“Notwas.” I keep my voice soft and reach out to rest my hand on his shoulder. Slowly, so he can see it coming. So he can avoid it if he needs to. He doesn’t. “You still are.”
His face crumples. “I don’t know what I am anymore,” he whispers.
“You are Maedric. You are fae.”
His head lifts. I wait until his eyes meet mine.
“And now you are free.”
His entire posture changes at that. Spine straightening, shoulders pulling back. As though until I said it, he hadn’treally believed it.
“Can you fight? Not today, but when you’ve rested and healed. Do you think you can fight?”
His tongue swipes across his lips. “I used to be good at that. Before.”
“Then you’ll be good at it again.” I offer him my hand. He stares at it for a long moment, before clasping it. His grip is weak, but sure.
“What … what can I do now?”
“If you have the strength, find Vel and help her organize food for everyone. If not, then rest, and let your magic heal you.”
He nods. “Yes, I can help.”
I pat his shoulder and move on to the next one. And the next. And the next.
Most of them aren’t ready to talk, and I don’t force it. I just move among them, letting them see me, letting them know I’m here. Some of them track me, others don’t even register I exist. One female starts keening when I get too close, so I back away and give her space. A male grabs my wrist and won’t let go until I pry his fingers loose, one by one, murmuring assurances I’m not sure he hears.
By the time I’ve made my way through half of them, my chest feels like it’s filled with broken glass.
There’s one face I haven’t seen yet. One person I’ve been putting off seeking out. I keep walking, passing through the courtyard, and along the passageway that leads to the cages.
I find him inside his cage. The door stands open, but he hasn’t moved. I knew what I’d find. I saw him through Alleria’s eyes but knowing and seeing are two very different things.
His hands rest in his lap, palms up, and fingers slightly curled. He doesn’t pay any attention when I stepinto the cage.
“Caelum.”
Nothing. Nothing even a flicker of acknowledgement.
I lower myself to the ground across from him, our knees almost touching.
“We’re out. We killed them.”
His eyes don’t move. His breathing doesn’t change. I wait for something—anger, relief, anything—and get nothing.
My fingers curl into fists against my thighs, fury a living thing in my chest, clawing for release. I already killed everyone at the Dell responsible. There’s no one left here for me to take out my anger on.
“I’m going to get you out of here.” I don’t know if he can hear me, but I talk as though he can. “We’re going to find somewhere safe. And if you never come back … if this is all that’s left … then I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. You are not going to die in this cage, Caelum. Iswearit.”
One hand twitches. Just once.
I reach out and cover his fingers with mine. They’re cold, almost icy. I will what warmth I have into him, for all the good it does.
Caelum held a mountain pass against two hundred humans, with nothing but twenty fae and sheer bloody-minded stubbornness. When I asked him later how he’d done it, he just shrugged and saidI was too angry to die.
He’s not angry now. He’s not anything.
I stay there, holding his hands in mine, until Vel’s voice calls my name.
