Page 16 of Mate Night Snack
Katniss laughed once. No humor. “My mom couldn’t predict a thunderstorm with her knees. My dad thought tarot was a scam.”
“Doesn’t mean it wasn’t there,” Miriam said. “Most gifts stay dormant unless they’re woken up.”
Katniss ran a hand over her face. “Say I do have this…gift.What woke mine up?”
Miriam answered. “This town alone could have done it. You looking for things–”
As she went on, Emmett’s eyes narrowed with realization.
Twyla.
He remembered the little cloth bundle Katniss had tucked into her jacket pocket. The sprig of silver thistle bound in fae thread.
He clenched his fists. That tea-slinging troublemaker knew. Knewexactlywhat Katniss was and still sent her poking around the ridge like it was a Sunday stroll.
Miriam turned to him. “You need to go. The Council’s meeting. They’ll want to hear this directly.”
“I’m not leaving her alone.”
“She’s safe here.”
Emmett hesitated. He looked at Katniss, who met his stare, shaken but steady.
“I’ll be fine,” she said softly. “Go.”
He nodded once and left.
The Council Glade sat hushed beneath moon-soaked branches, the air humming with magic too old to explain. The five members stood in a loose arc around the stone circle—Varric, the elder, with his moonlight hair and stormcloud eyes watched them all as Maeve, arms crossed, expression unreadable stood guard and the rest watched Emmett like he was still the exile kid too stubborn to fall in line.
He gave his report short and sharp. Where he found her. What she saw. The symbol on the locket. Her collapse.
When he finished, the Glade went quiet.
“She’s a risk,” muttered Elder Bram. “The Veil hasn’t reacted like this in years. And she’s human.”
“She’s not just human,” Emmett said. “She’s got seer blood. Miriam confirmed it.”
“Which makes her more dangerous,” Varric said calmly. “If the wrong force gets ahold of her, she could be weaponized. Used to tear open parts of the Veil we’ve sealed for centuries.”
“She didn’t ask for this,” Emmett snapped.
Maeve arched a brow. “And now you care?”
He looked away. “I don’t think she’s the threat here.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Varric asked.
Emmett stared at the trees for a long beat before answering.
“Let me watch her. Keep her close as you told me to do. If something’s waking in her, I’ll be the first to know. And if she becomes a danger with what she is looking for or what is happening to her…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
Varric’s eyes searched his face. “You’re sure you can handle that?”
“No,” Emmett said. “But I’ll do it anyway.”
Silence again.
