“Then they still have to commute the execution.”
I looked at the others.
Vrathgar still wasn't meeting my eyes. “He'll be fine. Khal’s tough.”
“He'salready injured.”
Tyralk nodded. “Yeah, the handprints are pretty wild?—"
“The what?”
Khal hissed at him. “Tyralk.Shut up.”
He did.
My heart felt like it was trying to leap out of my chest. “Please. Won't someone tell me what's going on?”
Khal looked up. “I'm sorry. I didn't want to scare you. This…we prepared for this.”
“Yeah, you don't need to worry, Rowena,” Tyralk jumped in. “We all talked about this. No one is letting either of you die.”
“I’m sorry,” I got out, “but may I ask Khal something?”
It was Vrathgar who grunted, “Go ahead.”
I switched to the Old Tongue and looked into those liquid amber eyes, still shadowed from lack of rest when he was bringing me back from the conflagration at Rowton. “Khal,” I said, and he froze. “Will the rest of our lives together be like this? Finding secrets the other has kept from us, bigger things that change our lives?”
Tyralk coughed, awkward. Khal blinked, took a breath. “No.” He stared at me. “No, this is the last time. I'm sorry. This…was not how I meant to start.”
“Okay,” my voice was small. “When…” I switched back to Common. “When do we find out what will happen to us?”
“This evening,” Vrathgar's mouth was a grim line.
There would be no time to gather my strength, then, to be ready to burn someone. Not that roasting one of his clansmen alive was likely to help either of us.
A warm hand rested, gently, on the top of mine, like a question. Khal looked at me. “It's not as bad as it sounds,” he said, his eyes apologetic, searching. “I am a chieftain's son. I was always going to have to fight for my place, someday. We just…decided we could risk moving that battle closer.”
“How can it be worth keeping me when it makes so many people angry?”
Vrathgar snorted, and then tried to cover it with a cough.
Khal shot him a look, but spoke to me. “I've always made people angry, Rowena. My existence has made people angry. If I spent my life trying to win over the people who hated me, Icould never help.” His hand squeezed mine. “People like Sephar will not convince me to give up one inch of what should be mine.” He looked so calm, so sure.
Tyralk leaned on his crutch to add, “Don't worry, Rowena. This was always his plan.”
Vrathgar muttered, without venom, “Yes, his stupid plan.”
“This is why you apologized, that first night,” I realized. “You said there was good reason to put me in danger.”
Khal winced, hesitated. “...yes.”
His hand was warm on mine, the fire warm in front of us, and I memorized the lines of his face. “Alright,” I said. “Then tell me how to help you.”
He fumbled, again, looked away.
“I want to live,” I pressed. “I don’t…I don’t want you to lose your home protecting me for…for however long we’ll be together. If there’s something I can do…” I shut my mouth. Because the things I could do, even the horrifying things, they wouldn’t work now, would they? Not empty. Not like this.
Khal moved his hand off of mine, clumsily clapped my shoulder, as if I was another friend. As if I was Tyralk. “I’ll handle this. I can handle this alone. This is my family, my struggle. Just…trust me.” He still didn’t look at my face.
