Silenced by Ekaterine Xia

Author:Ekaterine Xia [Xia, Ekaterine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: non-fiction
ISBN: 9781634650052
Publisher: Innamorata Press
Published: 2019-02-07T23:00:00+00:00

~~*~~*~~

I found Xin in my mind, in song, along a quiet, barely noticeable thread.

Ah. Xin, what have you done? I mourned even as I swarmed around the thread to brush my mind against his. Or was I pouring myself into him the way spring tides rushed up the shore and inland at the full moon?

Silence. But I didn’t need a reply in words.

He pushed a small bubble of thought at me, seafoam delicate.

I retreated, letting it into my mind, and let it expand.

Warmth, relief, and love. So much love. Had I worried about overwhelming him with my emotions? His swept along that small thread, almost visibly stretching the bond. If he could do that when the bond was meant to bind me to him...

Another bubble. Another rush of love and the faintest hint of a chide.

I bubbled the feel of a query and scooted it along the thread. Where was he? Who was with him? How were we going to get me out of the castle and back to the sea?

A flurry came back in response, a mix of images and emotions.

Eldest on horseback, his face, so like my mother’s, set in stern lines. Relief attached to the image, along with fragments of Xin’s expeditions with the crown prince and Xin’s gut-deep certainty that Eldest would do what was necessary.

What would be necessary? He was mine to take revenge on, but Eldest could certainly hold him still for me if necessary. Weight him and his court down with all the force the West Seas had to bear.

Kateri, chattering away at him in that way she had. Gratitude twined with frustration, jagged echoes of the faint pain from biting his tongue to keep from snapping at her. She had brought them the news of my abduction and had placed herself in danger to come help me, but would the land dweller never stop speaking?

My thoughts. His thoughts. My every worry and fear. His anger and fear.

The unrelenting tide of us crashing through his head, slamming the very core of him against a rocky shore, and the girl would not stop spilling out her every fear and worry.

The old woman. Suspicious, so very suspicious in how she melted out of empty shadows just as they arrived inside the city gates, in her knowing precisely who they were and what they were there for. Even more suspect was her refusal to speak of anything of substance, saying only that the princess would be safe enough until they came for her.

I studied the impressions Xin had of the old woman. Hooded, robed, and veiled, she was wrapped up almost completely, the only visible clue the long silver braid snaking out from her hood. Her hands, however, were smooth, with only a slight thickness around the joints. Her voice was low and smoky and she spoke with a casual arrogance, but was that really cause for suspicion? I was where the Fates wanted me, after all. If she meant me harm, she could as well leave me where I was.

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