Page 14 of The Dark Mage
“Get out!”Vair roared.“Get out of my house!You are no longer welcome here.Governor’s wishes or not, my daughter is promised to someone else.Leave, or I’ll have you chained and flogged.”
Bier’s shock pierced Ren’wyn.He turned to her, his expression resolute despite the tension.
Vair growled, “Stay away fromher.”
Dropping to one knee, Bier placed a hand over his heart and promised, “Esrin will come for you.No matter the cost, he willcome.”
As he reached the threshold, Bier cast a final glance at Vair.“You do not wish to invoke the wrath of the Governor.You are making a grave mistake.”
To Ren’wyn and her mother, he bowed low.“Lady Lyr’ren.Lady Ren’wyn.”
Ren’wyn stood frozen as Bier left her alone in the wolves’den.
Vair grabbed Ren’wyn’s left hand roughly, wrenching her from her numb haze as he yanked the delicate ring from her finger.Without hesitation, he strode to the window and hurled it into the pond behind the house.
“You stupid whore,” he sneered.
“Vair!”Lyr’ren cried, rushing forward to grab his sleeve.He shoved her hard, and she stumbled, hitting the wall with athud.
“Did you spread your legs for him?”Vair spat venomously.“Did you think letting him have you would break your engagement withErst?”
Rage and shame churned in Ren’wyn, but no words came.Her mind repeated one mantra:Esrin will come.The thought echoed hollowly in the emptiness Bier’s departure had left behind.Esrin willcome.
The aching in her chest deepened, a dull, consuming pain that radiated with each heartbeat, as though her heart were dissolving like sugar in water.
“He is not for you,” Vair hissed, stepping too close.“I’ve upheld this agreement with Erst and his family for three years.You will marry him and act the virgin on your wedding night.”
Tears welled, the room spinning as her throat tightened, the edges of her vision darkening.Her father’s eyes flashed with fury, and before she could react, he struckher.
The sharp slap stung, the whoosh of air ringing in the parlor as her cheek split under Vair’sring.
“Did I not make myself clear?”he bellowed.
“Yes, father,” Ren’wyn whispered, blood trickling down her cheek.“Whatever yousay.”
Vair stormed out, demanding whiskey, his horse, and hisgun.
Lyr’ren reached for Ren’wyn, but she recoiled, ashamed of herself and her mother.Captivity weighed heavily on her soul as she ran upstairs to the sanctuary of her room.The woman downstairs might not have helped, but Ren’wyn remembered her mother’s gentle hands, her sweet lullaby when the darkness scared her as a little girl.Every night, Lyr’ren knelt at her bedside, stroking her hair and singing of the morning birds until the shades crept back into the shadows.Even now, she hummed broken strains of the old tune, collapsing on her bed and crying herself into an exhausted sleep.
At supper that evening, Vair announced the wedding date: the end of summer.His voice was loud and certain, and the staff stared at Ren’wyn with pity as the words settled over her like a death sentence.
Her tired, aching soul seemed to collapse in on itself.She couldn’t summon her power.She couldn’t summon anything.
Esrin willcome.
Days blurred into weeks.Ren’wyn wandered the house like a ghost, haunted by nightmares that pulled screams from her in the night.She ate mechanically, only to placate her father.The fabric of her dresses chafed against her hypersensitive skin, and the sounds of the house pierced her ears.Books, embroidery, even the forest—all once sources of comfort—were lost to her.Instead, she stared out the window for hours onend.
Vair taunted her cruelly.“You’re lazy,” he sneered one morning.“You’ll make a terrible wife, but at least you’ll be Erst’s problemsoon.”
Esrin willcome.
A month passed.Then six weeks.The words she repeated felt hollower each day.Surely the road to Ishvaen was not this slow?Maybe there had been more to take care of than usual?Perhaps he was assembling a force to rescue her.The world outside carried on with its normal rhythms: bees buzzed outside open windows, thunderstorms broke wild over the estate, and the pond filled with fragrant white lilies.Inside, Ren’wyn’s soul retreated into despair.
Esrin willcome.
At eight weeks, despair crushed her.Fifty-six days since Bier had walked away.The belief that Esrin would come crumbled into dust.Even tears refused to come.Ren’wyn lay in bed, unmoving, barely breathing.The vibrant world outside turned gray and lifeless, and even food and water were just too much tobear.
Finally, Lyr’ren broke.
