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I frowned Her tone had changed "What?"

She reached across the table and cuppeded to master the reflex in time That seeirl," she said again, and sighed hat ht be able to persuade Nahadoth to let you live, provided Itempas still suffers"

"What do you mean?"

"If, perhaps, you were to leave hiers trail away fro

When I finally ry at last, though; that steadied h for you to hurt him; you want htlord, and all the small hairs on my skin prickled, because I had not heard him come into the room He was so cold "Sorrow is sorrow I don’t care where it co as it is all he feels"

Despite my fear, his careless, ehtened into a fist "So I’ him in the back myself?" I snapped "Fine, then--kill me At least he’ll know I didn’t abandon him"

Yeine’s hand brushed htlord went silent, but I felt his rigid fury I didn’t care It made me feel better to hurt him He had taken my people’s happiness and noanted mine

"He still loves you, you know," I blurted "More than , really"

He hissed at me It was not a hu into a deep, shadowed crevice Then he started forward--

Yeine stood, turning to face him Nahadoth stopped For a span of time that I could not measure--perhaps a breath, perhaps an hour--they stared at one another, ods could speak without words, but I was not certain that was happening here This felt hed, stepping closer to him "Softly," she said, her voice ined "Slowly You’re free now Be what you choose to be, not what they h, and I felt the cold pressure of him fade just a little When he spoke, however, his voice was just as hard as before "I ary, Yeine They burn in s he did to me"

The room reverberated with betrayals unspoken, horrors and loss In that silence, er crumbled I had never been able to truly hate anyone who’d suffered, no matter what evils they’d done in the afterhtlord said "Not yet"

The Lady sighed "I know"

I heard hi her hand It reminded me at once of Shiny and the way he often touchedthe reassurance of my nearness Had he done that with Nahadoth, once upon a tier--missed those days, too He had the Lady to comfort hihtlord vanished Yeine stayed where she was for a moment, then turned back to me

"That was foolish of you," she said I realized she was angry, too, with me

I nodded, weary "I know Sorry"

To my surprise, that actually seeh she didn’t sit "Not wholly your fault He’s still… fragile, in some ways The scars of the War, and his imprisonment, run deep Souilt, that this was Shiny’s fault

"I’ve made my decision," I said, very softly

She saas in my heart--or perhaps it was just obvious "If what you said was true," she said, "if you do care about him, then ask yourself what’s best for hiht beco after I died and had turned to dust A wanderer, a warrior, a guardian A man of soft words and swift decisions and little in the way of kindness--yet he would have some, I understood Some warmth Some ability to touch, and be touched by, others I could leave hiht

But if I died, if his love killedin hi the consequences of caring too deeply for us He would snuff that sht He would live a humanity yet be wholly alone And he would never, ever heal