Bridge of Fate

Etta thought of Willburn, the mad and twisted king she’d replaced. Sitting still at the crossroads of Worldsbridge had transformed him into a monster, and Etta had no intention of following in his footsteps.

“So this is what you’re not telling me,” Piper said. “You have some idea of what you’re supposed to do and it frightens you.” Piper began to pace, muscles rippling as smoothly as a wild creature, her nudity terribly distracting.

Etta shook her head and laughed. “I’m going to have to either take you back to bed or dress you so I can think.” She picked up the second robe again and wrapped it around Piper’s shoulders. “What do you know of Worldsbridge?”

Piper shrugged, picking at the edges of the robe as if she wasn’t sure what to do with it. “This is my first time here. I know what you do. It’s a great crossroads. That’s what the Road marked on your wrist.”

“Remember what Willburn said. He called Worldsbridge the place where all roads meet. All roads.”

Piper scratched at a coiling pattern on the side of her neck. “He’d gone crazy, Etta. We’ve explored the roads in and out of this place. In a manner of speaking, anywhere is a place where all roads meet.”

“I think there’s more to Worldsbridge than a manner of speaking.” She took Piper’s hands and led her to the window. It was dark, but the moon illuminated bits of the road in the distance. “Beyond the walls of the city, everywhere you have walked – is it all the same world?”

“It’s a big world.”

“But the same one.”

“There’s Road, City and Wild.”

Etta bit her lip, the intensity of her dream making her heart pound when she recalled it. “I think there’s more.”

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