“I have to go,” she said.
“Elena, wait.”
But she hurried away, hot guilt bubbling up her throat like bile. She could hear him calling after her. She did not turn.
Elena broke into the cool expanse of the hallway, and she took a deep, shuddering breath. Tears cropped her vision. Angrily, she wiped her eyes. What a fool she was. Weak, sniveling.Focus, she berated herself. The beach, she needed to take him to the beach.
Elena glanced up at the moons, full and brilliant in their ivory throne. It was not time yet, but perhaps Farin would not mind if she was early. She could bear it no longer.
When she heard footsteps behind her, Elena steadied her breath. She did not turn as the footsteps faltered. She did not turn as she felt his hand on her shoulder, gentle, kind. Samson walked around, facing her.
With his ring finger, he gently wiped the tears from the inner corners of her eyes. She watched as he sucked on his finger.
“There,” he said. “The salt of thine is the salt of mine. Your grief is my grief.”
“Sam.”Her voice trembled under the weight of his name. “Please.”
He watched her face closely, his voice quiet. “Are you running from me because you have chosen not to become my queen?”
She opened her mouth to speak, when footsteps at the other end of the hall made them both turn. Jaya froze when she saw them.
Elena spotted something metallic in her hand as Jaya gave a nervous laugh and flipped off her hood, striding forward.
“Good, I’ve been looking for you two,” she said. “I have a favor to ask.”
CHAPTER 64
JAYA
The most accomplished gamemasters understand this: The greatest games are played not in our arenas, but in the world outside.
—fromThe Gamemaster Manual
Elena and Samson stared at her, and for a moment, Jaya wondered if she had intruded on something soft and intimate, something she did not earn. She fixed an uneasy smile on her face.
“Oooor I can come back later,” she began when Elena stepped forward.
“No, it’s all right,” she said, her voice rough. She quickly dabbed her eyes. “What is it, Jaya?”
Jaya saw something dark and wounded cross Samson’s face. She was definitely intruding. One thousand percent.
“Um, I just needed, well.” She feigned ineptitude as she watched Elena carefully avoid Samson’s gaze. Slowly, she took out her device, a metal orb no bigger than her palm. “I was wondering if I could get an infusion of your Agnis. I’d like to study it.”
Samson shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. Agni can be unstablewithout a wielder, and two at once could be catastrophic. No, Jaya, perhaps another time.”
But she turned to Elena, keeping her voice steady, reasonable. “I don’t mean to experiment now. I just need the melding, before you two go your separate ways.” When Samson frowned, she added, “And I will report to you all my findings. Everything. You will know all the developments firsthand, and if it proves too dangerous, we can shut it down.”
Elena seemed to consider this, her eyes flitting from the orb to her. Samson turned to her, his voice low.
“Elena, this is a bad idea,” he began.
“Do you not trust me, Sam?” Jaya said loudly. “After I saved our hides on the killdoms? Do you really not believe me?”
He whipped toward her. “That was different. This is dangerous. You could harm yourself, or others, or—”
“When can you run an experiment?” Elena said.
Jaya pretended to make a show of it, counting on her fingers, drawing out the silence. “Three, maybe four days. If I have your Agni tonight, then two.”
