Saltbound and Bloodsworn (by Allison Franklin) novel Chapter 29

Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sylvan mounted Morias once more, but he did not turn back to the castle. He had one more meeting to attend before he headed back. He guided Morias down a trail and allowed the horse to go at his own leisurely pace. There was no destination in mind. No markers to alert him to the proper direction. All he

ever knew was that he needed to go deeper. Deeper into the woods, past where wolves would run or even dragons would fly overhead, into the darkness.

Sylvan would not be able to find the person he was looking for. No she would find him.

He laid his reins down atop Morias’ neck and stretched his arms out wide so his fingertips would brust, the leaves of the trees bordering the path. Morias snorted, stopping every time a creature would screech or a branch would snap. The horse had a lot of trust for his master, but even he had his doubts when they’d venture into the forbidden areas where tree branches turned to briars with five-inch-long spears and the earth often turned to sink holes or

quicksand with no one in hearing range to heed your cries for help.

Sylvan could sense her before he saw her. Morias’ instincts were only a beat behind his. The horse halted, and his head whipped to the right, where Sylvan’s eyes were already trained on the enigma. He had mistook her for a mirage the first time he’d spotted her. It was the night of his first shift. The transition had been painful as Sylvan fought the darkness that surged with his baser self: a fighthe refused to relinquish, even this many years later. When his wolf had finally won out that night, it had taken him into the woods, past where his father’s men would follow, as if it was his intent to do what Sylvan’s

human side never could.

She had appeared out of nowhere on that night, too. In the center of the deer path he’d taken. His wolf didn’t see her as a frail, child-like woman, but another obstacle to knock from his path. She’d raised her palm and flicked her wrist. A tree ended his reckless tearing through the woods… Well, eight or hine trees stopped him. It was at the final tree, where his wolf lay with his back against the trunk that she’d walked up to him. She’d observed him with her

arms wrapped around the tree.

Pale, white skin, glowing white hair, and eyes as black as his own. Her clothes hung off her frame as though she’d once been far larger. She’d raised a thin brow and sighed in disappointment.

“I wasn’t expecting you to come tumbling through the woods as quickly as you did,” she’d said. “Your wolf is powerful, angry.”

Excellent observation, Sylvan had thought while his wolf growled and yelped.

“You’re not badly injured. It will heal within a week. So long as you let yourself back over to your master so that I may speak with him.”

When his wolf refused, she’d sighed again and tapped the tip of his nose. With a yelp and a shudder, Sylvan was able to shift back to the skin he could trust The process was painful, but far quicker as the magic she’d wielded to force the shift did not leave room for warring. He’d stood before her naked when she’d revealed her name: Merissa. He’d recognized it immediately. It was on a list of names he’d learned as an early child. One of a dozen. The only oracles known to exist on the earth. Their power? Greater than that of the fae but far less dangerous. They were adept at hiding, only appearing when a god or deity granted them a purpose. Conduits for gods, is what Sylvan had been told. Foreseers of the future. Manipulators of minds and destiny. Sylvan had taken several steps back. What could an oracle possibly want with him?

“Stay away from me,” he’d warned, though he had absolutely no way to defend himself in his naked, recently shifted state. He could barely stand for the shaking of his knees. If she could force a shift from a noble alpha bloodline, what else was she capable of?

“Our stories have become interwoven, Prince Sylvan of Eredhal,” Merissa stated calmly, not pursuing him, merely continuing to hug the tree “You have as

much ability to run from this as I do.”

Sylvan had tried. By the gods, he’d tried. But she would always be there when he least expected it She always carried a message, a warning, a direction.

Even when he tried to ignore what she said, it always came to fruition. Perhaps not in the way she foretold, but some twisted version of it. As had been the

case with the war in Tridea.

Sylvan dismounted from Morias, latched him to a tree, and hobbled his feet. The horse was prone to spook this deep in the woods. He made his way toward

the creature who appeared to be washing some clothing in a small creek.

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Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty Nine

to you far longer to return than was expected,” Merissa stated, her back still turned, her body stooped over the creek as the washed blood from a rag

“I wanted to see.”

“You wanted to test,” Merissa interrupted, stopping her movements to sigh and stand up. She faced him and he saw anger in her eyes, anger that had only worsened over the years. “After all these years, you still do not believe in the inevitability of my messages. You think you have some free will, some ability to change things that shall come to pass. I grow tired of your doubt,” she spat, turning back to the creek.

“I killed Cecelia, didn’t I?” he growled.

Merissa scoffed. “After years of war. So many lives lost. So much devastation. For what? The hope thot a man would change?”

“I may not have free will, but others still do. Hope is not something to be scoffed at or insulted. Men can change; they can evolve. I have to believe that. I had to give Slade the chance to save his kingdom, his queen.”

“Men can change, yes. Monsters cannot,” Merissa said. She threw the rag to the ground, obviously tired of trying to rid it of the stain of red.

“Why didn’t you tell me I would find her?”

“She is your fated mate, is she not?” Merissa said, not needing him to elaborate what he meant. She faced him and placed her hands on her bony hips. “It is In the name that it is destiny to meet her. If only you’d listened to my warning, you may have met her all the sooner before her hatred of you had a chance

to take root and flourish.”

Sylvan clenched his jaw and turned away. “Just tell me what I am to do now.”

“Now you wish for me to deliver orders?” Merissa asked, her high, musical voice filled with amusement. “Now that you have found your mate, you are so

quick to wish for an excuse to flee?”

“I cannot claim her,” he said. “And you know this.”

“I know no such thing. If Selene did not wish a mate for you, she would not have granted you one.”

“Unless she wanted me to have one as punishment. To watch me suffer as she dies for what the gods placed on my shoulders,” Sylvan argued.

Merissa chuckled. “She will die, Sylvan,” she announced with finality as though discussing a crop would not survive after months of drought. “But you have two choices: you can claim her now and save the world from her wrath or you can continues you are now and thousands, if not millions will perish across

the continent before she is ripped from this world.”

Gooseflesh rose along Sylvan’s skin, Fear tickled the base of his spine and traveled outward along his nervous system. “What?”

Merissa sighed and ran her fingers over a few leaves beside her. “You know I don’t appear to you for purposes of meaningless conversation. I’ve been given a

message.”

Sylvan took a step forward. “What is it they want of me now?”

Merissa’s black eyes snapped up. “You’ve already been given the message, Prince Sylvan of Eredhal. You have found your mate. Claim her. Set aside your pride and your fear. There are far greater powers at work here than a few angered alphas set on revenge. They would not have gifted her to you if you were not worthy. They would not have placed you through these trials to make you stronger, to test your resolve, to hone your skills if not for some purpose.”

As she spoke, Merissa stepped closer, the grass beneath her feet withering and dying as the foreboding in her voice made even the plants she touched

become lost.

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Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty-Nine

Hem her, now, before it is too late. Your new objective is not war, fighting, command, or subjugation…” Merissa stood before him now, and he realized hir’d never stood this close to her before. She seemed almost iridescent. “It is to protect and empower. Heed my warning. Prince Sylvan, Mate Killer. For if

you try to test your doubt here and now?” Merissa shook her head slowly. “You will most certainly regret it.”

Without another word, Merissa turned and walked away. With each step, her image faded until she was no longer visible. Sylvan growled and threw his

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