His mouth opened and closed, like he wasn’t certain what to say next. She could practically hear him thinking, going through all the list of rules he must have broken in the past many moments.
‘I apologize,’ he finally said, ‘for my lapse in control. Your words wounded me, and I wasn’t certain how to react.’
‘Some prince you are,’ Ezer muttered, holding her hand to her chest. When she looked back up at him, his eyes were downcast.
He looked wounded. Utterlybroken.
‘The doors are just down the path,’ he said, and a muscle in his jaw twitched. ‘You’refree to go. Anyone can direct you to your tower. A servant will come for you in the morning.’
He made to turn, but this time she grabbedhisarm and whirled him around. ‘So that’s it?’ she asked. ‘We’re done here?’
‘We’re done.’
He nodded, glancing past her. His blue eyes looked faraway, distant, like he was lost inside his memories instead. ‘I wish you luck in your time here, Ravenminder. Gods be with you. From here below until the Ehver above.’
For some reason it felt sofinaljust walking alone, away from him, after all they’d been through in the woods. He was the only person she’d come to know in the slightest, after so many years in silence inside her tower.
But she was just another face. Another recruit to bring north.
And he had a family of Knights and Scribes waiting for him.
He had a Citadel full of servants, a future and a crown.
And she …
She would probably be dead soon, like Ervos.
She turned and took a few steps into the woods.
‘Minder.’
She glanced back over her shoulder, with the scarred side of her face. ‘Yes, Firemage?’
‘Be careful,’ he said, ‘Around my brother.’
His eyes held a darkness behind them. A warning she couldn’t quite place.
She nodded, and was about to ask him to elaborate, goodbyes be damned, when aboomsuddenly shook the sky.It was a distant sound, coming from their right. And it sounded like a boulder colliding against metal.
It was followed by a few echoing voices.
Voices that suddenly turned into shouts.
She heard the scream of a war eagle and wondered if perhaps one had broken loose from its stall.
Arawn glanced to the right, a question in his eyes.
‘What was that?’ sheasked.
His brow furrowed. ‘I don’t know.’
‘A war eagle?’
‘No, Minder,’ he said. His eyes met hers. ‘Not a?—’
But before he could finish, anotherboomsounded out.
This time, it felt like it shook the very dome over their heads.
