"I can't pursue you while Roran is in danger," Kaine continued softly."Not when I know that anything between us would be shadowed by your worry for him.I'd always wonder if I was just a distraction."A rueful smile touched his lips."And I want to be more than that to you."
Thalia's throat tightened.There was no jealousy in his words, no bitterness—only a clear-eyed understanding of what stood between them.
"So you're going with him to make sure he comes back safely," she said."For my sake."
"Partly," he admitted."But also because it's the right thing to do.For Frostforge.For all of us."He stepped closer, near enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from him."I've never run from danger, Thalia.You know that about me."
She did know.It was one of the things she admired about him—his steadfast courage, his willingness to face what others fled.The same quality that now sent him toward Warden waters.
"I can't lose you both," she whispered, the words escaping before she could stop them.
Kaine's hand rose, hovering near her cheek but not quite touching."You won't," he promised."We’ll come back."
"You can't know that."
He hesitated, then seemed to come to a decision."Do you still have the pendant I gave you?At your graduation?"
The question caught her off guard."Of course," she said.The small, silver chip of metal had been in her pocket or beside her bunk since Kaine had gifted it to her.
"Keep it close," he said."Wear it.I made it myself, and it bears a simple enchantment.”
Thalia's brow furrowed."What are you saying?"
“You’ll know when I’m returning,” Kaine told her softly.“You’ll always be the first to know—if you wear that pendant.”
***
Dawn painted the fjord in shades of pearl and silver, the water still as polished glass beneath a sky that promised warmth but delivered none.Thalia stood at the edge of the eastern dock, her body angled away from the small gathering near the moorings where Roran and Kaine made final preparations for departure.She'd chosen this spot deliberately—close enough to witness their leaving, far enough that she wouldn't be tempted to rush forward, to plead one last time to accompany them.Her goodbyes had already been said in private, away from curious eyes and wagging tongues.Now all that remained was to watch the fjord swallow them whole, like so many others who had sailed against the Isle Wardens and never returned.
The vessel awaiting them was a mere skiff, one of the many that Frostforge used to train its students in maritime combat—narrow and low to the water, its weathered hull stained dark by salt and use.The very ordinariness of it was its protection.In Warden waters, a military vessel would be spotted and sunk within hours.This humble boat might pass unnoticed.
Provided its occupants could maintain the deception.
Thalia's fingers closed around the railing, the wood smooth beneath her palm from years of similar grips, similar vigils.How many had stood where she now stood, watching loved ones depart on missions from which they never returned?The thought sent a chill through her that had nothing to do with the morning air.
Movement near the skiff drew her attention.Senna had arrived.She wore her formal uniform, her bearing as rigid as the ice-steel blade at her hip.Thalia watched as she approached Kaine, her steps precise, shoulders squared.Even from this distance, Thalia could read the tension in the other woman's frame.
Whatever words passed between them were lost to the gentle lapping of waves against the dock pilings, but their body language spoke volumes.Senna's formal posture was crumbling as she stepped forward, arms circling Kaine's neck in an embrace that spoke of history, of shared understanding.His hands settled at her waist, neither pulling her closer nor pushing her away—accepting the gesture without returning its full measure.
Something twisted in Thalia's chest, sharp and bitter.She looked away, focusing instead on the distant mountains that cradled the fjord in their rugged embrace.It wasn't jealousy, she told herself.Couldn't be.Not when her own feelings remained so hopelessly tangled.Yet the sight of Senna in Kaine's arms awakened a primal possessiveness she hadn't known herself capable of feeling.
Senna knew Kaine in ways Thalia didn't—had known him longer, shared parts of his life that remained closed to others.There was history between them, powerful enough that rumors had circulated since Thalia's first days at Frostforge.Yet Kaine had kissed Thalia, not Senna.
At least, as far as she was aware, after all, she had seen fit to kiss both Kaine and Roran; perhaps Kaine's heart was equally torn.
The complexity of it all made her head ache.Or perhaps that was simply the result of two nights spent in restless, anxious wakefulness.
Her fingers found the pendant that hung at her throat, the metal warm against her skin from constant contact.She'd retrieved it from her belongings as soon as she'd returned to her quarters after their conversation in the forge corridor, studying it with new eyes.The disc was simple in design—a silver circle no larger than a coin.
A shout from the docks pulled her from her thoughts.The mooring lines were being cast off, the skiff's small sail unfurling to catch what little breeze stirred across the fjord's surface.Roran stood at the tiller, his wild curls already tamed into a tight knot at the nape of his neck.Kaine moved with practiced efficiency, adjusting the sail's tension to maximize their speed.
They made an unlikely pair—the Southern merchant's son with his storm-caller's heritage and the Northern outcast with his forge-hardened hands.Different in temperament, in background, in approach.Yet united in purpose.And in their connection to her.
The skiff slipped away from the dock, gathering momentum as it caught the current that would carry it toward the fjord's mouth.In a few hours, they would reach the open sea.In a few days, they would enter waters where Warden patrols hunted relentlessly for intruders.
And Thalia would remain here, waiting, wondering, working to solve a puzzle whose pieces lay scattered across centuries.
She watched until the vessel was just a speck against the silver water, her chest aching with an emotion she couldn't name—some complex blend of fear and hope and regret.Somewhere in that tangle of feeling was love, though for which man, she couldn't say with certainty, perhaps for both.
