Arawn was looking down at Ezer as he had that night with Soraya, long ago.
His gaze, his touch...it was protective, caring, a softer version of Arawn that so few would ever see. When he set down his blade and his magic and was not a warrior, but the kind and noble prince beneath. A man who lived to serve others.
No,Kinlear thought.He isn’t fated for her. He isn’t meant to have her like I will.
His time would come. He knew it would, because he was Veilborne.
He trusted his dreams.
And so tonight?
Tonight...
He would let her have this dance with another man, as Soraya once did.
He would walk away, and let her experience Absolution with true abandon, because it was what Ezer deserved. Because he knew it was something she hadneverexperienced before.
He would not be the one to clip her wings.
So Kinlear Laroux turned and left the room.
He let herlivewithout carrying the burden of him.
25
He dreamt of her again, and it was enough to carry him through to the next day.
He woke rested...though feeling strangely empty inside, without the feeling of Ezer’s kiss on his lips.He’d awoken again just seconds before he drove in the Acolyte’s blade.
He dressed himself in his runed cloak, shivering despite the warmth it offered, and met Ezer in the catacombs, his heart in his throat, uncertain of what he’d find when he looked her in the eyes.
But... she did not look like she’d spent the night with his brother.
Don’t ask her,Kinlear told himself.Don’t ask a godsdamned thing, or you’ll look jealous, and desperate, and no woman will put up with that.
Still, it was the hardest thing he’d done since meeting her.
Notasking about Arawn.
Especially because today, Ezer was beautiful. She always was, but she looked stronger, lessbrokenthan she had before, when she’d first arrived at Augaurde.
The set of her jaw was more determined. There was far less fear, farmoredetermination, from the way she held her shoulders back to the very words that left her lips.
She was made for this, his Raphonminder.
Made for Six.
For me,he added.She has saved me, by giving me a reason to live when all I thought of before was how I was destined to die.
Together, they journeyed away from the cliffside, and down into the snowy woods, both on Six’s back. Years ago, he’d have thought someone crazy, if they said he’d ever be riding one. Let alone, inside the Citadel’s embrace.
It was a true feat that they should have celebrated... especially when they made it off the main cliff and to the woods below. Because though Six was built for the snow and the harsh terrain...he swore the raphon wasnegativeamounts of graceful.
And now that Six knew the snow wasn’t going to kill her, shelovedit. She ran into tree branches, knocking snow down upon their shoulders. Ezer yelped in joy, and Kinlear laughed despite the onslaught of cold, and it was the best day he’d had in ages.
The best time he could remember having, perhapsever,in his miserable life, since Soraya left.
Six leapt off boulders and scratched at the snow every few feet, reminding him of an overgrown chicken.
