Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 289: On What the Future Holds

Thank you to my beta reader and editor, GlassThreads!

Toren Daen

Aurora wept for a long time. Her fire-glint tears singed my already decimated robes, mixing with the blood as the embers were washed away. I held her close, staring off into the distance as I acted as the anchor I was.

But as poignant as this moment was, it couldn't last. Not here in this forest, where danger still reigned. I gently pushed the shade away, massaging her shoulders as I looked her in her broken eyes. My hands trembled as I looked at those soul-scars.

Burned, I thought angrily. Burned from trying to hold her son.

"I can't stay here, Aurora," I said quietly, dreadfully aware of my surroundings. "I know you need me, but it needs to wait until we're safe."

My bond's tired, broken eyes washed over me, noting my exhaustion and wounds. She opened her mouth to say something, but paused when I opened my mind.

Aurora and I never shared memories. We shared everything else: thoughts, emotions, fears, desires, loves. But memories were always the sacred boundary that we never crossed. We'd both experienced far, far too much to risk those.

But after our banishment from the Hearth, I'd realized something crucial. We were all we had. My illusions of family and belonging in that other place fell like dust through my grasping fingers, and all I had left was my bond. The woman who would never see the skies again.

She alone joined me in my banishment. She alone took the steps she needed to, even as it pierced her very soul.

As I moved through the forest, I allowed my memories of the past week or so to flicker across our bond in snippets. I showed her the aftermath of the Breaking. She saw Lusul playing his violin for his lover, then how I'd discovered Nico and Cadell's presence on this continent.

I didn't show her my full fight with Seris. I wouldn't show anyone else that. But from the slow trickle of my memories and emotions, I knew she could put together the pieces.

I was already moving, slipping through the trees as I wove my way toward Cylrit. The forest was unnaturally quiet in a way that sent shivers down my spine. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I waited for the snap of a branch or the whisper of a breath that might tell me Windsom was still watching, waiting to tear out my throat.

My bond took solace in my memories as I moved closer to my destination. I could feel it over our tethered souls. Every moment she spent thinking about my fight with Taci and conversations with Rinia and Sylvie was a moment she wasn't overwhelmed with how alone and directionless she felt.

I gritted my teeth as I brushed against those pained undertones. I understood them far, far too well.

Keep your focus forward, Toren, I told myself. Always forward.

When my bond finally processed all the memories I'd sent her way, she remained silent. Her shade hovered at my side like a haunting ghost, her gaze distant as I flitted from tree to tree. She kept her emotions sheltered and shaded as she worked to process it all.

"You emerged victorious over an asura," she said eventually, turning to look at me with her hollow eyes. I caught a glimmer of subdued pride there as she tried to create a mask of what should be. "I am proud of you, my son."

My son. Those words flowed through my mind like cool spring water, soothing a terror I hadn't known had been festering.

I'd borne a nameless fear. A worry and terror so deep and great that I hadn't been able to grant it shape, so I'd kept it formless and indistinct in my subconscious. But as Aurora said those words—as she meant them—I stuttered to a stop for a moment, pressing my hand against a nearby tree for support.