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Helen didn’t have years She could feel it in her heart Her vision was co you haven’t told me that directly affects me andto say soed his mind "I’m sorry, Helen I should have takenbefore I bound you, but I was in so ony, you o"

What must that have been like for hiony make him? She’d felt only a fraction of his pohen she’d put a shield around the sludge ht the pressure would kill her He’d been living with er than she’d been alive She couldn’t even begin to iine what that was like

Drake looked away from her She could see his frustration in the tense lines of his body--hear the way his voice shook with regret "I can’t change what I did, but give me a chance to help you understand why I did it"

"I understand perfectly Even my vision makes sense now You say you’d never watcharound ned my death warrant yourself I’et to me first"

"It’s not like that My job is to keep you safe"

"Like you kept Thoretted the words the moment they were out of herpain that drove into him at her snide reht I should have saved Thomas, but there was only one way I could have done that I would have had to be closer to the kajot killed in his stead Neither one of us would let you die, Helen It’s time you see why"

He took her by the wrist and led her out of his suite down the hall She thought about trying to resist him, but it wasn’t a battle she could win Let him show her what he wanted It wouldn’tyou can show e my mind," she said

They passed half a dozen rooht and she followed in his wake, unable to pull away froht hold on your righteous anger, be uest, but it’s aiven a choice whether or not to becoht"

Drake never slowed and Helen refused to throw a fit She’d look at what he had to show her and then slap hie anything, but it ht make her feel better

His voice was low, but she could hear it fine in the quiet hallway "None of us were given a choice, but you can think that if it helps you sleep at night, because like it or not, you’re a part of this war now and you’re going to need all the help you can get in that depart to scare me?"

He stopped in front of a pair of massive double doors Unlike the plain hotel-style doors on the rest of the rooms they’d passed, these were each intricately carved with a tree that looked like the one covering Drake’s chest There was a subtle power carved into the wood She could feel it heating the air around theers over the s

When Drake spoke, she had to blink a couple of tis

"No, Helen I’ to show you that there are a lot of things in this world that are bigger than what you or I want I’m sorry I took your freedom to choose this way of life, but none of the rest of us were ever given a choice We were born into this war I’ve been fighting for centuries to keep people like you safe and you’re the first bit of hope any of us has found since htered I couldn’t let you go"

He pushed the doors open and pulled her inside The rooany, and black Twin leather chairs sat before an intricately carved stone fireplace, and even though it was sulass doors

Helen looked away from the flames before she could panic She concentrated on the other details in an effort to slow her pounding heart Her feet sank into the carpet The air smelled faintly of vanilla The room was completely silent Not even the fire dared to crackle and disturb the reverent stillness

The black walls were lined with swords hanging froht silver brackets formed in the shape of intricate vines

There were lots of swords Dozens of them They covered every empty bit of wall available

"These are the swords of thethe Synestryn," said Drake There was no anger in his voice now, only quiet, aching loss and respect "Each of theave his life so that soic effectively, and without it, we have only brute strength It’s not enough--not against an arrows more powerful every day"

"This is the Hall of the Fallen," she said in awe She’d heard Tho like this She’d pictured a few carved gravestones or raved on it Not this dark, comfortable room where one could come and be surrounded by the swords of the dead So many had died and she couldn’t help but wonder how many of them had been people Drake loved

Drake shook his head sadly "No This is a place of remembrance A place where we can come and sit and remember those who have recently fallen" He pushed open another pair of doors opposite the ones they’d coo in "This is the Hall of the Fallen"

Helen stepped inside and the echo of that footstep reverberated in her ears The roo that towered thirty feet above them Like the other roo fro Hundreds of them Maybe thousands Some had the unmistakable band of a luceria wound around their hilts, but most did not Most of these ht to breathe There were too many swords to count Tooto save humans who didn’t even know the Theronai existed

It was too sad, too overwhelth it took to live with this reminder of death always nearby She didn’t kno Drake and his friends could stand it--how they could go on when there was so little hope

She felt the heat of Drake’s body at her back and she leaned into his living war it He looped his arms around her waist and she didn’t try to stop hier seemed so petty and inconsequential in the face of what his people had suffered What they’d lost

"This is e need you, why I illing to bind you toyou the chance to refuse Part of my motivation was selfish because I wanted you to stop the pain, but I also wanted to give our people hope--a reason to keep going despite the pain and grief that is with us daily More of us die every year and noborn All of us have lived with excruciating pain, trying to hold on long enough for solimmer of hope" His mouth brushed her hair "You have to be that hope, Helen We can’t hold out any longer without you"

Helen had spent her entire adult life trying to find a way to leave behind soood She’d donated most of her inheritance to charities, volunteered her ti with people who needed sos and she’d alished she could do more