Safire thought of what Dagan said—how he wasn’t allowed to speak of the child who’d been given sanctuary by the scrin. None of the weavers were. As if she was some kind of dangerous secret.
Safire looked from Eris’s hands to her face. The line of herjaw was hard, her teeth clenched, and her eyes were strangely blank.
What if,thought Safire,you’re the threat?
But what damage could Eris possibly do to the empress?
It didn’t make any sense.
One thing was certain in Safire’s mind: she needed to return to the citadel and tell Dax everything. He needed to know who exactly he was allying himself with. But then what? Dax and Roa needed the seeds the empress had offered them.
Maybe the only thing to do was wait. Soon their visit would be over and the seeds would be loaded aboard their ship. Once that happened, Dax and Roa and Safire could go collect Asha and Torwin, and together they could all return home, putting the empress and her islands behind them.
Before she rose to her feet, Safire said, “I think you should come with us.”
Whatever dark thoughts Eris was lost in, Safire’s voice shattered them. She glanced up. “What?”
“To Firgaard, I mean. I can protect you there.” Speaking the words aloud strengthened the conviction inside Safire, until it was hard and strong as steel. “No one will touch you. Not the empress. Not Jemsin. Not anyone.”
Eris set down the shuttle, keeping her gaze away from Safire.
“Jemsin’s summoner will come,” she whispered, staring at the loose threads before her. “It always does.”
Safire didn’t know who Jemsin’s summoner was, but it didn’t matter. “Then I’ll be ready for it.”
“Even if you could...” Eris shook her head and looked up,her gaze cutting into Safire. “You’ll harbor the criminal who stole a jewel from your king’s treasury? A criminal who’s done far worse things than that?” Eris’s pale brows pinched together as she tilted her head. “You’re the commander of the king’s army, Safire. How do you think that will go?”
Safire, who’d forgotten all about the jewel Eris stole, suddenly realized exactly how that would go. If she brought the Death Dancer to Firgaard, she’d have to imprison her for her crimes.
“I’ll tell Dax everything,” Safire continued on, determined. “That the empress burned the scrin. That Jemsin forces you to steal for him.”
“He doesn’t always force me,” Eris looked back to the loom. “But none of that matters. Your king hates me.” Eris said the next part so softly, it was as if she didn’t want to hear herself speak the words. “I’m the girl who plans to hunt down his Namsara and exchange her for my freedom, remember?”
Safire grew suddenly cold. After everything that had happened between them, after this morning on the beach...
Things had changed.
Hadn’t they?
“Surely you’re not still planning to uphold your bargain with Jemsin.” Safire shook her head. “I don’t believe you’d put an innocent person in the hands of a monster.”
“Believe what you want.” Eris moved to stand up.
Safire grabbed her wrist, keeping her down. Her heart beat hard and fast as she held that piercing gaze, feeling like she was about to lose something she’d only just found. “You won’tendanger the life of someone I love. That’s not who you are.”
Eris scowled. Twisting free, she staggered to her feet. “And what about my life? You’ll do anything to keep your cousin safe. Of course you will. I understand it, and I admire you for it. Even though I know that when it comes down to it—and it will come down to it, Safire—you’ll choose her over me. Her life over mine.”
“What are you talking about?” Safire rose to her feet. “I just told you I’ll protect you. From the empress. From Jemsin. From anyone who ever tries to harm you. I swear it.”
Eris shook her head, almost mournfully. “This was a mistake,” she said, backing away now, her eyes strangely hollow in the candlelight. “You have no idea what it’s like. How could you?”
Turning, she stepped into the stained-glass maze, as if desperate to escape.
“You live in a different world than I do.”
Thirty-Five
Eris’s thoughts were wild and out of control as she moved swiftly through the labyrinth. She could feel the cold shadow of the ghost beyond the twisting stained glass walls, hiding just out of sight. It suddenly felt too small and cramped here. Like a prison.
