“Xavien’s the only one who can keep her safe once the fighting starts. Dask—half the Royal Army sits outside his door. Amethyst is the safest place in the realm for her now.”
Amerei shook her head, tears rising.
“Why didn’t you ask me first?”
“I got your father’s letter. And I knew—” Viktor’s jaw locked, “—I had to write Xavien before I let myself think better of it.”
Issachar’s voice was low, firm.
“The boy’s right, Amerei. If he falls…”
She flinched.
“…if he falls, someone has to see you through the other side of this war.”
Her breath shuddered.
She turned to Viktor, eyes squeezing shut.
“You are asking me to seek sanctuary in Amethyst.”
“Yes.”
“You are asking me to be standing beneath the banner of Draekenra when they tell me you’ve fallen.”
“Yes.”
Her voice broke.
“You are asking me to—”
“If I don’t survive this war,” Viktor cut in, voice raw, “I want you to burn to ash every memory since you met me and run straight to the man who will keep you alive. Yes, Amerei. That is what I’m asking you to do.”
She stared at him, breath trembling, as if the very air between them had turned to glass. And then—quietly, almost reverently—her heart began to break. “As if I could…”
Her chair scraped back hard against the floor.
The room blurred.
She couldn’t look at him—wouldn’t—because if she did, she would shatter.
She crossed the threshold on unsteady legs, the night rushing in cold and sharp. The pines whispered as though they bore witness, the hill below drowning in shadow. She pressed his coat tight against her chest, as if the weight of him still lingered there. But it wasn’t enough. Nothing was enough.
“Amerei…”
His boots whispered against the cedar planks until his shadow fell over hers. Then his hand closed around her wrist, pulling her back before she could crumble completely.
“Don’t walk away from me tonight.”
His voice was low, as if he were holding himself together by will alone.
She swallowed hard, eyes locked on the black horizon.
“You’ve asked me to trust you before, Viktor. But this—”
His grip on her wrist tightened.
“I’m not asking you to trust me, Amerei.”
