I needed for gentle.

What I wanted was my gentle. A pinprick of sunshine had grown in my heart-center over the three weeks I stayed with the Eilian. The quantity was so diminutive the sunshine couldn’t be harnessed, however I thanked my stars I possessed even that small quantity.

I rubbed my abdomen. The babe was rising, though a bump was not but exhibiting. I didn’t inform my type hosts something about my being pregnant.

The plan was to depart earlier than anybody discovered.

I stored touching my neck, feeling for my dragon stone. I prayed with all my would possibly that Kenrik had summoned Seren and he or she’d take him to Gorlassar.

Kenrik. Oh, Kenrik.

My gentle was in a mortal. It had given him higher energy. Healed him practically immediately. What’s going to grow to be of you? How lengthy would Caedryn pursue him? How lengthy would the bond final between them? I needed to save lots of Kenrik from my life, from loving me. I needed to maintain from being a rift between him and his household.

With my gentle in him, he couldn’t go residence. He’d endanger his household. He couldn’t go to Brenin once more. A wedding with Tiwlip was unimaginable.

I’m so sorry, Kenrik. Forgive me. Deian, please forgive me. I’ve doomed everybody I’ve come to like.

The worst heartbreak was my damaged bond between Seren and me. Would I ever see her once more? I used to be now not a dragon guardian. I now not felt that kinship together with her. She now not possessed my never-ending life. Possibly Kenrik would return the stone to Seren, and he or she may begin once more. I ought to have advised him to do this.

So many regrets. I used to be doing every little thing incorrect.

I shouldn’t have left Gorlassar.

It was fully too late to have silly needs. The one approach to go was ahead.

I felt peace in that small resolution.

SEVENTY-TWO

I stayed with my beneficiant hosts for 4 weeks earlier than I requested Hadyn to take me west. We traveled for 2 weeks by the Nice Forest’s cover, by the maze of bridges, till we got here to the Nice Ridge. A rough-hewn path was carved throughout the ridge’s high, connecting the 2 sides of the forest. The Eilian had been the one individuals to tread this manner, aside from the occasional small, four-legged, furry animal. The timber on both facet of the ridgetop path had been deciduous, and although spring wasn’t fairly underway, the path was freed from snow.

I endured a rickety descent—one I hoped to by no means do once more—by elevate in West Eilian Village. By the second weeks’ finish, I stated farewell to Hadyn on the fringe of the Nice Forest.

Because the timber turned regular sized, I felt an enormous launch. Caedryn was two dense forests and a mountain ridge behind me. The contemporary air stuffed my nostrils. I walked fastidiously and casually, noticing the inexperienced buds on the timber. The forest flooring was easy with sparse development, so passage was easy.

Hadyn gave me a crossbow so I may hunt for meals. I carried that and my pack slung over my shoulders. I wore an extra-heavy cloak as a result of my gentle had not recovered sufficient to maintain me heat.

I nonetheless felt mortal.

It took time for scratches to heal. I used to be cautious crossing the bridges and chopping greens. I stepped firmly on the bottom to keep away from spraining my ankles. I drank extra and ate loads, not forgetting that the babe in my womb required me to take action anyway.

Crossing the ridge signaled passing into “wee” Brenin’s realm, as Hadyn had stated. By my estimation, I used to be three weeks from the capital. Brenin and Tiwlip would return residence because the climate warmed. I debated going there. I debated trekking even farther south till I discovered Tarren, Owein’s residence.

No. I turned north towards the coastal plains.

Up forward, by the timber, a fur-covered determine crouched within the underbrush. He fiddled with a knife, and as I approached, he was skinning a fox.

“Do you propose on turning that right into a hat or a pair of gloves?” I requested. “, I by no means appreciated carrying fur. It’s—”

“A rotten carcass you wouldn’t be caught lifeless carrying,” the person stated.

“How’d you realize?”

The person peered from below his cap and wiped his palms on a rag. “Just one particular person has ever criticized my furs. And don’t assume for one second that I’d overlook her voice or her face.”

These blue eyes. I stared. A detailed-cropped beard lined the person’s face, and hair poked out across the cap, practically concealing his face. His coat was thick however worn. His fingertips caught out from fingerless gloves. I acknowledged his knife, the one he stored in his boot.

Even below the rugged exterior, his eyes had been unmistakable.

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