I—he—”
She stopped. Took a breath.
Raaf kept laughing until Zed popped him in the back of the head. A blue arm shot out from behind a nearby abutment, and Raaf got dragged out of sight, no doubt to enjoy Iko’s stern supervision for a few long minutes. Someone else was laughing, and Aron thought it might be Windblown. He wished Iko would grab him, too, but knew that couldn’t happen.
Snakekiller said nothing, and Stormbreaker’s hostile silence stretched to fill all available space. Aron felt glad he couldn’t see the man’s face, and mildly surprised that he heard no thunder, either distant or near.
“Nic’s asked me to be his band-mate,” Dari said, and then Aron wished he could be the one to make thunder. A big, heart-crushing clap of it.
Knowing he would lose Dari and watching it happen were two separate experiences. The joy on Dari’s face tore Aron into pieces inside, yet it pleased him at the same time. It worried him, too, because of what they would face come morning.
“She’s agreed.” Nic sounded giddy. “I came to my senses only tonight and made my intentions known to her—or I would have discussed it with you before I acted, Aron. I would have spoken to you, too, Stormbreaker.”
Aron could only nod to Nic. He couldn’t hate Nic, and he still couldn’t be angry with him. Though anger might have been a welcome shield against the drumming ache in his chest, in that place where his heart should be.
Nic and Dari joined hands, and Aron saw the mythical heartwood in his mind, towering above all of Eyrie, strong and endless and eternal, radiating a power that couldn’t be denied. It was a beautiful thing, that tree. And the simple, complete happiness in Dari’s eyes—just as beautiful, though bittersweet, because she had never looked so content in the time Aron had spent with her.
This was right.
He knew it was, and he had known it for some time now, and dealt with it as his truth-seeking legacy demanded. Yet the reality of their union was easier to accept. Aron tried to give some gesture, or at least make himself smile so they would know he was pleased for them. That he would grow accustomed to this loss, as he had the many others in his life—but how?
How could he just… let Dari go?
It seemed like half his life had been consumed by loving her, and he felt as naked and small as he did all those nights before, when he tumbled to the floor outside her door. This time, there was no tunic he could pull over his head to hide his emotions. He was forced to stand before his newly betrothed friends, more naked than ever, failing at every attempt to wish them well.
In the end, it was Aron’s former teacher and mentor who stepped forward to lead the way once more. Though Aron could see the lightning playing in his former guild master’s eyes, Stormbreaker offered Dari and Nic a polite bow.
“My congratulations to you both,” he said in a low but well-controlled voice. “Will you take your vows before we depart? If so, dawn is most beautiful along Triune’s east wall, and a wedding on Judgment Day would be most opportune for our purposes.”
“Yes,” Snakekiller agreed as she, too, came into the chamber to stand beside Aron. “And Stone keeps bands at the ready, though they might not be as fine as those you would receive at a dynast castle.”
“Tomorrow,” Dari said, her voice so slight Aron barely heard the word—but her excitement was unmistakable. So was Nic’s. Neither of them wished to wait, now that they had come to this decision.
“Let me speak to my grandfather and Lord Baldric,” Dari said, but Aron knew that was a formality.
This was it.
This was really it.
When he walked out of Dari’s chamber tonight, the next time he would see her, she would be a bride—a lovely, perfect bride, pledging her life to someone else.
“Let’s give them some privacy,” Snakekiller said to both Aron and Stormbreaker, and Aron realized that for all of Stormbreaker’s self-possession, he was having as much trouble walking out that chamber door as Aron.
Snakekiller took them both by the elbow, and when Aron felt her tug at him, he finally moved. Stormbreaker moved with him, and moments later—moments that felt endless and as painful as straight razors dragged across vulnerable skin—Dari’s chamber door swung shut behind them.
Outside in the hallway, Windblown waited with Zed and Raaf and Iko, who had