“I would recommend we not send the half-mad master to the mines,” I said. “Galena drives a person to insanity. Vitas is having enough trouble, isn’t he?”
Lunella let out a sigh. “Yes, but getting him away from this” —she pointed to the ruins— “would be a good thing.”
“Let’s all get into the tents,” Staviz said. “We’re all targets out here, and I want to pick Lord Aiko’s brain about all this.”
Putting a hand on his arm, I stopped him. “Cap—I mean General, I want to see what’s happened here since I’ve been gone.”
“Master Rilen?” Staviz asked. “Would you? We’ll still need you back here to go over what we’ve plucked from Lord Aiko’s brain, and set up a plan to… do…”
“Whatever it is we need to do,” Tymon said.
Rilen gave a short nod, and as the masters all walked to the tent, he led me to the stables, with Roran trailing us.
Roran cleared his throat. “Are you still mad at me, brother?”
“Can you not tell?” His words were clipped.
“I can’t. Because you’ve closed yourself off from me. And you damn well know that.”
We walked into the stable and stopped. Rilen waited for his twin to catch up and stared at him.
“That’s right. I have. Because you seem to think that this is a game.”
“Since when?” Roran’s words were quiet. “I tried to stop Dorian from going over there.”
“Why? You don’t seem to understand what he is.”
“Old and crotchety and lacks insight when it comes to Savion.” Roran stared hard at his brother. “You know I’m right. It doesn’t matter what hethinkshe was going to do. When it comes to Savion, you know how he’s always, rightfully, spoken of him.”
“What is it he thinks he’s doing there?” Rilen looked bored.
“Ostensibly? Rescuing the Breaker who has quite adroitly rescued herself.”
Rilen rolled his eyes. “And his secret motivation?”
“To kill him. It’s always been to kill him. He would have climbed the Spine to kill him if he thought it wouldn’t have sucked the air from his lungs to stop him.” Roran folded his arms.
“Can you blame him?”
“I don’t. But using Kimber as an excuse? Come on, brother. We both know that’s stupid and dangerous. None of us knew what it was like over there.”
“He didn’t trust me?” My eyes danced between them.
“He didn’t trust Savion,” Roran said. “He never did, and with good cause. But he was a crusader, using you as an excuse to go charging through the Chasm. I’m sure he does want to rescue you, but I’m afraid he wants to kill Savion more.”
“What does that matter now?” Rilen asked.
“Now,” Roran snapped. “Until yesterday at dawn, we had no idea that Kimber was alive. So don’t be a jackass. Now we have to go back over there to save his ass.”
“If he hasn’t killed the king already.”
Gasping, I put a hand over my mouth. “He doesn’t know that I’m here. Dorian doesn’t know that. Savion wouldn’t tell him, either. He’ll hold Dorian hostage, lying about where I am!”
The twins looked at each other, and I could feel their disagreement melting away.
Rilen was the first to break the silence. “No,ilati, that’s not our first worry.”
“Dorian is not rational when it comes to Savion. We’re afraid that he would go there and let you be sacrificed to exact his revenge.”
