25. Briss

I give it a week of desperate, pointless searching before heading back to Alpha Cillian. For someone so organised, I’m turning into a mess. I forget to eat. Walking, exploring all day for the slightest trace of Zena before crashing out. Theh I dream of her quietly shuddering, alone in the caves.

Except this time, no matter how hard I scream or hit the cave walls, she can not hear me. I frequently wake up having punched the ground. Worse, I flailed into the dying embers of the fire. That one really hurt.

The mark she gifted me remains active. The only way I know she hasn’t been killed is the fact that when I touch it, which is almost constantly, I can feel the warmth of her love for me. Whatever has happened, I know that her heart was mine that night.

I had to bribe with everything I had just to get directions to her Fate coven. Weaving my way through endless cornfields, I was ready to head back and strangle the goatherd who gave me directions when I came across a collection of tiny,