Darkness carved in bone

Chapter 45

Helen

The snow had drizzled constantly from the skies, and the slow and carefree dance of the snowflakes somehow managed to calm Helen's relentlessly beating heart. At least for a moment. Her eyes felt heavy as she gazed at the last sunset. She tried to memorize it, absorb it into her skin, map every color and glimmer that she could spot. She tried to inhale each vibrant ray the sun sent for her. But as the sun slipped closer and closer to the horizon, her heart sped up in her chest again. She would have to say goodbye now. Say goodbye to the sun, because tonight she might die. Tonight, the sun might be banished from ever rising again.

Terror flashed inside her, as she started reciting the prophecy, then the rhyme she had been dreaming about. Her own low voice became a calming balm to her unease, calming her uneven breathing until the sun vanished behind the horizon, and the night began. A hollowness filled her as she stared out into the darkening horizon.

She was no closer to figuring out anything, but she still believed that she would know what she needed to know, when the time was right. She exhaled as she rubbed her sore cheek with cold fingers. She was sure a black bruise had formed where Mørk had slapped her. The stiffness and ache were an uncomfortable and constant reminder of what he had tried to do to her. Of what he had done. Nausea bobbled in her stomach at the thought of his body pressing against hers. She sighed and tried to concentrate on how he would be dead tonight. She knew he would die, and that was the only consolation she had right now.

She tried to think of Ten, tried to say goodbye to him, like she had just said to the sun, but she couldn't. It was too painful to think that she might already have seen him for the last time before she died. Her heart ached as she tried to visualize him, how his smile had beamed. How his fingers felt like when they touched her skin, how her heart leapt at his touch. How he had made her heart swell and burn with desire and love. How his corn-blonde hair had looked so lovely in the darkness. How his green-blue eyes had shined when he had looked at her.

She could not say goodbye to him. Her frail heart would never stop fighting for him, and the world she wanted for them both.

She chanted the rhyme, her mind suddenly alert to the last line, "Remember you are not alone, only together will the curse be broken."

Did that mean she needed Ten to break the curse? That they could only do it together? Her heart wanted so badly for that to be true, because that might mean she would get to see him again. Maybe the faiths of the world would intervene on her behalf and let her see Ten one last time. She needed to hear his dark voice one more time. She needed him.

A single tear fell as she thought of Ten, her heart heavy.

She looked one last time at the horizon, the sky already too dark, and dried the tear away with a clammy hand. There was still a way, there was still a small sliver of hope that she could figure this out and save them all. She had to cling to that hope and believe that she would find the strength she needed to go through this night.

Her hand went to the small bump in her skirt, to the pouch where the tokens were. She had not dared to take the pouch out since she had been imprisoned, afraid that someone would discover them and take them from her. Now, that all was coming to an end regardless, she took the pouch in her hands as she sat down and let them all fall to the ground. They scattered across the floor in front of her, her eyes surveying them all. Her attention went first to the wooden carving of the moon and the crown. Ten's tattoo. The one he carried over his chest. The one she had kissed and traced the linings of so many times. Her mind went to the first night she met him, and the smile he had given her the first time they had seen each other, even though he had planned to kidnap her at the time. Her heart burned for a moment at the thought of his vibrant smile.