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She did the right thing.
It wasn’t a part of the mission — but since when did that matter, if it meant saving a life?
She did the right thing.
Those slaves deserved so much more than their shackles. Had every right to a free life, just as the birds have a right to the sky and the squirrels to the trees.
She did the right thing.
So why does the man in front of her — the one she’s grown to admire and respect, the one who inspired her very actions, who always said if you have the power to change something, you don’t look away — offer nothing more than a thin, stretched out silence in response to her latest exploits in Nessus?
“Please say something,” she pleads. “Anything. Even if you’re disappointed — just...talk to me.”
“I’m not disappointed,” he replies immediately, the idea of her even thinking such a thing twisting his heart in ways he cannot bear. “What you did — that took courage. Strength. And I’m proud of you for it, little dragon.”
She watches him closely, a frown gradually forming on her lips the longer she looks. She’s known him long enough to recognize there’s more, his blue eyes holding a conviction that betrays the very sentiment he just expressed.
“But?” she presses.
“Every magister in the city wants your head on a pike.”
There's a long pause. His shoulders lift slightly as he sucks in a deep breath.
“I need to send you away.”
And with those words, it feels like reality is collapsing in on itself — the sun above her head sinking below the horizon, the grass beneath her feet withering into a dry yellow, the stone walls around her crumbling into dust.
“Send me away?” she breathes out in disbelief. “But Minrathous is all I have! Where would I even go?”
“Somewhere I know you’ll be safe,” he answers.
She bites her lip, fighting back the sob that wants to choke out. “I’m safe with you, Ash.”
“I want that to be true,” he rasps, the soft blue ocean in his eyes turning stormy, a fierce ache swirling in each iris. “If I alone could protect you for the rest of my days, I would.”
A fist clenches at his side. “But I can’t. No matter how much I want to.”
She takes a step forward, her brows knitting together in defiance. “We’ve fought off armies before. Won victories we had no business winning.”
“You’re right,” he concedes. “But I’m not willing to try my luck this time.”
She steps closer.
“Why not?” She asks, no — begs, her voice fraying at the edges, the crack in her heart louder than the anger still pulsing in her veins.
His throat bobs, and her eyes catch on the movement.
“Because now, it’s your life on the line,” he murmurs. “And I’d never forgive myself if I gambled with that.”
His words stop her mid-step — a wall of fire rising between them, barring her path.
“So this is it?” she whispers. “You send me away for Maker knows how long — I leave Minrathous—”
She can’t hold the tears back anymore.
“I leave you?”
This time, he’s the one who steps forward. Then again. And again — until his strong arms are wrapping around her small frame, pulling her into his chest.
“Look to the light and find all who dwell in it, for even the Fade cannot separate those joined together by the Maker’s hand,” he recites softly. “You are never without me, little dragon. And you never will be.”
Her fingers curl into the fabric of his robes as she burrows into him. "I don’t want to go."
A moment passes. His arms shift. A mask lands softly on the floor — and then she feels it: the quiet press of his lips to the top of her head.
“Me neither. But we’ll get through this, Rook. Just as we always do.”
She pulls away, just enough to meet his eyes — and she finds herself wanting to memorize it all. The way his gaze searches hers, prying at every secret she’s ever buried, shattering every mask she’s ever worn with a single look.
The scar trailing down his cheek — like a crack in a beautiful vase she wants to mend with gold, seal with a line of kisses.
A picture she tries to engrave in her mind, to close her eyes and reach for on the day she can no longer walk into the base and see it for herself.
“You promise?” she whispers.
His lips quirk upward, his breath tickling hers as he answers:
“Promise.”