Page 45 of A Single Thread Of Hope

I wanted to break down all over again.

Demke let out a choked noise. “Put her back in the nest. She should lay in state while we prepare her body.”

No. This is bullshit.“No! She’s not dead. This can’t be the end. Call Asclepius. Call Hades. Bring herback.”

Demke gave me a hard look, but eventually nodded. “I’ll try. But pray to whoever your Gods of Death are too, because we will need all the help we can get.”

That was when I heard it on the wind—a sound that brought even the strongest warriors to their knees. The call of thebean-sidhe.Cliona’s cry echoed eerily through the silence of the night, and then the howl of the strays went up and joined in. Hundreds of dogs that had gathered around the town of Amourgeles let out a mournful, chilling sound. There would be no doubt to any person on this island that someone had died here tonight.

Wren was dead.

That’s when I realized Cy wasn’t anywhere. “Where’s Cydon?”

Surely he wouldn’t have let the Moirai past the wards. He wouldn’t have betrayed Wren like that. But how did the Moirai get so close without alerting the dogs or the Valkyries, or setting off the wards?

Moving from the room, I tried not to look back at Wren. The more I looked at her lifeless form, the harder it was to convince myself she wasn’t really dead, just unconscious.

There was thundering on the stairs, and the Valkyries suddenly appeared, one of them with Cy’s body in her arms. My heart twisted in my chest.

Erus stepped forward. “Is he…”

Hrist shook her head. “No, but he’s unconscious. Nothing we’ve done has woken him. We’ve tried everything.” She looked past me to Tryp, who was moving down the hallway to Wren’s room. She gasped, and the other Valkyries looked shaken.

“Mother of Fate!” Hildr moved forward, but the Gryphon blocked her. “Is she also unconscious?” I could see her staring at the blood-soaked shirt sticking to Wren’s body. To the gaping wound in her chest. To the color of her skin that couldn't be replicated by anything alive.

Demke shook his head. “The Moirai attacked the babies. Wren fought them off, but…” Tears filled his eyes. “We were too slow.”

The Valkyries lowered their weapons and fell to their knees as one, scary in their synchronization. Mist lifted her face to the ceiling. “We ask that Hel guide the Mother of Fate, Wren Mahone, to the halls of Valhalla so that she may feast with our fallen brethren forevermore.”

Hrist stood, handing me her sword. “We have failed in our duty and therefore accept the consequences of our shortcomings. We offer you our lives.” Again, she fell to her knees, all of them with their heads bowed, necks outstretched like they were waiting for me to behead them.

Fucking Dagda’s balls.

I threw the sword back at her feet. “I failed her too. Please stand.” I was shaking; I couldn’t remember the last time my ax hand had shook. “Your duty is still to the Kuningilin. You are honorbound to protect them. Especially now, while we… while we…” I choked on the next word, but Erus was there.

“While we grieve the loss of our bond.”

The Valkyries nodded, moving past us to stand guard in the nursery.

We were a solemn procession, following Tryp as he entered her room, moving toward the huge Gryphon nest where she’d slept. We laid her down on top of the blankets, still warm from our bodies, where we’d been sleeping not forty minutes earlier.

How could this have happened? I was meant to follow her. I wasn’t meant to live in this world without her.

Demke appeared with two thick gold coins, carefully placing them over her closed eyelids. “To pay the Ferryman to get her across the river.”

Hrist laid Cy down next to her, and I saw that his chest was barely moving. He was alive, but barely. Had the Fates done this? Had Cy found them first?

I had so many unanswered questions, but I wasn’t going to let Wren go so easily. Death wasn’t going to keep her from me.

I looked up at Demke. “Why didn’t we die with her? That’s what was supposed to happen, right?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but I suspect that when the babies were born, our bond threads transferred to them.”

I hadn’t signed up for that. Though maybe I had. I would protect those babies with my very life, until my dying breath. I just never thought I’d have to do it without Wren. Not for a very long time, at least.

Is that what was wrong with Cy? Had he followed her into death? And if he had, why wasn’t he also dead?

Exhausted, I climbed into the bed beside Wren, uncaring that I was sticky with her blood. Uncaring that her body was cooling rapidly. I wanted to lie with her one more time before my immortal life went on without her.

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