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"Kylar, what you do scares me I can understand it in my head, but it’s still hard to fitforfor me, too"

She looked hi fro to kill a boy I killed hiht live, and that’s what you did with the queen, Kylar I hope I never have to kill again, but I won’t think that I’m better than you because you have to"

"What? Slavers? Wait, you got kidnapped?"

"There’s a story more important than that, Kylar When you died, I had a dream A very shortwhite hair and yellow eyes and burn scars"

Kylar froze again It could only be the Wolf

"He told me what immortality costs Every time you die, someone you love dies in your place He told me that this time it’s me He said that the "

"I didn’t know," Kylar whispered

"Kylar, I think the hardest thing for me in Caernarvon was that I realized you were i against you, I’ll fight with you All the good you do for a lifetiuess this is a kind of heroism that no one sees, but maybe that makes it better, not worse"

"I love you, Elene I’m sorry I’ve been such a fool I’irl with scars; I love a man with a purpose Love comes at a price, but you’re worth it"

"How can you say that? I’ve killed you I’ve stolen your life" Kylar sed, but that daive I can live with eternity init soon, and I’ here, with you, is exactly what I choose"

And then Kylar was crying Out in the yard, he felt Vi fu to distract herself, trying to give Kylar privacy Elene hugged him and in her arms he found such boundless warmth and unqualified acceptance that his tears redoubled All his doubts and self-recri and fear washed away And when his tears stopped flowing, she cried The tears were an ablution and, holding her, Kylar felt clean for the first time in years

When the tears had passed, they looked at each other, tear-shed and held each other more Then, slowly, they spun out their stories Elene told him of her trip to Cenaria and her capture by the slavers Kylar told her of Aristarchos’s atte the Godking and being ringed, of his work to enthrone Logan, and his death on the wheel, his discovery of the cost of immortality, and his reunion with Durzo

Then she asked hi, about the Talent and what he sahen he looked at people through the ka’kari He told her the unvarnished truth, and she listened She couldn’t understand all of it, she said, but she listened without judg it

As he spoke, Kylar slowly relaxed He felt the tension of secrecy and guilt, the fear of discovery and condemnation--all the tension that he had carried for so much of his life that it was siin to unwind In Elene, he found rest For the first time, peace