A Million Roads to Nowhere

A Statue Made of Gold

A couple nights after the storm finally lets up, Patrick wakes up to find Lena missing from his bed. Confused by the lack of warmth, he feels around for her body but all he grabs onto is a mess of cold bed sheets. He yawns, figuring it must be time to start the day if Lena has already gotten up.

He combs his fingers through his hair and changes his shirt before going to the dining hall. Most of the soldiers have cleared out since the storm has calmed down, but it's still crowded and full of background noise that he tunes out. One of the tables has a basket of bread rolls on it, so he grabs some of those, scanning the area for his friends.

He spots Signe in the corner of the room, sat on the floor balancing her drawing book and a bowl of oatmeal on her lap. Patrick goes to her and plops down beside her, offering out an extra bread roll, which she takes with a smile.

"Good morning," she says, setting aside her stick of charcoal.

"Morning. Have you seen Lena at all? When I woke up, she was gone."

"I haven't."

"She never wakes up this early."

"She's probably with Isla," Signe offers, popping a piece of bread into her mouth.

Once he finishes eating with Signe, he scans the dining hall one last time before searching around for Isla, who isn't with Lena in her room, so Patrick figures she's with Lady Clementine and decides not to disturb them. He goes to the medical rooms, where he finds Aodhan, but no William and no Lena.

Maybe William got her to go outside, he thinks, cheering up a bit. Lena hadn't wanted to go outside the day it stopped storming, but the snow has steadily begun to melt since then. It would be good for her if she got out under the sun.

He walks around the outskirts of the castle, ankle deep in snow, until he turns into the courtyard, where the walkway has been shoveled. A light layer of snow covers all the statues and decorations and the stone path is slippery with ice. As he walks through the turns, he catches faint sounds in the distance.

Is that crying? he wonders, trailing after the sound as panic begins to rise up.

He walks until he sees a bright flash of gold amid the snow. He walks until he sees William with his face in his hands, sobbing, standing before a golden statue that Patrick instinctively knows is Lena, but the recognition doesn't reach his brain for a few seconds. When it does, he breaks into a sprint.

"What happened?" Patrick wails. "What happened? What happened?"

Lena is sat on the edge of the frozen fountain, one arm stiff at her side with the curled one in her lap. Set in the loose grasp of her fingers is a small red vial. Patrick's eyes drift to this, the one spot of color in her golden hand. Besides her clothes, every part of her body is gold, captured in a position she can never move from.

At first, he feels nothing. Then, he feels everything at once as all the shades of despair crash into him like a snowstorm or a tidal wave or a lightning strike. It doesn't feel like dying- he knows what that's like. This is worse.

"What happened?" Patrick whispers, reaching out a trembling hand to cup her golden cheek, metal cool against his fingers. "Did she- what h-happened... what did you..."

William's voice shakes and he sniffs, barely able to get the words out. "M-mab gave her- gave her a poison for- for Isla and she-"

"You- you knew she had it?"

"She didn't want to be alone and she-"

A choked noise escapes Patrick's throat and his knees feel weak, as if he might lose his balance. He stares at Lena's golden face, expression caught in one of solemn perplexion, fingers slowly sliding from her cheek as he moves to turn around.