The Silver Thread Read Free

seeing things wrong. From what he could tell, it was not the Pazachi who had struck first. It had been his youngest son.
    Talvi took a long time before he replied with the answer that he felt summed it all up. He spoke slowly, carefully, not to insult his father’s intelligence, but to be perfectly clear.
    “The Pazachi…
don’t
…negotiate.”
    “It still doesn’t make sense why Yuri wouldn’t return,” Althea said as she continued dinner preparations with help from the fairies. “Konstantin has always been welcome here; we have never discriminated against him for being a vampire. Why should she stay away?”
    Finn cleared his throat, and began to explain.
    “After we defeated the Pazachi, we discovered that they had created a mechanical portal that ended all portals, so that theirs would be the only one that led anywhere. It was created with some of the strongest black magic I’ve ever encountered, and it’s the reason why Asbjorn and countless others were trapped in other worlds for so long.”
    “And then we smashed it with the diamond from Annika’s ring!” Chivanni interrupted, and his orange wings fluttered with excitement. “Dardis and I broke it apart ourselves!”
    “When it broke, all the missing people came flying out,” Dardis added. “But then poor Annika was pulled into it, and it fell to pieces before any of us could go after her.”
    Talvi felt like someone had twisted a knife in his chest as he heard those words. That cursed moment never got easier, no matter how many times he saw it relived in his mind. Annika’s hands slipping out of his, her face disappearing into a black void. Her expression of terror was his last vision of his new bride, and it haunted him relentlessly.
    “So there we were, bloodied from battle, with the Pazachi prisoners, and the missing people, all crammed in this tiny cave,” Chivanni added. “We told them that the Pazachi were responsible. They were relieved to be back, but some of them were quite distraught.”
    “I can only imagine. There are many worlds I’d never want to be detained unwillingly in,” Ambrose said, and added a few small logs to the hearth fire. “But why hasn’t Yuri come back with you?”
    “We were discussing what ought to be done with the prisoners,” said Finn, setting down his brandy glass. “Some of us were in favor of bringing them here, but there were too many children for them to safely make the journey we just made. Yuri and Konstantin claimed that there ought to be no prisoners taken at all, only executions. They are convinced that for every Pazachi converted back to the true Druid path, another two will rise in their place. Yuri’s exact words were, ‘If it were my choice, I would only show mercy to the young children, and send the rest of them to the afterworld.’”
    “Has she lost her heart? That goes against everything we have taught her to value,” Althea said, wiping her eyes.
    “No one ever claimed it to be a simple task, to rehabilitate the prisoners,” Talvi said, feeling so disgusted that he and his brother should have to upset their parents with such terrible news of their sister. “But it’s the right thing to do, in order to stop this violence. Yuri would rather make them martyrs, and create even more hatred.”
    “Surely she was only speaking in a fit of passion,” their mother tried to reason. “You know how she can say unkind things when she is upset.”
    “She is Konstantin’s future bride now,” Finn explained in a hollow voice, so foreign to him. Normally it was so warm and inviting. “Lines have been drawn, and she stands with him. Before we departed, we knew how much he hungered for Pazachi blood. I believe that he used us as pawns for his own personal gain, because he wanted that cursed mechanical portal to be his and his alone.”
    “He claimed that the so-called ‘worthless pieces’ should be taken back to his lair for study, but we drew swords over it,” said Talvi, with