We talk for a long time. Eventually, she stands. “I’m certain they’re waiting outside, so I’ll ask them to come in.”
“Thank you,” I whisper. “I’m glad you’re here, Reena. How long can you stay?”
She lifts a shoulder. “There’s much to do in Solvandyr, now that… it will be difficult. I should leave once talks are concluded, now that you’re awake. If we can agree.”
Her eyes slide to me. “If you insist on staying, perhaps… Perhaps there could be a role there? As a go-between.”
I consider it. “Maybe.”
“Think about it.” She hesitates. “Lyra…about your mother.”
My face lifts so quickly I almost vomit from the stabbing sensation. “What about her?”
She lifts a shoulder. “I found documents, while you were gone. I was looking for something else. But… Her name was Ingrid. Ingrid Salvendor.”
Ingrid Salvendor.My eyes prick, and my sister crosses the room again. Her embrace is gentle, and swift.
“Thank you.” The words are muffled.
She sniffs, but her eyes look shiny as she turns away. “I’ll send you anything I can find.”
Kaelen slips in as she leaves. He hesitates in front of the door.
“Kaelen,” I whisper. My finger brushes the bed. “Come here.”
“You’re healing. Eres will hunt me down.” But he crosses the room, toeing off his boots, and carefully—so carefully—he lays down next to me and lets out a long breath.
We both stare at the ceiling.
“Hello, witch,” he whispers finally.
My lips lift. “Hello, wielder.”
Our fingers brush together, and he curls his hand over mine. “I rehearsed this so many times inside my head, and now I don’t know what to say.”
I turn my head toward his, painfully slow. “What do you mean?”
“Lyra. You… it’s done. Over, if Reena and I can come to an agreement.Hundreds of yearsof war between us, and it might finally be ending. Because of you, and what you did.” Kaelen takes a breath. “I don’t know how to say thank you. There aren’t words big enough for what I want to say.”
Oh.“And is that… all you want to say? Thank you?”
He looks around his bedroom. “Your sister pointed out—more than once, might I add—that we don’t have a lot of finery here. There’s far more in Solvandyr.”
“I don’t care aboutfinery.” I stare at him.
“And the food selection is limited.”
“I don’t care about that, either.”
He turns to me. “We have to rebuild. Umbraxis… it was so much more than this, once. But it’s going to take years, Lyra.”
“I like to be busy,” I almost whisper. “Ask me to stay, wielder.”
His throat flexes. “Stay here with me, witch. Build a life here. With us.”
“And if I said no?”
The lines on his face deepen into a glare. “Then a new war would begin, because I’d chase you all the way into Solvandyr and bring you home.”
