Free The Young Dread by Arwen Elys Dayton

walking. The feeling of happiness was upon her again, and she decided to take a leap. She was only hours away from taking her oath. Soon she would be an adult in their eyes. “Mum, you know I’ve already chosen him, don’t you?”
    Her mother followed her gaze out the window, but there was nothing visible except grass and trees.
    Slowly Fiona asked, “And is he?”
    “Is he what?”
    “Is John Hart your mate?”
    Quin felt her cheeks flush hotly. “Ma.”
    “I believe you’ve been sneaking off together for a long while. Have the two of you…”
    “No!” The conversation had taken a very fast and drastic turn. “Wait. What are you asking me?”
    “Have you kissed each other?”
    “Oh…Yes.” Quin found herself smiling despite the embarrassment. “Yes, we have done that.”
    “And…” Fiona prompted.
    “And what?” Quin was thinking of the way John had laid her on the ground, those lonely eyes of his focused completely on her…She looked down at her hands and said, “There’s been kissing. A somewhat large amount. Don’t you know already, Ma? You usually know these things without me saying.”
    “Sometimes I do, but not this time. Are you sure that’s all?”
    “I’m not an idiot. Briac’s hard enough on him as it is. I don’t want him chasing John around with a shotgun.”
    Fiona really did smile at that, her face lighting up as it rarely did. For a moment, Quin saw her mother’s beauty at its full force, like a warm spring sun coming out from behind heavy clouds.
    “Mum,” Quin said, deciding that she was already so embarrassed, she might as well press on, “do you think Father will mind?”
    “Mind what?”
    “If I marry John?”
    Quin held her breath as she said it, worried about her mother’s reaction. But why shouldn’t she speak about marriage? John was the perfect partner. He was from an old family like her own, wasn’t he? Like her, he wanted to use his training to do good things in the world. Maybe they would live together here on the estate, or maybe she would live with him somewhere more exotic, but either way, they would work together, fight together, to help the world.
Tyrants and evildoers beware…
And of course, she loved him deeply. Surely her parents could see that.
    Quin’s eyes followed her mother, waiting for an answer as Fiona got up to tend the stewpot. It was a mystery to Quin what needed to be tended. It was stew, after all. You could cook it for days if you felt like it.
    Her back to Quin, Fiona asked, “Has he asked you to marry him?”
    “Well, no, not yet. But we understand it, I think.”
    “You’re very young,” Fiona said softly. “I’ve never known— I’m still a bit surprised it’s John you’re choosing.”
    Quin wasn’t sure what her mother meant by that. Who should she choose, some stranger she’d never met? Some older man her father picked out? But she went on quickly anyway: “I don’t mean now. Someday. Do you think Father will mind?”
    Fiona turned to her, wiping her hands on her apron, her eyes looking anywhere but at Quin’s face. “I think your father will have strong opinions on the topic, yes. And a lot has yet to happen between now and the time when you’re ready to get married.”
    “That’s not really an answer.”
    “But, Quin,” Fiona went on, as though Quin hadn’t spoken, as though she had to say the words immediately or they would disappear, “it doesn’t matter what he thinks. Your life is yours.”
    Mildly astonished, Quin looked closely at her mother’s expression, which had a nervous edge to it. Briac was, well,
Briac.
His absolute authority was part of the strange and privileged life into which she had been born.
    “Ma…”
    “Your life is yours,” Fiona said again, almost urgently, taking a seat next to her. She glanced toward the window, then back. “If you…if you wanted to go to John right now…if you wanted to leave the estate with him…have a different sort of life together, right now. I