If a mage digs through my memories, they’ll find everything. The village. The fae living there. The humans who helped them.
“Cairn must know that,” I whisper.
Therin makes a noncommittal sound.
“And he’s still sending me back.”
He knows. He knows what could happen, what the mages could pull from my mind. And he’s letting me go anyway. Because he promised he would.
I start walking again, and Therin falls into step beside me.
“Can I ask you something?”
He glances at me. “You can ask. I make no promises about answering.”
“You sound just like him. How long have you known him?”
“Longer than you can imagine. We fought together long before the Sealing.”
“What was he like? Before, I mean.”Before the cages.
Therin is quiet for a moment. “The same,” he says finally. “And different.”
“He can’t be both.”
His lips lift. “The rage was always there. The discipline. The way he moves, thinks, fights … that hasn’t changed.” He pauses. “But there was more laughter. He carried his power differently back then.”
There’s nothing I can say to that.
Therin stops, turning to face me. “Are you ready?” Kaethros appears at his side.
Am I?
I look at Kaethros, then at Therin, and then back at the path behind us.
The marks on my body will take days to fade. The bruises on my thighs, hips and breasts will be easy to hide. The bite marks on my throat … I could use high collars and long sleeves until they’re gone.
The memory of his mouth on mine, his body moving inside me, those will last longer. But no one can see them.
And his name.
Luchairn Vaedráfn.
That’s mine now. Whether I want it or not. A secret I’ll carry for the rest of my life.
Is that what I want? To spend the rest of my life hiding pieces of myself?
Therin is watching me, waiting for an answer. I open my mouth to tell him I’m ready.
“I don’t want to go.”
Therin’s eyebrow twitches.
“I want to stay.”
He doesn’t say anything. A bird calls somewhere in the trees. And he just stands there,staring.
“Do you understand what you are saying?” His voice isquiet. “There’s no coming back from this, Alleria. If you stay with us, you’ll be branded a traitor to your kind. Your father will hunt you alongside the rest of us.”
