I pull my knees up to my chest. "It could be…"
She shakes her head slightly. "I don't need to read his mind to know how he feels about you. I see it written in every glance."
The memory of him makes my heart crumble all over again.
"He'll come back."
The way she says it makes me almost believe her. "I know."
"Then why do you look like someone's dying?"
The question catches me off guard. I don't know how to tell her about the book hidden in my nightstand.
How do I tell her that I've found the key to return his mortality but can't bear to use it?
Instead of answering, I climb onto the bed and lie beside her.
"Rhianelle?"
The words lodge in my throat. If I speak them aloud, they become real. So I press my face into her shoulder and let the silence stretch between us.
Blaire strokes my hair gently, the way she used to when we were children huddled together in the dark. The world was full of monsters back then and we only had each other.
"Tell me," she whispers.
"I have something." The words come out broken against her shoulder. "Something precious. Something I love more than my own life. But I have to let it go. It's the right thing to do. But I... I don't think I can."
She's quiet for a long moment, her fingers never stopping their soothing rhythm through my hair.
"Do you remember when we were in Astefar?"
The sudden shift makes me pull back to look at her. "Of course. Everything in that cursed forest wanted to devour us or steal our names."
"But we survived." She studies my face with those knowing eyes. "Do you remember the old witch?"
My blood chills. "Elli?"
"Shh." Her hand covers my mouth gently. "Don't say her name here."
I nod against her palm and she lowers her hand.
"Do you remember what we found in her cottage?"
The memory surfaces slowly. "The bird in the golden cage."
"Yes." Blaire's eyes go distant. "It was so beautiful. Every color that existed in the world lived in those feathers. Even Astefar seemed less dark when it sang."
"It could talk," I whisper, remembering. "The bird knew our names."
"We took the cage when we ran." Her voice drops lower.
I can still feel the weight of it burning my palms. The gilded cage was too heavy for children's arms, but we carried it between us through the twisted trees. We took turns when our hands went numb, refusing to leave it behind.
"Once we reached the river crossing, we used the iron key we'd found hidden in her thatch." She pauses, taking a slow breath. "Do you remember how our hands shook?"
"Like leaves in a storm." I close my eyes. “But the bird flew away the moment the door opened. It didn't even look back."
Blaire lowers her gaze and nods. "We'd carried it for miles, bled for it, saved it from that wretched place, and it just vanished into the sky."
