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“Neither does anyone else,” Cadex says. “Because he didn’t do it for praise. He did it because loving you meant restraint… if you don’t count the mountains he destroyed and rebuilt to pass the time.”
I circle him, fists still raised, but the fire in my chest has shifted. “You’re very good at defending him.”
He smiles crookedly. “I’m bad at most things. Loyalty isn’t one of them.”
I feint left, strike right, catching his shoulder. He grunts, approving. “Better.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I warn. “I still plan to yell at him.”
“As you should,” Cadex says, countering with a tap to my ribs. “Possibly hit him.”
“Oh, definitely hit him.”
He laughs, genuine and warm, and something settles between us. A beginning of a friendship, perhaps.
When we finally break apart, both breathing hard, Cadex lowers his hands first. “You fight like someone who expects the truth,” he says.
“I do,” I reply, thinking of all the Tellings that depend on exactly that. The truth is a responsibility I hold in the highest regard. “And I won’t accept less.”
His grin turns respectful. “Good. He needs that.”
I wipe sweat from my brow and nod once. In the humming heart of Terraguard, with stone and glowing crystals bearing witness, I realize this was the first part in building back my trust with Atlys.
Cadex rolls his shoulders, wincing as something pops. “I’ve got to clean up and head out soon anyway.”
I glance at him. “Head out where?”
“Mission.” He stills. Just for a second.
I narrow my eyes. “What mission?”
He exhales through his nose, clearly weighing his options, then mutters, “Damn it.” He looks at me again, expression sober now. “Something’s wrong in the Underworld. Really wrong.”
My pulse quickens. “Define wrong.”
“People are getting sick,” he says. “White rash blooming under the skin. Starts with itching. Ends with them losing themselves. Going feral. We put down three yesterday.”
My stomach twists. “That’s happening here?”
“Everywhere,” he says quietly. “More each day.”
I don’t hesitate. “I’m coming with you.”
Cadex blinks. “That’s not—”
“I want to help,” I cut in. “And I want to understand his—I mean, Baiabella.”
He studies me for a long moment, then sighs. “Atlys is going to kill me.”
I smile grimly.
The first mission takes us east of Terraguard, where the stone thins and the tunnels grow hot. Damaris leads, Cadex second, as always, his presence a battering ram against fear. I follow close behind him, blades clean, jaw set. Atlys brings up the rear, silent as a shadow stitched to my spine.
We barely speak.
The afflicted man is curled against a cavern wall, nails torn bloody from clawing at his own arms. When he looks up, his eyes are wrong. Too dark and empty. White flecks bloom beneath his skin, like frost creeping over glass.
Atlys moves before I can stop him, gentle hands steadying the man’s shoulders. There is something unbearably tender in the way he does it. Like he has done this before. Like he has lost people this way already.
