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"This is the rebels’ work," Kyol says "Jorreb’s work When he captures Court fae who e of our plans, he takes them to your world and locks them in a roo as it takes to break them When the rebels have what they need, they send them back like this"

These fae aren’t like the tor’um in Lynn Valley Those fae were born without the ability to fissure; they didn’t live their whole lives nory Kyol’s described this sickness to e to soral to their existence Their minds break Shut down Close off And they beco I closethrough me Aren’s not innocent He did this

Kyol’s hand slides down to grasp mine "I’ve never wanted you to see the horrors of war Your night fae waste away like this I’ve kept certain things from you to keep your conscience clean and to keep you safe Maybe that was a iven all the facts so I could make my decisions based on as real, not on someone’s twisted version of the truth

"Is this not enough?" Kyol asks

I say nothing Thisthis torture is one of the things Aren kept hidden from me He kneould bolster my resistance to him And it does I swear the anchor-stone pulses in uys in this war?

"Just take me back to my world"

Kyol’s jaw clenches "You need low frohts the corridor We descend another staircase, take a left turn, and eventually stop in front of an iron gate guarded by tordse Kyol with nods and lances The fae on the left turns a key in the lock and swings the gate open

Swords, spears, bows, and other weapons are propped up in racks against both walls while jaedric cuirasses, helear I can’t identify are layered in waist-high stacks down the center of the long roo fae rarely coear A waste Aren could equip the entire rebellion with a third of the arh the labyrinth of arms At the far end, the roonize him as Garrad, one of Kyol’s swordsnals his an old, wooden cart out of the way and thenhis palh up on the wall Just like with Lorn’s escape tunnel in Lyechaban, blue light surrounds the rectangle, and a rinds aside

Kyol wedges his torch into the groove in the stone floor and then pulls

"Now!" someone shouts froing and narrowly -streaked hu him A seconda fist into a face I recognize as Naito’s one second before it hits The thud of Naito colliding with the back wall echoes in the small stone prison

"Sword-master?" Garrad rushes into the room, sword at the ready

"It’s under control," Kyol says The guard glances between the two humans, nods once, then retreats back to his post

It takesthat just occurred than it took for it to actually happen Now I’ht cheek already swelling

"McKenzie?"

"Naito" I fall to ht you were dead"

"Not yet," he says

Relief floodsbecause maybe I wasn’t a coe Kyol I peer over my shoulder His sword is still drawn, the steel a barrier between the other human and me