“That’s all I know,” Florian finally said, figuring it would be better not to share any specifics. “Can you tell me what you know about what’s happened? Did you see whatever caused the Blight to expand out from the Summer Court?”
The centaur did not respond for a long moment, his one eye looking vacantly out into the distance.
“I was there,” he finally replied, his voice dull now compared to how emotional he had been just a few short minutes ago. “We found the Arrows. They all landed within our kingdom, or nearenough. But when we brought them...” He reached up to touch his injured eye socket absently. “I don’t know. It all went wrong.”
“What exactly happened?” Florian asked, keeping his voice soft and neutral. “Can you tell me everything you remember? We want to make sure we do this right.”
Valyris sighed deeply before responding. “Aderus was my cousin. He kept the horse clan together and functioning when the Summer Court was destroyed, then organized a group to gather the Arrows and go in. I was with them. We used six to enter the castle.” He absently touched his eye again, but hissed and pulled his hand away quickly, as if it pained him. “She was there... Soleil was in the castle. Said nothing, justlookedat us.”
His mouth twisted in a wordless snarl at the memory, and he started to pace in a tight circle. “Unhelpful to the end. But it seemed obvious what we had to do. They were Arrows, so Aderus drew his bow and shot her with the last one.”
“Shit,” Florian breathed, brows furrowed.
“I don’t remember exactly what happened then,” Valyris continued. “But then I woke just outside the castle, this damned Arrow in my eye—and I couldn’t shift back. I was stuck like this. But the light didn’t touch me anymore, even though the witch’s magic must have faded.”
“Witch? What witch?” Florian interrupted, his curiosity piqued. But Valyris only waved a hand dismissively.
“A nearby hag. I don’t know. Aderus had her cast some spell on us to protect us from the light when we went into the Summer Court.”
He didn’t offer any further information. Florian mulled everything over for a moment; they had shot Soleil with an Arrow and that seemed to be where it all went wrong.
He thought of the inscription on the one different Arrow.I pierce the heart of sacrifice. Maybe they literally had to shoot her through the heart? That didn’t seem quite right, but it madesense in a way—she had been trying to bring back Thaddeus, her love. Love, hearts, sacrifice... Why did this all have to be so convoluted? Why couldn’t she just tell them what they needed to do?
“Thank you for telling us this,” Florian finally said, his voice soft. Valyris had turned away from him again, but he made a small scoffing noise at Florian’s remark. “This is helpful. We’ll do our best to make sure we do it right this time.”
Valyris sighed before turning to Florian again. “And if you don’t? If what you say is true, and this Blight has taken over most of the Veil, then how much worse will you make things if you fail?”
“The Veil is dying out anyway,” Florian replied, frowning. “If we don’t, then eventually the last generations of people in the Veil will leave. The places that the Blight didn’t destroy are still isolated and constrained. More and more people are leaving for Earth, and I can’t blame them.”
This seemed to perturb Valyris; the centaur turned away with a frown, but did not answer. It was hard to grasp the enormity of the Blight as it was now, Florian knew, so he remained silent as Valyris considered his reply.
“So how are you planning to kill me?” Valyris finally asked, looking back over at Florian. A shock of cold fear spread through Florian’s chest at the remark. Beside him, he felt Kade tense.
“I don’t—I wasn’t—” he stammered. Valyris scowled at him.
“Don’t play dumb,” he snapped. “You need this Arrow. I know it, you know it. You don’t have any idea of how to use this without killing me. It’s probably all that’s kept me alive. Were you hoping I’d just let you pluck it from my eye and be done with it?”
Florian sucked in a sharp breath. It was true that they needed the Arrow, and he was sure Valyris would only be offended if he tried to dance around the uncomfortable topic.
“Well,” he said shakily. “We don’t really have a plan. Getting more information was our main goal, for now. But that’s true, I don’t know if there’s any way we can take the Arrow without... Without it being bad for you.”
To his surprise, Valyris smirked, letting out a single bitter chuckle.
“Bad for me indeed,” he muttered, then sighed. “My mind is clear today. It is not always so, as you saw yesterday, and even when Icanthink... Well, as you saw. I am not what I once was. Not at all. And I don’t think I can ever get back to that.”
He was quiet for a moment, but he looked like he was struggling to put his thoughts to words, so Florian remained silent.
“I have nothing left,” he finally settled on, looking at Florian. “I wiped out all the monsters here, then all the monsters within a day’s ride of here. There is nothing left for me to do. I don’t want to live this way any longer. Ishouldhave died long ago.” He paused, watching Florian’s face. Florian did his best to keep his expression neutral and attentive, unsure what Valyris was looking for. Kade squeezed his hand reassuringly—he hadn’t even realized that Kade had taken his hand.
“So what should we do?” Florian asked hoarsely. “What do you want us to do?”
For a long while, the centaur was silent. It felt almost cruel to ask, but surely Valyris would have some preference, even if he didn’t have an exact plan either. Still, it didn’t feel good to be asking him how he wanted to die. Florian could feel his hand trembling in Kade’s grip.
“Give me one more day,” Valyris finally replied, his voice sounding just as raw. “Return here tomorrow and... If my mind is still clear, I won’t resist you. If it isn’t, well, I might fight back. But there are four of you and one of me. Do what you need todo. Just don’t... don’t tell me what you’re planning. And make it quick.”
Florian nodded, mind already racing. He hoped the centaur would be this agreeable when it came down to it. But could he really do it? Even knowing Valyris was ready to be done with all this, would he be able to kill him—knowing he was, deep down, as sentient and conscious as the rest of them?
He wasn’t sure. Kade probably could; he was pragmatic. But it felt like a cruel thing to ask. It was Florian’s responsibility. Itshouldbe him.
