Page 224 of The Sun He Buried

Her tears stay bright in her eyes.

“He knew,” she says. “He knew before I did.”

“Baldr has always been skilled at finding truths that hurt him.”

“So have you.”

Solveih takes the last step between us.

“Tell me why you can feel me more than everyone else.”

The door remains open behind her.

I could walk past her and have both of them on the road by breakfast.

I’ve done harder things.

Instead, I stay where I am.

“At the dinner,” I say, “you cried for me.”

Her face changes.

“I remember.”

“One side of a potential mate bond opened.”

Solveih goes quiet. The wind brushes the roof.

“Mate.”

“Potential.”

“What does that mean?”

“For years, it has meant I receive you at any distance. Nothing moves back the other way.”

Her eyes search my face. “That long.”

“Yes.”

“You felt me in Gullither.”

“Yes.”

“In Sólvik.”

“Yes.”

Her cheeks redden. I wait.

She understands.

“With Baldr?”

Years of her being happy, and me on the far end of it by myself. “Every time.”

Her eyes close. “Gods.”