‘Do I look broken to you?’ Ezer asked, and stepped out of the doorway, closing it shut behind her. ‘Do I look like some fragile, feeble thing?’
‘No,’ he whispered.
And though he was three times her size, right now as he stood before her, he seemed small.
Helooked like the broken one.
‘You look brave,’ Arawn said. ‘You look bold, and …’ He paused. ‘Andangry,Ezer, which you have every right to be. I shouldn’t havelied. They teach us that as one of the first laws. We promise to uphold it when we take our vows, and despite myself, when it came to you … I still broke it.’
‘Why,’ she said again.
‘Because …’
‘One chance, Arawn.’ She held up a finger, her eyes locked on his. ‘You have one chance right now, and if you do not tell me the truth … I will walk away from you. I will leave this place tomorrow, come sunrise, and you willneversee me again. Even if I survive.’
He let out a breath.
‘If?’
‘I’d be lying if I saidwhen,’ Ezer told him.
His eyes shone silver at their edges. He was holding back tears.
Please don’t say it was to protect me,Ezer thought.Please don’t say it was to keep me safe.
Because she wanted, just once, for someone to let life happen to her inherway.
To let her fall if she was to fall, because at least that was freedom. At least that was living.
‘I did it … to protect myself,’ Arawn said. ‘Because …’
He glanced away.
‘Look at me, Arawn,’ Ezer said.
His eyes opened. And he looked like he could hardly stand as he said, ‘Because I didn’t know you that day in the tower. All I knew were my orders, and they were to deliver you here, to have you become any other soldier.’ He sighed. ‘But you aren’t any other soldier. You are …’
‘What am I?’ Ezer asked.
Her heart was beating against her rib cage.Move closer to him,her body said, but her mind …
Gods, her mind was sick of being manipulated.
And she couldn’t stand the thought of being hurt again by someone else’s actions, like she was a rock tossed about in the sea.
‘You are stubborn,’ Arawn said. At that, she recoiled.
‘What?’
He nodded and stepped a little bit closer. ‘You are crass, and youare curious to your own detriment, but I adore how much it keeps me on my toes. And you are perhaps the messiest eater I have ever met. Worse than Six.’
She glared at him then. ‘If this is supposed to be a slew of compliments, Arawn …’
‘You are brilliant with her, and you are bold to spend your days with Kinlear, andgods, the way you speak to people, the way you challenge them … the way you do not falter, not even when it comes to a shadow wolf … it’s like you aren’t even afraid, Ezer.’
He stepped a little bit closer.
This time, she did not back away.
