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Karou’s hand tre her tea, and she steadied it with the other, to little effect "When did you get back?" she asked hi the subject He had been to Astrae in his capacity as representative of the Stelian court Liraz and Ziri had gone, too, towinter

"Last night," Carnassial told her "Some of yours came back with us Ixander is furious to have od A godstar

There had been plenty of discussion of what this , and for the reed that by no feasible interpretation were they going to becoods" There was an extraordinary unity and sole their fate They would play a part in the realization of ht have been a seraph ed to all of them Mortal or immortal was beside the point A war looo diht warriors ould banish the darkness

"I’od," Zuzana had said "You guys believe what you want"

Karou enjoyed the idea that you could "believe what you want," as though reality were a buffet line If only

Triple helpings of cake, please

Carnassial went on about Ixander "He says by right he should be one of the godstars, since he wanted to return to the Kirin caves with you, but was ordered to Astrae instead I was afraid he was going to challenge ining the big ursine soldier arguing loopholes with fate "Who knows," she said "It’s not like we could freeze Eliza’s sending and ain, either, because Eliza had gone to the Far Isles with the Stelians and Akiva "Maybe we all sae wanted to see"

"Maybe," Carnassial agreed "I saw you, though"

Karou couldn’t reply in kind She hadn’t seen him She had seen herself in the radiance of that vision, and she had seen Akiva at her side The sight had been like a buoy to one drowning, and she clung to it still

She did believe that the tiether--or at least a time when they could twist and bend and wrestle their duties into alignment If they were bound to be dutiful fate-slaves forever, then htn’t they at least be dutiful fate-slaves on the same continent, perhaps even under the same roof?

Someday

And hopefully before Scarab’s war called them all to meet the nithilam

And ould it? Not soon This wasn’t a confrontation to rush into The very idea of it had met with violent opposition when the Stelians returned hos froh Apparently,for a future free of their duty to the veil

"Have you heard from hoes fro another

Carnassial nodded "Two nights past Everyone is well"

"Everyone is well?" she repeated, wishing for Zuzana’s eyebroess to express just what she thought of the extent of this news "Is that seriously all?"

"More than well, then," he allowed "The queen is ho, and it’s nearly the drea because Akiva was no longer draining it, and that ordinary stability was returning, but she didn’t knohat the dreaood tihened voice, and looked away

"Oh," she said, not yet understanding "How good?"

His voice was still rough when he said, "That entirely depends on who you share it with," and this time it was Karou who looked away

Oh

She pulled on her boots and gathered her hair back, tying it with a strip of cloth she’d torn from one of her two shirts Fancy Get rubber bands, she willed Zuzana, wishing for telesthesia of her own

She was dressed already This was not a life for pajamas, even if she’d had the in one set until it failed the sniff test--though, in all honesty, it was quite the lenient sniff test these days It was a little funny to iine the boutique in Rome where Esther’s shopper had purchased these, and under what conditions, say, the next shirt in the stack found itself on a nor it on a htly around her waist Give her an Audrey Hepburn haircut, because why not? Ro was sure: That iht have started out identical to Karou’s, but it could bear no resehened, sun-bleached, sweat-stiffened article that Karou wore now