Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Bo’s hand finds the small of my back while we step forward. Our daughter squirms in my arms as I lean down to place her in the middle of the patch. It’s almost like the moment the very earth of Hallalah touches her, she settles and stills. Those sleepy, two-toned eyes of hers close and I dare to think she might be asleep, but I don’t think that’s it at all.
Sinad takes her time, humming a tune all the while, to push the dark soil around our daughter until everything but her little face is covered.
Still, her eyes stay shut.
Taking her thumb to swipe across the crescent mark on her forehead, Sinad closes her eyes and turns to stone. Not even a breath escapes her.
Silence spreads through the crowd.
Next to me, Bo weaves our fingers tight.
“Her name?” Sinad asks.
“Fate,” Bo and I say together, using my language from Earth for a word we know means so very much to the Hallans.
We know, because it also means so very much to us.
She is our Fate.
True … and forever.
“Fate,” the old Mina replies, her eyes still closed even as she smiles.
Her voice carries, taking the name over the crowd. Positive murmurs make their way back to us, but I’m more interested in what Sinad has to say next.
Her hand cups Fate’s cheek.
In that moment, our baby opens her eyes wide again.
“Born of these lands, her mate shall not be. Worldly, her life will be as otherworldly as he.”
Fate cries, then.
Loud and hearty.
Strong and ready.
As if she’s finally shouting back to the crowd that’s cheered for her from the moment they found out she had been born. This time, when the crowd calls back for her, chanting her name until the warm soil and our noise lulls her back to sleep, Bo and I join them.
For her, someday, we will find him.
Just as Bothaki found me.