‘I’ve been watching you wince,’ he said. ‘Have you told Denser you’re in this much pain?’
Erienne shook his head. ‘I’ve burdened him enough.’
The Unknown chuckled. ‘I don’t think you could ever overburden Denser.’
‘You weren’t there. You didn’t see the worst.’
‘And you think he doesn’t understand why, or blames you, or something?’
‘Lyanna was his daughter too,’ whispered Erienne. And there it was still. The dread feeling of loss that dragged at her soul. It would never go. But at least it didn’t threaten to swamp her now.
‘Erienne, you’ve been through something entirely and tragically unique. Don’t add guilt to everything else you’re forced to endure.’
‘I can’t help it.’ Erienne shrugged.
‘But you know he’s forgiven your every action. Never blamed you in the first place. We all feel the same.’
‘I know.’ Erienne gazed at The Unknown in the firelight and recollected her surprise at the sensitivity that existed beneath those hard features. But those eyes that gazed back brimming with compassion and understanding could be so cold.
He was the most brutally effective warrior she’d ever seen. Had been. The smashed hip that had forced him to hang up his trademark two-handed sword must have reduced his effectiveness. On the other hand, looking at the power in his arms and shoulders, she thought he’d compensated. It was easy to see why his enemies feared him and equally easy to know why she and everyone else he cared for loved and trusted him without question.
‘I hated the lot of you for forcing me out here. Away from Lyanna.’
Another chuckle. ‘Right though, weren’t we?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Erienne. ‘I can’t shift the longing for her. I don’t want to.’
She stopped and looked around the quiet campsite - at Denser, Hirad and Ilkar sleeping in hammocks above the teeming life that dredged the forest floor - and she understood again what being with these men meant.
‘But you’re all with me now, aren’t you? All of you.’
‘We never left,’ said The Unknown.
‘I can see when I’m with you,’ she said, trying to explain herself.
‘That’s why you had to leave that place. We were there too but you wouldn’t see us.’
‘She was my life,’ said Erienne.
‘And she would have been your death too,’ he said.
The words stung but she knew he was right. But they were words she wouldn’t have taken from Denser.
‘I will never forget her.’
‘No one is expecting you to, Erienne,’ he said, and turned and covered her hands with his. ‘None of us ever will. But you had to get away from Herendeneth. You had to stop fuelling your grief.’
‘And that’s why I’m here?’ Erienne was taken aback, not quite understanding what he was saying.
‘No,’ said The Unknown. ‘Not really. You’re here because you’re Raven and Ilkar needs you. The Raven needs you. But no one is denying the fortunate circumstance.’
Erienne laughed. ‘Fortunate? Is that what you call it? Think I’d have entertained this if I’d known I’d be sleeping above snakes?’
‘Think you’d have made that comment ten days ago?’
‘No,’ said Erienne. ‘Gods, what is it about you?’
The Unknown squeezed her hands. ‘Simple. We love you. We wouldn’t see you come to harm and you were coming to harm on Herendeneth. We understand your pain and we understand you are greater than it. And we all know what you carry inside you.’
Erienne looked into the fire, unable to speak.
‘At the risk of sounding like Hirad, this is what The Raven is about,’ said The Unknown. ‘No one has what we have. You can’t explain it but it’s why I’ll leave my wife and child to do what I must with The Raven, and it’s why Diera understands. I hate to sound superior but we are unique. And you’re hurting at the moment so you should use us. We expect it. We want it.’
Erienne flung her arms around The Unknown’s neck and sobbed into his shoulder. She felt his arms crush her to him even as within her she felt release. She held on for a while, unwilling to leave the security of his embrace.
‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘You don’t have to keep it burning inside you.’ The Unknown moved her back so he could look into her eyes. ‘Let us take some of the weight.’
She nodded, but in her gratitude was the lonely realisation that they couldn’t take any of the burden of the One.
‘Now I think you should sleep, if that headache will let you. Your stamina reserves are low, aren’t they?’