Katell lowered the skin, wiping her mouth. “Yes.”
“And your lover?”
Katell blinked, taken aback by the question.
Leywani smirked, as though savouring the moment. “He cradled you in his arms and wouldn’t let anyone else touch you. Also, I caught bits of conversation from some of the soldiers.”
“You learned Rhaetic?”
“No,” Leywani answered with a huff. “But they forced some vile potion down my throat, and suddenly I could understand it all.”
“They gave me one too when I joined the legion…” Katell trailed off, the words sparking a flood of memories—her first days with Dorias, when she’d been eager to prove herself. She had joined the Black Helmets because she’d trusted him, believed in his vision.
She’d been so convinced that the Sixth was the right path. But now, looking back, her gut twisted.
How could she have been so blind?
Guilt weighed heavy on her shoulders. Her mistakes had led to the Freefolk’s enslavement and suffering. “I’m so sorry, Ley.”
“I know.” Leywani’s tone was understanding, and Katell’s throat tightened.
“I never meant for all this to happen. I never thought?—”
“That he’d betray you?” Leywani whispered.
Katell remained silent.
Leywani let out a dramatic sigh, but there was a flicker of something softer beneath the humour. “Well, with his good looks, I can’t say I blame you. It’s obvious why you fell into his trap.”
She was trying to make light of the situation, as she always did, but instead of lifting Katell’s spirits, it only made her heart ache.
“I missed you,” Katell admitted, the words heavier than she intended.
For a beat, Leywani’s confident façade cracked. Her face softened, eyes glistening with unspoken pain before she managed a fragile smile. “Me too.”
“I’m…” Katell faltered.
The wordsorryhovered at the tip of her tongue, but it felt so inadequate compared to all the pain she’d caused.
How could she apologise for what had happened at the matching ceremony—and for everything that had followed?
Leywani, perceptive as ever, tilted her head and waved a hand in casual dismissal. “My husband is dead,” she said flatly. “No matter what happens to me next, at least I’m free of him.”
Katell clenched her hands, the cold metal of her dampeners biting into her skin—a pale echo of the suffering Leywani must have endured at the hands of that brute.
“I won’t let them harm you.” Whatever leverage or strength she still had left, she would wield it with everything she had to protect Leywani.
She owed her that much.
“I know.” Leywani’s lips curved into a rueful smile. “But I don’t think we’ll have a choice.”
The cell’s damp chill seemed to close in around them. Torchlight caught the lines of Leywani’s face, revealing both exhaustion and a quiet, stubborn resilience.
“Will you tell me?” Katell asked softly. “Everything that happened to you after you left Camp Bessi? I need to know.”
So, Leywani did. She told Katell about the horrors of living with a man who’d seen her as little more than a servant, her value measured by how well she cooked his meals, tended to his home, and kept his bed warm at night.
Katell’s heart twisted with each word, her nails biting into her palms as she listened to Leywani describe the oppressive loneliness of those years, the days blurring into nights with no one to speak to.
