Tempting Fate

Nineteen: The Turbulent Past

"You've failed us," Tieran said, staring down at her from his spot on the bow of the ship. His black pants and long sleeve shirt made him blend into the dark background of the night sky. Only the stars, bright in the distance, separated him from the distant horizon.

Brynn's muscles refused to keep her upright. She collapsed to her knees on the sand, her fourteen-year-old body unable to hold her any longer. Her shoulder screamed in pain, the kind that made her vision flicker with any movement.

"Let me try again," She begged the man who was her mother's right hand. "Please, I know I can pass."

Her breaths came out in ragged gasps as her body tried to work past all the damage.

Beneath her, jagged rocks and broken sea shells dug deep into her skin. Waves crashed against the bow of the boat, rocking Tieran in a steady motion above her.

"You know the rules," Tieran told her. "There are no exceptions."

No exceptions. Her mother had warned her. Told her she could not fail the Test. And yet, when it had come down to it, despite how much she'd trained, her body had failed her. All the blood, the tears, the agony she'd put herself through in her youth had not been enough.

"Please, don't leave me here," she begged Tieran again.

Tieran only shook his head. Even along this foreign shore, as he exiled her from the Isles, his expression was emotionless. He was her mother's right hand, had been as much a father figure to her as one could be, and even helped teach her how to shoot a gun and wield a dagger. Yet none of that mattered.

Because she hadn't been good enough.

And that meant her people didn't need her.

"I'll do better. I-I'll train more. Let me take it again, please."

Her vision wavered. Dizzy, she fell to her side, right on her dislocated shoulder.

"You're no longer welcomed on the Northern Isles." Tieran said. Then, softer, "I'm sorry, Brynn."

As the boat took off, fighting the seas to return to her homeland, Brynn sobbed through her pain. "Please!" she called out to the sea. Wind whipped her hair around her. She coughed, a wet, hacking noise, her body shuddering, even as darkness clouded her vision.

"Please! Don't leave me here!"

But the ocean only took her words. And gave her nothing in return.

Safety and security were powerful motivators. People would do almost anything for the security of knowing they could protect themselves and those they loved.

Brynn's people were without any security right now. Without a wielder to defend the Northern Isles, without Darren Weatherfeld's descendant, her people were left defenseless against any attack from shifters or other wielders.

And that lack of security made them dangerous.

Her people had exiled her. And yet, despite being left behind and discarded, she knew one thing to be true: if she found Darren Weatherfeld's descendant, if she could bring the controller, a wielder who could control magic itself, back to her people, then they would have to let her come home.

They needed Brynn. Even if they didn't know it.

If she brought Arietta home to the Northern Isles, her people would finally be proud of her.

She would be a hero.

Still at the computer in the cafe in North Cape Town, Brynn eased out a breath and dug further into the files flagged by the search program. There was so much to go through, and yet, she needed to be attentive to each one.