Chapter 4

Josiah' s gaze fell on me, a cruel smile on his lips.

"Sarah, since you are clearly not fit to bear the Harbinger, perhaps a simpler life awaits you. A bonding, perhaps?"

He wanted to degrade me further.

Marcus, Eleanor' s husband from the first timeline, now just a Warden eyeing Eleanor, snickered.

"Perhaps with one of the Groundskeepers?" Marcus suggested, his voice laced with contempt.

The crowd tittered.

My eyes scanned the faces.

Liam.

The quiet Groundskeeper at the Sunken Grove.

In my first life, he was a shadow, always kind, always silent.

A strange calm settled over me.

"I accept a bonding," I said, my voice clear.

Silence.

Josiah looked surprised, then amused.

"With whom, then, Sarah? Choose your humble partner."

My gaze found Liam. He looked down, unassuming.

"With Liam, the Groundskeeper," I announced.

A wave of shock went through the commune.

Liam looked up, his eyes wide.

Josiah and Marcus laughed openly.

"A fitting match for a tainted Aura," Josiah sneered.

My father tried to speak, "Sarah, no!"

Josiah cut him off. "The choice is made. She has chosen her station."

He looked at me. "You will bond with the Groundskeeper. A fitting end to your aspirations."

I walked towards Liam.

He was just a man, they thought.

But I remembered his quiet kindness in the face of my agony in the first life.

A flicker of something, a deep, hidden strength I had sensed even then.

He looked at me, a question in his eyes.

I nodded.

He accepted.

The community whispered, pitying me, scorning my choice.

They did not understand.