stand against Doom with theÆTHERbehind us?

Alas, when theDreamwalkergave up her Throne,

her Subjects were stranded in Darkness alone,

and whispered thatWeavershould bring them her head—

but now, when we need her, our young Queen is dead.

PART III

Death and the Maiden

20

Tomb

If this was the æther, it was different from how I remembered it.

Pain radiated from a damaged place. I was a child in a red, red field. Nick called to me across a sea of flowers, but the poppies were too tall and I couldn’t find my way to him.

There was the spirit among the petals, reaching for my arm, whispering a message I couldn’t understand. When I held out my hand to her, it was Warden who took it. I was a woman, the pale rider, the shadow that brought death. The night showered my hair with starlight. He danced with me as he had once before, his skin too hot on mine. I wanted him beside me, around me, within me. So I reached for him, but his teeth tore out my heart.

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