Chains of Fate

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

I opened my eyes to a patch of sunlight shining rays of pure, agonizing brightness in my face.

Was I dead?

If that was the case, then this was horrible.

“She’s awake!”

Nope. I was still alive.

I mumbled complaints about the sunlight and turned to see Clarice kneeling next to me. I was on a cushioned mat in a large white tent. “Where—”

“You’re an idiot!” Clarice interrupted before I could go on. “How could you leave me like that?” She gripped the edges of my fleece blanket, her eyes glinting with ferocity.

I sat up and winced, feeling the lump on the back of my forehead. My pendant exploded when it touched the darkness, but why? And what happened to the wolf? Did the centaur kill it? “Sorry,” I said to Clarice. “I had no choice.”

Hadrian appeared from the entrance of the tent—or had he been standing there all along? “You did have a choice, and you chose to sacrifice yourself,” he pointed out, looking down his nose at me. “You are lucky we came in time.”

“‘We’?” I almost snapped the word to him. “Didn’t you abandon us? Where were you when that creature attacked us?”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I heard something in the forest and went to investigate it right before the attack. I came running back, but you had already gone.” He extracted the arrowhead whistle from his blue tunic. “As soon as I heard that howl”—he shivered, as if even thinking of it hurt his mind—“I called the centaurs with this.”

I frowned. “The centaurs? How do you know them? And why do you have that?”

“It is a long story,” he replied, smiling faintly. His brown eyes twinkled. “But I am sure that Dhiren will explain it all to you in due time. Meanwhile, I think you should take a look at the talisman that saved you.” He pointed to my bedside where a piece of black cloth obscured a round object. I unfolded the cloth to see my familiar blue flower pendant. I picked it up carefully. Cracks spread out from the center gem and into the silver metal leaves. It was broken.

Despair crowded my heart. How was I supposed to communicate with Eden now? This magical pendant reinforced our bond, and I wasn’t strong enough to speak to Eden without it yet. It was only in times of high emotion that I could call upon her. I wrapped my hands around the pendant and closed my eyes. I would be forced to depend on my own strength for now until I could fix the pendant.

“That seems to be a strong talisman,” Hadrian remarked. “If you didn’t have that, you—”

“Would have been dead,” Clarice finished viciously. “I know I’ve told you hundreds of times never to do something this stupid. Never.”

I heaved an exasperated sigh. They didn’t seem to realize—or care—that my only communication with Eden had been severed. “Okay. I’m sorry. Now where are we?”

Clarice’s face turned three shades of red before she finally answered, “Centaurs!” and stood abruptly, flipping her emerald cloak as she stormed out of the tent.

I looked at Hadrian. “Centaurs doesn’t really explain anything.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll let you find out for yourself. You deserve that much for the worry you caused that girl.” The gypsy opened the flap of the tent. “There is also someone who wants to see you, but I will let you find that out as well.”

And with that, he exited the tent without another word. What had I done wrong? I had only… Well, I suppose sacrificing myself for Clarice was something she would frown upon. But I did it to save her. Wasn’t that a noble and courageous act? Would she prefer that we died together?