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I turned toward Talisyn, and Tal said, “How does this work? Last time you surprised me. I thought I was dying.”
“Sorry,” I said, feeling abashed. “I wanted to get away from Kallus.”
“It’s all right. It’s amazing, actually.” Talisyn’s smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “It just takes some getting used to. But I’m glad you’re powerful. Does that mean he can’t shadow travel anymore?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “He’s not doing anything right now.”
Besides dying,Zehr said brightly.
Besides haunting me,I thought. I didn’t want to tell Talisyn anything about my connection with Zehr, especially in a moment where I just wanted to focus on my relationship with Talisyn, but keeping secrets wasn’t smart. I drew a deep breath, feeling Zehr’s pressure on my mind as he tried to tell me no, tried to stop me. “I have some kind of… connection with him. He’s unconscious most of the time, while the Scourge curse eats away at him, but there’s a link between us.”
“What kind of link?”
“I can communicate with him. Not that I want to.” Then reluctantly, I admitted, “And sometimes I can see his memories.”
And I can see yours,Zehr whispered in my head.Which is…not delightful.
Talisyn nodded. “Well, perhaps he can help us.”
When I looked at him in surprise, Talisyn shrugged. “From what you’ve said, he’s a victim too, in a way, right? He didn’t want to become the Scourge king. Branok’s interactions with him make me question if he’s really all evil.”
Zehr’s irritation blustered in the back of my mind.
“I don’t think he is,” I admitted. “Even after…Arren.”
“He lost his mind about you?” Talisyn said drily. “I can’t imagine.”
My gaze rose, but I couldn’t quite meet his eyes. Talisyn’s lips were pink and kissable above the hard line of his jaw, and I glanced away. “Let’s travel.”
Talisyn held out his hand to me. I drew in a quick breath—it was odd to touch Talisyn now, even though I used to kiss him—and I slid my fingers into his. His warm, firm grip wrapped around mine.
And even as we phased through the shadows, as the world went cold, his hand felt like an anchor.
Then the two of us were stumbling in the back of the library. Here it was dark and shaded by the towering bookshelves, and the two of us were alone in its depths.
There should be no more hiding, no more distractions, from the question we needed to have.
But I still started down the shelves.
“Honor.” Talisyn’s warm voice stopped me, and I turned back to face him reluctantly. “Did you have something you wanted to ask me?”
“You already answered me,” I said.
“No.” He was at my side in a few steps, and he raised his hands as if he was going to touch my arms but then he hesitated. “I… I owe you more answers. You wanted to know why I came.”
“When you don’t remember me,” my voice was a whisper. And it wasn’t because I didn’t want to break the hush of the library.
But the words still seemed loud.
“I came for you because I care about you with or without my memories, Honor.” His hand finally rose to stroke a wayward piece of hair out of my face. “I don’t need to know everything that ever happened between us to know how much I love you.”
The hush in the library was so deep that I could’ve heard a mouse, if any had dared to enter Royal territory.
I stared at him, feeling as if this might be the cruelest trick anyone I ever played on me if it was a trick. I couldn’t quite believe it was real. “I thought forgetting me was only part of it. I thought he took your love.”
“He did,” he said, and my heart sank.
Talisyn went on, “He took however it was that I fell in love with you for the first time… whatever that was, because I don’t remember. Maybe some kind of lust, or admiration for how tough you were. All those things. I guess that’s gone, and it’s not coming back, but that’s not the only thing to love about you.”
