Page 104 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
Until the age of ten, she had seen the world as clearly as anyone else; the colours of the court, the shifting light through leaves, the faces of those who loved and feared her.
Until her father, the king, traded her sight to a god.
After that, the world was taken from her. Faces, skies, distances…all gone. She had been forced to relearn how to exist within a void, to move through space without certainty, to trust hands and voices instead of her own eyes. The darkness had been merciless at first. But time, stubbornness, and the unwavering presence of Elowen and Rowan had shaped her into something formidable.
Unstoppable.
Her eyes had been stolen from her.
And in return, Rio had been given something else.
The power to see the realms of gods.
There are rumours that gods will marry within their own families to grow more powerful. I don’t think this is true, for they gain power precisely the opposite way. By marrying into other realms.
However, I wouldn’t put it past them the killing of a sibling or a child to gain power.
Tabitha Wysteria
‘Shouldn’t you be making for the castle?’ Kage asked, stepping closer to Bryn. The wolverian king had been travelling for days across the snow, though the terrain had begun to soften beneath their feet, the ice surrendering at last. In the distance, Kage could make out the vast mountain range that marked the border between the Kingdom of Snow and the Kingdom of Fauna. It was jagged and ancient. Unforgiving. There were easier crossings, he knew, but they lay far to the south.
‘Caldwell’s most likely already taken da castle,’ Bryn replied, his attention fixed on the looming peaks ahead, his eyes narrowing as if he might will the stone itself to part.
‘And you do not intend to take it back?’
Bryn slowed, then paused altogether, casting a sideways glance at Kage. ‘First I need to find me brotha Eirwen.’
‘And you believe he is on that mountain?’ Kage’s voice did not change, nor did his expression.
Bryn huffed a breath that might almost have been a laugh. ‘Didn’t think ya capable of sarcasm, Kage Blackburn.’
‘I’m not.’
Bryn sighed, the sound heavy with exhaustion. ‘Truth is, I’ve no idea where Eirwen might be. But he wouldn’t have stayed on wolverian lands, not with Caldwell hunting for him. Me guess is he headed towards da Fae. And da closest city to this stretch of land is Velunthar.’
Kage nodded and set off once more, his steps quiet against the softening snow—until he halted, watching as Bryn began to gather fallen branches and dry twigs for a fire. Kage tilted his head, glancing up through the bare limbs of the trees, and felt the familiar pull tighten in his chest. Evening. Of course. Dusk always came too quickly. He was only ever permitted these borrowed hours beside Bryn, only the mercy of night.
‘I’ve left markings on da trees for ya,’ Bryn said, dropping his collected wood into a rough pile. ‘So when ya return at night, ya can find me.’
Kage knelt and arranged the kindling with practised hands, coaxing flame from spark until the fire caught and breathed warm light into the cold. ‘Do you not ever wonder where I go?’ he asked quietly.
He heard Bryn sigh before he looked up, saw the wolverian king lower himself to the ground opposite the fire, its glow painting gold across his weary features.
‘I did, at first,’ Bryn admitted. ‘But now…’
‘You don’t care,’ Kage finished softly.
‘Of course I care.’ Bryn’s voice sharpened, steel cutting through the calm. ‘But if ya haven’t told me, then ya must have yer reasons.’
Kage’s chest tightened. He wanted to tell him. He wanted to tear the truth from his own throat and lay it bare between them. His lips parted, the confession trembling on the edge of speech, but then he saw Bryn’s eyes. That endless blue, fractured and hollowed by loss, by a grief so vast it seemed to eclipse the world.
And Kage could not do it. Could not be the one to shatter what little remained.
So he swallowed the truth and let it sink back into silence, even as it lodged like a blade in his heart. He would carry it alone, even if it meant Bryn grew to resent him, little by little, night after night.
‘Ya don’t have to come with me,’ Bryn said, nudging another branch into the fire until the flames leapt higher, crackling their approval.
‘Do you not wish me to?’ Kage asked quietly. He held his breath, hope a fragile thing fluttering in his chest, foolishly wishing Bryn might laugh and dismiss the question altogether. Of course he wanted him there.Of course.And yet Kage had learnt all too well that reality was rarely so kind, and people seldom said the words one longed to hear.
