He took a wheezing breath.
‘I broke the laws foryou.For her. The gods have been punishing me for it ever since. You are not strong enough, Little Bird, to resist the call that your mother and father died trying to answer.’
‘You think me weak?’ Ezer asked.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I think you share blood with the ones who believed the lies in the Shadow Tome. And blood, it seems, is often stronger than common sense.’
She’d not heard that name before.
‘I think Wrenwyn was telling one truth,’ Ervos said. ‘I think … it was the Acolyte, that dark power, that called to her. But it was not a safe space to find freedom. It was a trick, and whatever Wrenwyn did in her time away … I think she’s the one that unlocked it. I thinksheset the Acolyte free, and now thousands are dead because of it. Thousands more will die, if we do not win this war.’
‘Which is exactly why Imustgo north!’ Ezer growled.
‘No,’ he said. ‘This is my fault. All my fault. I shouldn’t have interfered; I should have let the Masters do what they must …’
Her whole body had gone cold.
‘If you hadn’t, I would be dead,’ Ezer whispered. ‘Do you truly believe I did not deserve to exist?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t know, Little Bird, ohgods,forgive me.’ He shook his head and banged his fists against his skull. ‘I was blinded by love for Styerra. I was blinded by a different love when I got to know you. I saved you, and that makes me a sinner, too.’ He was weeping now. ‘This is my penance.’
She didn’t know what he was talking about.
She felt like she was watching a man with half a mind.
‘You cannot go north,’ Ervos said. ‘Because the Acolyte will take you. He will see what you are, the blood of Wrenwyn, the first to believe. And he’ll turn you, too. You need to run south, get as far as you can from his call. Before it’s too late.’
She backed a step away, shaking her head. ‘You stoleeverythingfrom me. My life. My family.’
‘I am your family,’ Ervos hissed. ‘I protected you. I?—’
‘I hope you rot in here,’ Ezer breathed. ‘I hope you die knowing that Styerra’s childhatesyou for what you did.’
He started to cry again, shaking his head.
‘Please, Little Bird,’ he said.
She curled a tight fist over her mother’s ring. ‘I’m not a little bird anymore, Ervos. I found my wings. And I’m going to ride my raphon across the Expanse. And prove you wrong when I destroy the Acolyte.’ She took a deep, settling breath. ‘Goodbye.’
He was already dead to her, already gone.
Perhaps … he’d never been real at all.
‘No,’ Ervos shouted after her. ‘Ezer!’
She kept walking.
He beat his fists against the bars. He rattled the door, screaming her name.
‘Don’t let him take you, too! EZER!’
She left him in the darkness, a wailing ghost.
And not a single tear slid down her face.
32
She returned to the labyrinth with a gasp, already feeling for the skeleton key in her cloak pocket.
