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"Youhis care for her in a forest glade, in what felt like a whole different lifetiht"

She sat upon her bed and let hi seen from that eye was a watery blur She could not focus This time, however, it was darker She did not consider this a positive development

"Mirare" Somial’s voice was soft, but sounded surprised He , so she did not require translation But Mirare? She wondered if it was an Eletian expression of soently shifted her head this way and that so he could peer into her eye Just his touch diht He eased the bandage back over her eye

"I am afraid I can do no more than has been done already," he said His expression was unreadable Then he added in what sounded like prophecy: "What sight you lose, others ain"

He would explain no further, and she was not reassured Not one bit

"We must take leave of you now," Somial said "Lhean and the others will be most pleased to hear of your return"

Enver stuck his hand out again She clasped it, and he shook with enthusiasm "It was an honor to meet you"

Karigan raised an eyebrow, never having encountered an Eletian ould ever admit as much As far as she could tell, they mostly considered ave her only a cool, eniglided their way from her room and down the corridor She noted that Enver was huskier than any other Eletian she had raceful than that of his companions He was different, more earthly, not entirely Eletian

She watched until they were out of sight Watching with only one eye took soed the distance of objects, like when she reached for a glass of water and missed She’d bruised her shoulder on door fraht side caused her to be startled by people approaching her froles Vanlynn assured her that, for thefor the bad If her bad eye did not heal, and her vision did not return, she would have to learn new fighting techniques Arms Master Drent would be overjoyed andwould turn her blind eye into an asset

• • •

As tiathered details from Mara and Captain Mapstone about what had passed while she’d been away Because the king and Estora had been betrothed well before she’d gone into Blackveil, theconsidered it inevitable It still pinched her on the inside, and yet, not as hard as it ht because of Cade She couldn’t quite remember what had been between her and Cade, but intuition, a certain sense of longing, the creeping grief that caught her unawares and nificant

As for the wedding of the king and Estora, the captain had been judicious about what details she gave Karigan Mara had not been as careful, and it sounded to Karigan like a deathbed wedding That certain of the king’s advisors were gone due to their co it, only enhanced the i had almost died shook her She still loved him no matter who he had married Couldn’t help it She would’ve taken that arrow for him if she could, and not just out of duty

She also heard about the stepped up aggression by Second Eri to ride It turned out that Robin, the horse who had tor Ben as his Rider The two had finally come to an accord, and Ben’s confidence around horses had risen substantially, though he was unlikely to ever be sent out on e errands He was too irounds, especially with Estora expecting

Karigan’s thoughts returned to Cade She walked in circles in her roo at his naht pouring through the smallscoured the flesh of her arm of color "Dark hair," she muttered "But brown or black?"

She beca in the doorway Her friend had that worried look on her face, which she quickly concealed with a san had seen this with the captain, and Ben, too, trying to hide their concern from her She pulled her sleeve down

"Just for ain, you were all silvery green"

Karigan glanced out the sno in surprise It was better than hearing, The way you pace in circles and mutter to yourself looks insane

"Anyway," Mara continued, dissipating the odd ood news Garth has proclai ready, and Master Vanlynn has given you leave to, well, leave The , that is"

"Finally!"

The only possessions Karigan had to take with her were the clothes she wore and the bonewood Mara, noticing, spoke about going shopping down in the city for any extras Karigan s, because she’d been declared dead and her possessions had been returned to her father, it would have been an ordinary conversation Even so, Mara stilltrip, and they discussed which stores to visit in very an had ever gone off to Blackveil