Had I truly known the magic would take what I loved most, and I bargained anyway? How long had I suspected as we trekked our way toward the Fold?
“She fightsss for her life,” the serpent crooned. “To return to you, the cursssed king. But she doesss not know, doesss she?”
I tensed. “Know what?”
The serpent’s tongue flicked out, tasting the air.
“What you have done?”
The weight of those words crashed into me, harder than any blow.
I said nothing. Couldn’t. My throat closed.
“No ...” I whispered. “She doesn’t.”
The serpent nodded like it had expected as much. “And when she findssss out?” it asked softly. “When she learnssss that it wassssn’t your father nor ssssome cursssse that sssstole your bond, butyou—will she sssstill choose you?”
“I was doing what I had to, to survive,” I snapped. My voice trembled. “For me and Sadie?—”
The serpent’s body coiled tighter, its presence suffocating even in the open air.
“Do you not feel the ache?” it hissed. “The emptinesssss? The pain of a bond ssssevered ... I hear it’ssss agony.”
“Itis,” I growled, louder than I meant. “Of course I do.”
The words ripped out of me like blades. My chest burned. The fury under my skin threatened to surface.
“You musssst not truly feel it,” the serpent said, almost pitying. “Or you would doanythingto regain the bond.”
I swallowed, wincing against the dryness. My mouth tasted of sand and ash.
“Ican’tbring it back,” I said, but even as I spoke, doubt began to grow. “The ley line took it. There’s no going back.”
“But there issss,” it whispered. “Thereissssa way to bring it back.”
It slithered closer, so close now that I could feel the magic bleeding off its skin like steam. “The amulet. You sssstill have it, don’t you?”
“I don’t,” I lied.
The serpent laughed. It wasn’t a sound. It was a sensation, dry and papery and empty. It reminded me of dead leaves cracking underfoot. Of things that would never grow again.
“Liessss,” it hissed, tightening its body again, its golden scales undulating like liquid. It flicked its tongue to taste the air. “Lying doessss not become you, curssssed king. You know where it issss. Even if you don’t carry the piecessss, they are sssstill yourssss. Hidden. Bound. Massssked by blood magic. Forever your burden to bear.”
I stared down at it, my breath catching. I could hear the thrum of my blood in my ears. Every part of me felt too loud. Too still. Toofullof grief and guilt.
“How do you know this?” I whispered.
“I am of the Fold,” the serpent whispered. “Undo the glamour. Find the piecessss. Repair it ... and bring back what wassss losssst.”
I hesitated.
“You don’t understand why ...” I said, voice barely audible.
“But I do. The Fold knowssss everything; I am of the Fold. A bargain to end the endlesssss winter,” it finished, with a slow nod. “And did it work?”
The words struck like a blade driven through the center of my chest.
I faltered.
