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“It was you, wasn’t it? You stopped him.”
It was Faenir that reminded me. “Yes, and in doing so I have killed him.”He flinched as he said it.
My mouth dried once again, but it was not water that would help quench it. “You found me.”
“Of course I found you. If I did not get to you when I did then we would not be having this conversation. He was intent on killing you. By the time I found you the glow of life that haloes you was faltering. Another moment and it would have been extinguished.”
The truth of knowing that Faenir had killed Gale did not disturb me as I thought it would.
“And Myrinn, is she okay?” She was the first person I thought of as he said it.
Faenir seemed to rock back a step. “Does it not concern you that I killed him?”
“Like you said, we would not be having this conversation if you didn’t do it.”
I watched as my words physically settled over Faenir and his body seemed to lose some of the tension that had kept him strung tight. As if realising, I noticed he turned his back on me and paced back for the chair.
“Myrinn is coping well considering,” he finally answered my question as he took his seat again. “Claria is furious of course but considering the justification of Gale’s actions I am free from her open berating for the time being.”
“Furious because you killed someone, or furious that I survived?”
Faenir answered plainly. “Both.”
“Charming,” I muttered. “She can join the line. Haldor is not exactly thrilled that I am here. Gale wanted me dead.”
“Excuse me?” Faenir spoke and the shadows quivered. I felt the pressure of his sudden anger as physically as if the air itself pressed in on me.
“When he danced with me…” With each word Faenir’s dark mood was intensifying. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Everything matters. I have put your life in danger, Arlo. By me giving into my selfish desires I have brought you into a realm that does not wish to see you live.”
There was so much to unpack from what he said. Too much. However, I could not help but grasp one certain comment.
“This is all because you can touch me and that means you could become King.”
“I do not wish for that.”
“As you keep saying.”
“And yet my family seems to not hear me.”
“I hear you,” I said softly.
Faenir dropped his gaze, the lines around his eyes smoothing.
“What is it you wish for?” I asked. “You stole me from my home and for what… why?”
“Tofeel,” Faenir snapped. “I wish to finally feel the mundane truth of touch without consequence. Such a simple thing for everyone else to experience. So simple that you may not even realise how being deprived of such a thing can drive you to do things you never imagined you were capable of.”
“Like stealing innocent people from their homes. From their families.”
Faenir looked down, focusing on his hands which were balled in fists upon his lap. “Perhaps I should leave you to rest.”
“If you dare leave me. You promised not to leave me again.” I didn’t expect my sudden panic at the idea of being left alone. Just the thought of Faenir leaving me had visions of Gale flooding back into my mind.
Faenir looked back up at me. Hope swirled within his eyes. “Nothing will happen to you in Haxton. I promise that. Soon the inquisition will find out why Gale wished to harm you and who put him up to that challenge.”
I felt numb, defeated and pathetic. Not from what had happened, but how desperate I had been to keep Faenir with me. My captor. The person who had sealed the promise of my death in more ways than one.
