Winter's Bride - Candace Wondrak Page 0,3
village.”
Ember nodded, and I waited for her to fetch Sorsha, for them to lace up their boots, and then we were on our way, emerging from the brush and onto the road whose cobblestones had just echoed with thuds from a powerful, fast-running horse.
The sun shined brightly, and even though the sun felt warm on my skin, I couldn’t fight the cold feeling creeping along me, like, somehow, deep down I knew today was about to change everything.
Though I wanted to figure out who the rider was, where they’d gone, Ember and I returned to the house, while Sorsha went back to hers. We found Ma and Pa pacing in the kitchen. At first, I thought this was because of everything with Ember and Sorsha, but then we were told to get dressed in our finest garments.
Ember’s blonde brows furrowed, and she demanded, “Why? If there is a boy here—” She was seconds from telling my parents off when Pa spoke.
“The mayor of town has summoned us all,” he told us, not looking too happy about it. “Anyone with daughters of age who are still maidens must go.”
Still maidens, as in still virgins. Because we were only as valuable as that thing between our legs. Of course. Right. Should’ve known. What I still didn’t understand was why we all had to go, but it wasn’t our place to question. Just shut up and do it, and it would be over quicker.
Ember didn’t get the memo though, for she said, “Why?” We were not at the waterfall for long, although it did take us longer to walk back than it would’ve for the horse riding as if he were running from death itself to meet with the mayor, but still. This was all happening quite fast.
Ma was busy speaking under her breath, still pacing, “I never thought he’d come here. Out of all of the villages in the kingdom, why here? Why us?”
Neither Ember nor I made a move to go change. Ember threw a worried look at me, wordlessly begging me to take charge and get to the bottom of this, so I did. “Ma, Pa, what’s going on? If you will not tell us what we’re walking into, we won’t go.”
“A few days ago, the mayor got word from a raven that he was on his way. A messenger has come to collect,” Ma said, her feet stopping as she whirled to look at us. “I told you the story, when you two were younger. The tale has it, Winter is always in search of a bride, and every twenty-five years, he sends a man to collect a human bride. I never thought…” She paused as she glanced to Pa, her watered-down eyes more grey than blue, her blonde hair lacking the luster mine and Ember’s had. “A part of me always thought it was just a fairytale.”
I remembered the story, and just like Ma, I’d always thought it was just a tale, too. A story parents told their children when they were young to get them to behave and do what good girls should: find a suitable man, get married, and save yourself from the horrors of marrying Winter.
That rider we heard running along the road—it must’ve been Winter’s messenger. Who else could it have been? The season wasn’t right for travelers; the only time we had much travel between the village and the ones surrounding us was in the thick of summer, when you didn’t have to worry about the weather acting up. Days like this? Days like this might start out nice and breezy, if a little chilly, but sometimes the afternoons turned dark and stormy.
Pa took on a stern tone, “Get changed, girls.”
I hooked my arm through Ember’s, dragging her down the hall even though I could tell she didn’t want to go. I pushed her into our shared room, giving her a look. The space we were forced to share wasn’t huge; we had two single beds on opposite walls, along with a wooden dresser for each of us. Her bed was closer to the window, which always helped her sneak out, though I’d pretended not to notice.
“I don’t want to go,” Ember said, folding her arms across her chest. “I won’t.”
“I don’t want to go, either,” I admitted, “but we have to. The mayor knows us. He knows we aren’t wed.” My voice lowered to a bare whisper, and after a glimpse over my shoulder to make sure our parents hadn’t followed us,