Page 87 of Earthbound

His future lay in Lettle’s hands now. He looked at her. She reminded him of Hady in many ways. She was kind but sharp with her judgements, and capable of so much more than anyone could ever comprehend.

Afa licked his lips and began to read, his memories falling like rain upon his brow.

He wished he could drown in it.

—

I have a way to end the wars with the fae forthwith, but Hady will not hear of it.

‘If we are earthbound our power will be vast,’ I say.

‘The sacrifice, my love, will be too great to bind our souls this way.’

Our souls. For we are entwined.

She winds her arms around my chest, her swollen belly pressing into my back.

I turn her round, so I can see her beauty clearly.

‘The pregnancy has only made you more becoming.’

She smiles. Stop looking at me with thy eyes, she says in my mind.

I will never tire of her voice in my head.

How can I, when you look like you do? I pull her onto my lap and lay a pattern of kisses up her neck. She looks so beautiful in the fraedia light of the sanctuary.

‘You mean to distract me from your spell, I know your ways,’ she says, sighing. ‘Afa, stop.’ She holds me by the jaw. I try and nibble at her wrist, but she pushes me away.

‘I mean it, you cannot do this.’

I lean back, annoyed. ‘Why not? It will fix everything.’

‘The sacrifice, my love. It will be too great.’

‘So many of my people are dying already, I cannot think it will be greater than that.’

She stands up, cradling her belly. The twins are due this summer; my excitement for the birth is as mighty as the spell I want to weave. She walks along the walls of the sanctuary, trailing her hands along a row of books. Not all of the shelves are full, but one day they will be if we are successful in our mission.

‘I was naïve when I made this place,’ she says.

I frown. The sanctuary was beautiful; it was our haven where we ruled over our citizens.

‘I had read a spell that I thought I could adapt without too much cost,’ Hady says. ‘That is the problem with human magic: no matter how hard you think you understand it, you will never truly be able to predict it.’

‘The magic’s tithe was not that great.’ I try to sound soothing but her face is a mask of regret.

‘While the land prospered here, it dried up the river that used to run through the mountainside. Entire hamlets had to relocate, not to mention all the animals that had lived in the river’s depths. The damage is irreparable, Afa.’

I hate to see her wretched. I go to her and wrap my arms around her. She rests her head on my chest.

‘The elvish diviners speak of a prophecy,’ she whispers, her fingers circling the taut skin around her stomach.

Forever the war will rage, until united, the three shall die.

Humans made low, then fae made lower,

Then elves in ignorance, gone is their power,