Page 99 of Of Sword & Silver

I breathe in deeply.

I don’t want to die. I hate that the Sword does want me to. I hate how much his truth hurts, and how cruel he was to admit it.

And, yet, everyone here thinks lies are the greater evil, when truth’s the sharper weapon.

34

THE SWORD

“Why would you tell her that?” Lara asks. Caedia and Morrow have excused themselves, clearly not wanting to witness Lara scold me like an angry goose.

The fire crackles in the sooty stone hearth, and I pace in front of it.

Lara is the only one who knows the truth of it.

“I can’t lie like you. I can’t lie like her. It makes me sick.”

“She thinks you want her dead, you absolute idiot.”

“You and I know that’s not what the curse means.”

Kyrie’s coughing in the next room, a wet hacking noise that sets my teeth on edge.

“She doesn’t know that!” Lara explodes, so angry her brown hair floats around her, her irises glowing purple. “They don’t know who you are, or what has to happen. Do you truly want her to hate you?” She tips her chin up, inspecting me in a way few mortals have done and lived to tell the tale. “That’s it, isn’t it? Will it make it easier for you if she hates you?”

My throat closes up. I nod, then shake my head, turning to the fire and away from Lara’s judgment.

“I don’t think there is a way to make it easier,” I finally answer.

Lara’s small human hand squeezes my elbow, then falls away. “I think you should do what feels right with her, Hr—Sword.”

I flinch at her mistake.

“I think just because… of who you are, truly are, you shouldn’t assume you can be rational about this. There is nothing rational about… our emotions.”

Love. She doesn’t say it, but the word flits across my mind all the same.

“I shouldn’t.” I want to sob the words, but it comes out on an angry snarl. “I shouldn’t feel anything for her but contempt.”

“She isn’t what you thought she’d be, is she?” Lara’s voice is so full of pain and compassion it hurts to hear.

“Did you know?” I ask aggressively, turning back to face her.

A tear slips down her cheek, and she shakes her head. “She never told me. I wondered why she kept stealing, but… I thought she was like a magpie, or it was some… internal need to steal and hoard. I didn’t know she was using it to help anyone but herself.”

Her face crumples, shame clear in the expression.

When she meets my eyes again, though, there’s strength there.

“You two will change this world for the better, and it will be easier if she doesn’t hate you when you do it. She might even find it in her secret heart to forgive you, if you can be truthful with yourself about her.”

With that, Lara leaves the living room, abandoning me to my wretched thoughts and the dark guilt I’ve lived with for an eternity.

35

KYRIE

Sweat soaks the sheets all around me, and a huge hand holds my wrist. My dagger’s in my hand, silhouetted by the full moon shining outside the window.

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