Page 106 of Of Sword & Silver

“Get some sleep,” Morrow rumbles. “No one is going to want to dance with you if you smell like that. No point in laying a trap with bait that looks half dead.”

My jaw drops open. “I don’t look that bad,” I say mildly.

“You really do,” Caedia tells me. “You stink, too. Like you’ve been sweating in your clothes and living on smoked sausage and cheese for three days straight.”

Scowling, I take the proffered bottle from her and bravely swig it down, prepared to be disgusted by the flavor as usual.

“Oh,” I say. It doesn’t taste bad. “It tastes like midnight feels,” I tell her.

“Good. That means it’s working.”

Heaviness settles over my limbs, and Lara barks out a laugh.

I smile up at her.

“Come on, little liar,” the Sword says, easily hefting me into his arms. “Let’s get you to bed. Tonight will be perfect. You’ve done all you can.”

My eyelids are a thousand pounds and my jaw cracks in a yawn.

“I don’t need it to be perfect. I just need us all to get out alive with the crown.”

“You’ve accounted for nearly every possibility.” He sets me down on the bed, pulling the crisp sheets up and over me.

I stretch my arms out long overhead, then stop. “What do you mean, nearly?”

“No human could possibly account for every possibility.”

“So you admit my crime planning capabilities are godly?” I ask jokingly, my half smile melting into another out-of-control yawn.

The Sword stiffens, then turns away.

Maybe I do stink.

Two things are for certain: I’m going to take a long bath when I wake up, and the Sword and I are going to have a long talk tomorrow, once the Crown of Sola’s in my possession and I can focus on something besides the midwinter masque.

Kyrie’s joking words echo in my ears. Even as I lay the groundwork for the magic she demanded of me, I can’t help but hear them over and over again.

I don’t need to focus for my magic, though—I haven’t since the days of going into battle alongside Filarion.

You admit my capabilities are godly? she asked.

It wasn’t an accusation, though maybe closer to one than she could imagine.

I’ve wanted to hold onto her so badly, so tightly, over the past few days, since she kissed me back our first night here. I’ve wanted to stop time and spend countless hours memorizing the cant of her eyes and the perfect curvature of her mischievous smile.

Now, the night that will put an end to her smiling at me draws nearer.

How can I want to succeed so badly and to fail all at once?

Fuck Sola and the chalice’s curse, and fuck my own past that’s led me to this point. There is no crossroads, there is no choice to be made. It’s been made for me, and for Kyrie, and all I can do is cling to this version of her and remember her like this, when she looked at me with hope, and with desire, and not with burning hatred.

Not yet, at least.

I will do everything in my power to ensure none of the mortals in my charge are hurt.

That is, of course, the whole point of this. Ensure the safety of the peoples of Heska. Satisfy Sola’s punishment for my vengeance against her followers.

And make sure that the goddess of lies can never do what she’s done to her followers again.

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