Finding Destiny -- monthly bonus snippet

Lydia Nic Fionn gently kissed her sleeping son’s forehead and tucked a stray lock of hair behind one of his ears. He didn’t stir. Luke was seven months old, and like every Nic Fionn for the past decade and a half, his cheek was absent of the blessing of the Faith. They’d thought their spell dead, until the Refujeyo spy showed up.

But now, there was hope.

“Mummy has to go, little flower,” she murmured. “But I’ll be back. And then everything will be alright.”

She stood up and wiped her eyes clear, determined not to cry. This was the closest thing she could give anybody to a goodbye, and it would have to be enough. It would be enough. She couldn’t even tell her husband, lest he be found culpable when the town found her missing. She didn’t even dare write him a note – it would give away that she’d escaped the town instead of merely gone to work early, and cost her her head start.

But the town was dying without its spell, and something had to be done. The Mac Fionn bloodline had already escaped its borders; her leaving was the lesser of two evils. Everyone would understand that.

Fionnrath was a tight community, and the crime rate was almost non existent beyond petty shoplifting. Lydia’s brother in law Bruce thought nothing of leaving the keys in his car overnight. She stole across a couple of lawns to his garage and got in the car, praying that the sound of the engine wouldn’t wake anyone, or at least wouldn’t prompt investigation. Fionnrath really wasn’t the kind of town where people tended to drive around at all hours of the night.

“Lili?”

Lydia froze halfway through putting the key in the ignition. The one person she’d dreaded running into the most. “Hi, Anna.”

“What are you doing?”

Lydia pulled an unconvincing smile on her face. “Just… a prank?”

Her sister raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

“How the hell did you guess that?”

“You know I can always read you. But you can’t do this.”

“I have to.”

“What about Sean? He needs his mother!”

“He needs a future! This place is dying without the Faith, Anna, you know that as well as I do! We could barely hold on pretending, but how bad do you think it’s going to get when word gets out that Fionnrath have our spell? And it will get out! We’re lost, adrift, slowly wasting away deprived of the foresight that has guided us for so long. We have a lost sister out there refusing to come back, because she was raised by those outsiders and has no idea of her town, her family, her legacy! What are we supposed to do, stand around and let that happen? None of us will have anything if I don’t go out there and bring her home.”

“You know you’re not allowed to leave the town. Send your husband. Or mine. Or – ”

“It has to be someone of Fionn’s blood. You know there’s no way she’ll listen to anyone else.”

“You know the penalty for leaving.”

“The bloodline’s already out, so it’s not like anybody leaving could make anything worse. All will be forgiven when I return with our lost sister and the town’s greatest treasure.”

“And if it isn’t forgiven?”

“Then… then it’ll be worth it.”

“Worth it, to leave Sean without a mother? Do you hear yourself?”

“It won’t come to that. But even if it did – and it won’t – I still won’t regret giving up everything I have to give my son a future.”

“Lili, this is madness! I’m not going to stand by and watch you do this!”

“Oh? What are you going to do, then?”

Anna glared through her tears, but didn’t reply. They both knew that there was nothing she could do. If she caused a scene, or brought help, that would only let everyone know that Lydia was trying to leave. And that didn’t bear thinking about.

“Lili. Please. Please.”

“I’m so sorry. You know I love you, right?”

“Just get out of the car. We can talk about this.”

“You should go back to bed. Remember to pretend to be surprised when they can’t find me tomorrow.”

“Lili…”

Lydia started the car.

Some things were more important than goodbyes. Some things were more important than her own life. Everyone she loved was in this town, and to have good lives, safe and happy lives, they needed the guidance of the Faith of Fionnrath. Lydia would walk right into their rival nation’s capitol, and she would meet this Kylie, and she would convince her to come home. And if she couldn’t… well. Then she would have to at least bring the Faith home.

By any means necessary.