Today is Bonus Scene 2: In which Tristan discovers revenge doesn't heal a broken heart, and there's a strange soccer mom on the loose. This falls after chapter four in The Restorer.
-->
Tristan:
“She warned me.” I tossed back the
last swig of clavo and wiped out the mug before tucking it away on a recessed
shelf. Not that there was any real need to clean up. The place probably
wouldn’t see another person for seasons to come. I was stalling, and I knew it.
Kieran leaned
against the open doorway, squinting into the distance. “Who warned you of
what?”
“My mother. She
tried to stop me.”
“We all tried to
stop you. You did what you had to.”
I slung my pack
over one shoulder and met Kieran at the door. “She warned me that revenge
wouldn’t change anything. She begged me to stay in Braide Wood.”
Kieran shook his
head. “You’ve got new things to worry about. By the way, she headed toward the
center of town.”
I sighed. Not the
direction I needed to go. “Of course she did.” I followed Kieran outside and
pulled the door closed.
“I still say you
should leave her here and get back to Lyric for some damage control. The
Council has probably figured out by now that you aren’t where you’re supposed
to be.”
More regret
slammed into me. I hadn’t cared about what my mother needed. I hadn’t cared
about the guardians in my command. I hadn’t cared about anything but tracking
the Rhusican. Every day I’d woken with desperate hope that tore my insides like
a rizzid’s claws. Hope that confronting the Rhusican would bring me answers.
Hope that justice would ease my pain. Hope that I’d be able to talk to the One
again without shaking with rage. And now…now I just
felt empty.
“Hey.” Kieran
shoved me, a little too hard to be playful. “Stop it. Second guessing makes you
weak.”
I swatted him
aside and tightened my sword belt. “It’s not weakness to analyze my choices.”
“Choices? You
didn’t have choices. You told me he attacked you.”
“He did. But it
was still my sword that took his life. I could have—”
“Let him kill
you?” Kieran spit the words out through a clenched jaw.
I took a step
back. “What are you so mad at me for?”
“Because you’re an
idiot. He did more than enough damage, but you insist on making it worse by
torturing yourself.” Kieran raked a hand through his dark hair, haggard lines
deepening on his face.
Another person I
hadn’t considered. He’d been devastated too. My shoulders slumped. “I wish I
could bring her back.”
Pain flashed in
Kieran’s eyes. He turned away and cleared his throat. “Go track down your
protégé before she wanders into a clay pit. Although, come to think of it, that
would solve a few problems.” With a dry chuckle, he strode down the street,
heading toward Hazor.
I shook my head,
picked up the extra pack I’d assembled, and walked toward the center of town to
find Susan. Unlike Kieran, I could dare to hope for a Restorer. After all, what
else could explain what we’d both seen? Her crumpled, lifeless body had healed.
Still, she seemed awfully small and confused to be of much help. If I were
still on speaking terms with the One, I’d ask Him what her appearance meant.
But for now I’d hope someone in Braide Wood could figure out what to do with
her.
1 comment:
Squeee! Thank you for sharing this! :-)
Post a Comment