The Whitefire Crossing - By Courtney Schafer Page 0,171

lowered to a bare whisper. “At least this way Cara can keep your promise for you, regardless of what happens to us.”

All evening, I’d clung desperately to the hope of Cara taking my stash of gems and coin to Ninavel to save Melly. Yet shame still sickened me at the thought of how I’d earned that pay.

“I should’ve found a better way,” I told Kiran. “One that didn’t mean fucking you over.”

“A better way...I wish I’d found one, as well. A way to escape Ruslan without anyone dying.” Kiran dropped his head to his knees. His next words came out muffled and rough. “I regret—so many things. What do you do, when a mistake cannot be undone?”

I stared into the fire, thinking of my blind idiocy in trusting Jylla, and the terrible moment when I’d realized Melly would be the one to suffer for it. At length I said heavily, “You make amends where you can. And if you can’t...well. You keep going, and try not to make the same mistake twice.”

Kiran was silent for a time. “Does the pain of it ever lessen?”

“Not quickly.” The slightest thought of Jylla still cut deep enough to stop my breath. And yet...my gaze settled on Cara’s sleeping form. Her steadfast partnership against Simon...the joy we’d shared in our night on the furs...her forthright concern, when I’d woken in Alathia...with those memories shining in my head, Jylla’s name no longer triggered the same depth of bitter, impotent fury.

“Sometimes, other people help pain fade,” I told Kiran. And prayed to Suliyya the Council would let him live long enough to experience the truth in my words.

***

Martennan showed up just after dawn. I stood, my stomach churning, as voices echoed in the hall and the two mage guards snapped to attention. Cara scrambled off her couch, her hair fraying from her braid and her face set in tight lines. Kiran woke with a start from his uncomfortable huddle on one of the chairs. He looked as bleary-eyed as I felt. I hadn’t slept at all.

Martennan entered, trailed by Lena and another mage, a lanky man with deep laugh lines bracketing his mouth. Dark circles shadowed Martennan’s eyes, his greeting smile more weary than cheerful.

“The Council has declared their judgment. I think the result a good one, all things considered,” he announced.

“Do you mean they won’t give me over to Ruslan?” Kiran asked, cautious hope dawning on his face. I waited, arms folded tight. Martennan’s idea of a good result might not match mine.

Martennan’s smile brightened. “Correct. Nor execute you, either. They’ve accepted your offer to help decipher Simon’s charms.”

Oh, thank Khalmet. I groped for a chair back as a millstone lifted from my shoulders. Cara slid a supportive arm around my waist. Kiran’s mouth was open, his blue eyes wide with stunned relief.

Martennan said, “I must confess the victory was hard-won. Several councilors were quite concerned over the part of Dev’s tale in which your mage-brother gave him the Taint charm that let you escape. They fear Ruslan may have arranged this entire series of events to entice us to accept you into Alathia, as part of some plot against us.”

“If they think Ruslan was faking his hunt of us, they should’ve seen his face when Kiran made it through the border,” I growled. I’d stake every kenet I owned that Kiran in Alathia was no part of Ruslan’s plan.

Martennan held up his hands and chuckled. “Oh, I believe you! I was there, after all. Thanks to Kiran allowing us access to his memories, we mages argued the councilors’ fear was almost certainly unfounded.”

Kiran’s quick, sharp glance at Martennan said he’d caught the qualifiers at the end of that sentence, same as I had.

Martennan’s round face turned serious. “The Council agreed to forego execution, Kiran, but it’s not all sweets and roses. They don’t trust you, not one bit. You’ll be kept under constant guard, and you’re expected to work with our arcanists to analyze not only Simon’s border charm, but others we found when we searched his house.”

“I can do that.” Kiran wore the look of a man who fears to wake from a dream.

Cara’s arm tightened around my waist. “What about Dev?”

“Dev...the Council agreed to spare your life, as Kiran requested.” But Martennan wasn’t smiling, and the lanky mage behind him now stood like a man braced for a fight. Lena’s eyes were fixed on the floor, her face clean of all expression.

“But,” I said. My relief vanished, leaving a cold hole in