Page 75 of Fate Promised

There would be children nearby. Mischievous boys with their father’s grin. Clever girls who knew their father would give them whatever they wanted. A big family. One she’d never have to worry about breaking up. Or that she’d one day leave.

Inside her chest, her heart pounded like a bird desperately beating its wings, trying to get out. Frenzied panic.

Triska gazed up at Juri. It wasn’t her emotions she felt in her chest. It was his.

Her feelings were buried much deeper, locked away like her pelt, but in that moment, they broke free. She covered her face with her hands and bit back more tears. The pain lashed through her, driving away her dreams for the future.

Juri leaped to his feet. “You need to leave Peklo. The magic down here … it’s affecting you badly. You can’t think clearly right now.”

On her chest, the ring warmed. She clutched it. “I was fuzzy earlier, but right now everything is crystal clear,” she said. “We can’t take what the rune offers.”

First, a rune will bind,

But only a bite permanently entwines.

With true love, it must be done,

Or two will never be one.

“We can’t choose for ‘two to become one.’ I won’t do that to you.” Her heart felt like stone, and she wanted to sleep. To curl into a ball and remind herself this decision was right until it sank in, and the pain lashing through her stopped. Until the bond stopped telling her how panicked Juri was.

He took her hand. “We’re leaving Peklo. Right now.”

32

He tucked her hand in his even more carefully than usual, his heart pounding like he was running full tilt. This place was dangerous for her. He needed to get her away from it. Immediately. Protect her from the urges telling her to go into the ocean the same way her mother had.

Was he really going to do this? Would he lose what he sacrificed to the bowl forever?

It didn’t matter. He’d do it for her.

After she’d told him about being a selkie, pain lashed through his chest so strongly he’d lost his breath. Her pain. A deep, all-encompassing pain pushed out any other feeling until it swamped him. It was far past sadness—it was sorrow. True, overwhelming sorrow.

Triska had lived with the knowledge she was a selkie since she was fifteen, knowing someday her time on land would be taken away from her. He clenched his teeth. How did he fix this? There must be something he could do so she could live her life the way she wanted.

The lightwielder hears the call of the sea,

Beckoning her to flee.

Her life has never truly been her own,

Will the right path for her be shown?

He’d assumed it meant her life in Ryba, staying by the sea and not following a vulk around Ulterra, living in dens, but now it all made sense. All this time, he’d refused to consider the rune’s choice for him, but now that it was taken away …?

These past few weeks his only solace in his decision to keep them apart was that she’d remain happy and safe in Ryba, living her life as she chose. Once Hoyt was dead, no more threats would stalk her. If his thoughts of her in the future didn’t include her marrying and having children with another, well, he didn’t want to think about that.

But now that he knew she wasn’t happy. That her life in Ryba would end …

He growled low under his breath. She wanted to keep them apart to spare him, but it wouldn’t matter if he chose the rune’s bond or not. He’d always want her. Always long for her.

All this time he’d stayed away, thinking he’d kept her safe when he could have been at her side. Making her happy. Helping her. They’d always been stronger together, not apart. Why did he have to understand this now when it might be too late?

If she entered the sea …

No. That couldn’t happen. He’d get her up to Ulterra and destroy Hoyt. Then things would get better. Then they could decide about the rune.

When they swept into the library, Koschei had a map of the underworld spread out next to the marble Herskala bowl. Rordan leaned over it. “This is a good representation.”

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