I cover my face with my living hand in embarrassment. This shouldn’t be as comfortable as it is. But it’s nice to know that if I burst into flame, the man next to me can do something about it. And after a lifetime in the Empire… it's nice to feel for the first time that somebody is seeing the real me.
Roiven’s room is similar to the one I was staying in, before I burnt it all to ash. The colors in his are darker, blues and silvers, and while everything is tidily put away it has a lived-in look that mine didn’t. Books and journals and notes on the desk, an empty wineglass on the table next to a lounging chair.
“Aveinor,” Torain gasps when Roiven opens the door. The white-haired witch sounds out of breath. Slowly, I slip my feet off the side of the bed and sit up. Torain’s eyes slide away fromRoiven’s and widen at the sight of me. “They’re going after Aveinor,” he repeats, but I’m the one he’s staring at. I guess he didn’t hear about the fire.
“Fuck. How far?” Roiven asks.
“Just started moving, but there’s no mistaking it. They’re headed in a straight line.”
“Aveinor?” I ask from the bed, then bite my tongue. Maybe I shouldn’t interrupt. They’ve been strategizing far longer than I have.
“The village,” Roiven tells me, and he doesn’t sound annoyed that I spoke.
My heart goes cold. I don’t know how powerful Nor is, but surely they can’t hold off the Hellion fleet by themselves.
“Can we make it in time?” I ask.
“If the gods are willing. Get everyone assembled,” Roiven snaps. Torain nods and leaves.
“I want to come.”
Roiven spares me a glance, his jaw tight and his eyebrows furrowed.
“I need to change,” is all he says. I close my eyes and stretch as he begins to strip. Drawers open and slam shut. A moment later I open my eyes as I hear Roiven’s footsteps approach.
He pauses in front of me. The witch is fully dressed, in his usual dark clothes and leather. His arms are raised as he knots his dark hair back out of his handsome face.
“Maybe you shouldn’t,” he says. My throat tightens.
“You don’t have to worry what side I’m on.”
“Iknow.It’s not that. It’s just, well, your arm.” He finishes tying his hair and folds his arms across his chest.
My arm. I grit my teeth and look away from him.
“Am I that hideous?” I try to make it sound like a joke, but it comes out strained, and anyways Roiven can probably feel the shame flooding me.
“Hideous?” he breathes. The witch steps closer. His hand reaches toward my face, then drops abruptly, like he’s thoughtbetter of touching me. “Ofcoursenot. But you fight right-handed. And today, in the fire… if you’d still had your armor, you could’ve escaped through the vent, couldn’t you?”
Ah. Of course. He thinks I’m weak.
“Either my magic’s the important part of me, or it isn’t,” I tell him stiffly. Roiven shakes his head.
“Allof you is the important part. I’m not doubting you, Caiteven. It’s just that Torain could make you a new one, so that you can useallyour skills. But we have to leave now, if we’re going to reach them… so the two of you could stay back, or…”
I was part of the imperial forces long enough that Idohave to think about it. I know better than to give in to pure emotion at a time like this. Without my sword arm, my entire strength is through my familiar, who I can’t currently reach, and the magical power I still have no idea how to control.
Protecting the Tower might be the fight that matters most. The majority of their people are here. If Roiven and the others can reach Aveinor fast enough to evacuate them, by the time the real battle happens…
“You’ll stay?” Roiven asks quietly.
But what if they face down the Hellions, and I’m not there to do anything about it? Roiven thinks my power is enough to make a difference. And I don’t know if he’s right or if he’s just fishing for moonlight, but I don’t have anything else to believe in right now.
I’ve spent my life trying to destroy my own people. And now, it’s time I risked my life to keep them safe.
“No. I’m going to come with you.”
I brace myself for him to refuse, to tell me he was just trying to let me down softly. But instead, Roiven nods. His expression is deadly serious.
