"There has to be another way," Corbin said.
"No other way that Draven knew of," said Dorian.
"What about your fire?" Reverie suggested.
Dorian’s eyes met Corbin's.
"You were able to use it against the Architect," Reverie continued. "Do you not think it could work on an Infi?"
Dorian thought about it. This was his mother's marking they were speaking of. As spiteful as she was, perhaps she didn't just give them fire to burn the world with.
"It's worth a try," Corbin said.
Dorian nodded slowly, still staring into the flames. "Rev, do you think if you saw one, you could get it back to us with the heart removed?"
He hated asking it of her, but he remembered the way she'd snuck up on them in the Forest, and he knew it was their best shot.
Reverie's eyes were wide. Almost as though a panic had taken her and she'd forgotten how to breathe.
"There is one more cavern between here and the Bryn," Corbin said. "We could regroup there, assuming there is no one hiding in it."
But Reverie still hadn't spoken. She was rubbing her darkened throat. Whether the discoloration was from the fire or a rise in her blood pressure, he wasn’t sure. But it worried him, and he wanted to make sure she knew her going was not the only option.
"Rev?" Dorian repeated. "You don't have to. One of us can—“
"I can get one," Reverie said firmly, snapping out of her daze. "If that's what I find, I can bring one back to test the theory."
Dorian considered her a moment, his gaze flickering to the hand she had on her throat.
"You have to be fast," Dorian told her, choosing again not to push her. "You'll need two knives. One to the neck to paralyze it, the other to cut open its chest. The heart has to be separate from the body when you bring it back to us."
He could see a fear, yet determination, in her eyes, and she gave him a nod. "Okay."
With all that was on Dorian's mind, he hardly slept. Any other night forced to sleep naked between two beautiful beings to stay warm would have resulted in a night full of activities. But Dorian couldn't get his mind to stop. Even when Reverie had turned in to him in her sleep and thrown her arm across him, he'd hardly noted it.
He hadn't felt such anxiety since leaving his sister, and the mere thought of her and whatever it was she was doing nearly made him vomit.
Halfway through the night, he stood to retrieve the nyghtfire and his smoke, hoping the combination of the two would help put his mind at ease, but as he sat there smoking, pulsed into his form to keep his naked body warm, he noticed Reverie watching him.
"Back to sleep, Lady Fyre," he uttered as he exhaled the smoke. "You're hunting Infi on your own tomorrow."
"Can I ask you something?" she said, sitting up on her elbow.
He didn't respond, but he did dwindle his fire so that she was not speaking to the full black-eyed Promised Prince. He wondered if it scared her at all.
"Ask me anything," he finally said.
"Why take this job if it terrifies you?"
Not what he'd expected.
Dorian inhaled another huff of his pipe as he contemplated the answer. The soft silence between them was not of uncomfortableness or desire but one of comfort that Dorian didn't know he would crave until that moment.
"The Infi used to be nothing more than a monstrous tale we were told as children to keep us fearful of the Venari. They were the first creatures I was ever trusted with to banish. I know them better than I probably know my own people. Draven fought his entire life to rid our world of them. I'd like to continue the work he started. This job is what he would have done were he here." Dorian paused to take another draw of the herb. "If they are allowed to continue spreading as we assume they have, our world will be lost. If they discover Man, and fuck, I hope they haven't, they'll tell them everything. They'll betray Haerland without ever giving it a second thought."
"The war will be lost before we begin," Reverie said, and he watched as it seemed to sink in. That same heat rose on her cheeks, and she stared at the fire.
"You don't have to do this tomorrow," he told her upon seeing the fear. "You're allowed to say no."
