Remember, everything will happen for a reason.
He wished he could forget her clear, calm gaze as she had spoken those words, that he could blot out the foreknowledge she was giving him. Every letter he broke open on the appropriate date felt like another knife slipped between his ribs.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
It was almost as if she spoke it aloud, as if she’d seeped her power into the paper and ink to whisper in his mind as he read. But it couldn’t change the fact that three of his brothers were going to die and he knew of it. Knew and couldn’t stop it.
Don’t forget. I’m with you.
She closed every letter the same way. He knew it was meant to be a comfort, but he couldn’t bear to think that unseen Luthien’s eyes watched as her son died and her home was destroyed. He couldn’t bear the thought that he had to participate in it under her sorrowful gaze.
But he followed her instructions to the letter, melting away in the confusion and chaos to find the twins.
Only one twin.
He wanted to scream, but he forced it back between his teeth, caging it up inside his ribs where it flailed and tore him until he was nearly gasping with the pain of it. She had warned him that he would not be able to save both, but it had not prepared him for it.
