Prologue-A Beginning Through An Ending
Wren
Huntershadalwaystriedto invade our lands.The barrier had been weakening by the year, and no longer could we hide the worst of the evils that lingered in the dark, seeking to infect our world and then the next.An endless cycle of devouring that would take everything in its path lay ahead for us all, and even the Winter Realm—my home and safe haven through the horrors of my life—saw its land and peoplechanged.
There was much battle that lay ahead, and a child would not fare well in the clutches of the deep malevolence that sought to corrupt the entirety of the Winter Realm.Even now, Fierion did battle against the growing dark, seeking to protect a mortal world that had never loved him.Or me, for that matter.
But it had to do better for our daughter.
Fate and the strings that wove through every world from this to the far reaches beyond, and even into the World of Below, tied numerous destinies together.Though I would not see her grow, my child possessed the power of an elemental witch and the Winter King himself.She would line the years of history with her greatness, and some distant day centuries from now, the world would be made all the better for the strength that she brought with her into the realm of fallible mortal men.
“Be safe here, daughter.”I walked to the wooden door, aged and rough with the effects of weather and time.“Bethany will look after you.She will teach you, protect you, and send the love I have in my heart to you each day until my last.”
A day I feared was coming all too soon, thanks to the would-be god that harassed the Winter Realm.
“You must hurry, my queen.The king will be waiting for your return to launch the attack.”
Renmier stood at my back, Fierion lieutenant, and I nodded solemnly.There was little in this world that I dreaded more than walking away from my child.Still, the most terrifying thing would be to watch her harmed under the might of this incomprehensible foe.None of us knew where this “deity”, as he called himself, had come from, but the pain and anguish that coated his blackened being seeped out into the world, turning those loyal to us all in a bid for him to gain more power through blood sacrifice.
Failing to restrain my tears, I wrapped my knuckles on the wooden door, awaiting Bethany’s approach.It did not take long, and she opened up with a look of horror and understanding on her face.She’d foreseen then.One whom I’d trusted for so long, who understood the craft and the ways of the witch better than most, she’d always possessed such keen insight.
“You must protect her.Please.”My words were a beg.“She will carry on.It is set into the fabric of the universe, but she cannot stay with me if she is to do so.”
“Wren,” Bethany croaked, her voice thick with emotion, “I have not seen you in so long.And now this?I have felt it, Wren.I have felt that dreadful malignance infecting the edges of the world.It will be here, too.Not now, not for centuries, but itwillcome.”
“I know.”I had felt it in my bones that the Winter Realm’s stand would not be the last.“She will pass on our blood, the blood of witches and fae, and our line with come to fight it one day.”
Bethany nodded, a mirror of my grim countenance on her lovely face.We knew.We knew, and we understood.
“He calls, my queen.Fierion cannot hold it back for much longer.”
I turned over my shoulder toward Renmier, nodding and pointing toward the tree line coated in a fresh layer of snow.
“Tell him I am on my way.”Renmier nodded, but I stepped forward, reaching up to put my hand on his tall shoulder.“And then get to your human.Do not let Sigurd die to this.Neither of you can be lost.”
Recoiling slightly, Renmier’s brow furrowed deeply as he shook his head.“My queen, I cannot.The king—you—need me.”
“I need you alive to aid Bethany in protecting our daughter.Fierion knows.He understands.”
Silence fell around our small group, a clandestine meeting to uphold the threads of fate.We needed to move quickly, all of us.This would not be the end, not for the faux-god, nor my line.
For my daughter.
Bowing, Renmier concentrated, letting Fierion know I would be returning shortly, and then he met my eyes again, briefly, before he took off into the woods to find the hut he’d been sharing with his human.I turned back to Bethany, depositing my daughter gently into her arms.
“Tell her always that she was loved.That her parent loved herfiercely.”
Bethany could only muster a single nod, a tear sliding down her cheek.“I will.But…what do I call her?”
My mind churned.I’d been pondering it for quite some time now, wanting to give her something to be proud of, to lean on when she felt alone.
“She must be strong, like steel forged into the sharpest blade.As the heat tempers the iron, so too will she be Temperance.”
“Temperance,” Bethany looked down at the baby, a soft smile on her face as I allowed my steps to fade me into the background, “a child of two worlds.I will not fail you, Wren.I swear it.”
But by the time Bethany looked up, I was already dashing through the snow-covered trees back to my Fierion.
One last time.
