Threads of Fate

Chapter 8 ~ Uninvited But Not Unwanted

    Tissaia returned to her own room after her brief trip to Azael's, but she didn't have to wait there long before Talarion knocked on the door. She answered it, already prepared. The few belongings she was bringing along were stuffed into a travel pack and a satchel.

    The former was firmly situated on her back while the satchel dangled from her shoulder. She also had a quiver of arrows looped around her hips and the bow her parents didn't know she'd smuggled along was slung across her torso, resting atop her pack for now.

    Talarion appraised her with a hard eye, taking note of her boots and the tunic and pants she wore instead of a gown. Her hair was neatly braided, same as his. He gave an approving nod and stepped aside, letting her exit the room, before his gaze darted to her bow.

    "How did you manage to sneak that along without me noticing?" He chuckled.

    Tissaia grinned. "I can't reveal all my secrets, can I? After all, you didn't tell me about your daggers."

    She gestured to the familiar blades sheathed at her brother's hips, slender and curved to resemble the fangs of a beast, and she knew he carried more than just those two. She'd never been able to figure out all of her brother's hiding spots for his blades.

    The leather suit he wore seemed specifically designed to hide them, with its reinforced paneled layers. He was also wearing a cloak, but it was slung about him in a manner that had it falling down his back in two separate folds, almost giving him the illusion of lowered wings.

    "You know I don't go anywhere without them," Talarion replied. "But we should hurry. Kaius is already outside, and I heard voices in Mother and Father's room."

    "This way." Tissaia veered away from the main corridor, beckoning for her brother to follow. Talarion knit his brows and shot her a questioning look even as he followed. "We can take the servants' passages," she explained.

    "Are you sure you know which ones to take?"

    She nodded. "Azael showed them to me when we were younger."

    "When? I didn't know that."

    "As I said, I can't reveal all my secrets." Talarion only shook his head and followed her into the secluded passage.

    It wasn't difficult to trace out the path she intended to follow, as it was the one she and Azael had most commonly used all those years ago. These passages were also how she'd managed to follow him down to the training room undetected after his mother's death.

    Her heart clenched with a brief stab of pain recalling the memories, and the note she'd left in his room. Would he ever find another female who could do what she had done that night? She had let him rage, unflinching at the bolts of magic that splintered wooden targets and melted entire weapon racks.

    She didn't run from the waves of pure energy that had pulsed throughout the room, but for some reason left her unaffected even though she hadn't shielded herself. She hadn't tried to stop him from smashing his fist through every surface it could find, even when his knuckles were bloody and bruised.

    When Gaelen came down and discovered him, she had warned the male to leave him be, but Gaelen had ignored her warnings and tried to force Azael to stop. That ended with both of them battered and bleeding, and had left the permanent slight ridge on Azael's nose from where it had been broken.

    Gaelen left the moment he realized he wouldn't get through to his friend and had tried to persuade her to come with him, but she'd refused. She had only stood there, watching, as Azael stared after his friend. She could still see the wild light flickering within his pale blue eyes, still hear his sporadic breaths and the hard swallow after he wiped blood from his nose.