Winter's Bride - Candace Wondrak Page 0,6

with the messenger was the last thing I wanted. It was as if the messenger had chosen the wrong girl, the one he knew would hate it the most.

For she would. Ember would hate being married to Winter. Her name was Ember, for goodness’s sake. She didn’t like men or the bit dangling between their legs; she liked Sorsha. She was going to run away with Sorsha, try to claim her own happiness in life, something I knew I would never get.

But if this messenger took her, Ember would never be happy. There would be no learning to love her husband, not when she wanted the very opposite. A woman by her side, not a man. Never a man.

As the other girls returned to their families, my family stepped forward, and Sorsha tried running over, but her mother was quick to latch onto her arm to stop her. I was certain Aela was relieved her daughter would no longer be running around with Ember.

“No,” Ember spoke, shaking her head. “No, I—”

Once the messenger chose, it wasn’t like you could deny him. His word was as good as Winter’s, but that wouldn’t stop my little sister. Nothing would, for this was quite literally the worst hand fate could deal to her.

The messenger stood close, and even though his eyes were shrouded in shadows, I knew he stared at Ember, at us and our family, at how she tried to fight it. I knew he judged us. Of course he did, but that was fine, because I judged him, too—what kind of being could ride into a village and steal a girl every twenty-five years? Who would be okay with doing that?

Tears formed in my sister’s eyes, and as I watched them fall, as I listened to my parents try to comfort her, attempting to convince her it would all be fine, I knew what I had to do. Out of the two of us, Ember had more of a future left to fight for. Me? I’d give up on finding true happiness in this town.

I had no idea if this would work, but I didn’t care.

“Take me.” The two words came out softly at first, so softly the only person who heard them was Ember. When my sister met eyes with me, as I watched another tear cascade down her cheek, I said it louder, “Take me instead of her.”

Both my parents were shocked, and they could not stop staring at me, nor could they shut their mouths. It was like me offering to take my sister’s place came out of the blue, like they never expected me to be so selfless.

Selfless. Selfish. It really depended on how you looked at it.

The man in silver armor was silent as he stepped before me, as he examined me. I held my head high, refusing to be the meek girl he probably wanted me to be. Beside me, Ember was busy tugging at the waistline of my dress, whispering various warnings, trying to convince me to take it back, to let her be stolen off and married to Winter.

No. Not Ember. She would find her own happiness, even if it meant she had to run away from this boring village with her love. Me? Well, if anyone was going to spend the next twenty-five years with a cold god, it might as well be me.

The messenger nodded once. “Very well. I will take you instead.”

The mayor appeared uneasy, as if he didn’t know what to say, not after that. “Morana, daughter of—” Whatever little speech he was going to say was interrupted by the messenger grabbing me and pulling me away from my family, away from Ember and Ma and Pa. “Surely you don’t plan on leaving now?” he asked, stunned as he watched the messenger tug me along.

I let him, because at this point, there was nothing else I could do.

“We must celebrate, er…” The mayor stopped as the messenger’s white, ethereal horse galloped to the town center. No harness, no saddle, no reins. Nothing at all to control the horse or make the journey a somewhat comfortable one.

Although, when the horse got closer, I think I understood why.

The beast wasn’t like the horses we had in town. It was bigger, its mane and tail thicker. Its eyes were a bright, vibrant blue, and they seemed to stare right through you, as if the horse had a mind of its own, and it willingly chose to follow the orders of the messenger.