Page 39 of Soul Forge

“I do.” He closed his eyes, obviously wishing he could take back the slip-up. “I need to protect myself from the bond for as long as I can.”

He was holding himselfback? Even though it could put her life and the lives of everyone on Valerus at risk? It was an effort to keep her jaw from dropping.

“How do you expect me to become a wielder if you won’t properly teach me?” she asked incredulously. “I can’t fulfil whatever potential the Spirits have seen in me if my mentor won’t commit.”

He glared at her, crimson irises burning in the low light. There was that look in his eye again, the one that was more than just anger. It was clear to her that he’d lived far,farlonger than her, and he was damaged by whatever he’d been through. Demon ornot, she couldn’t find it in herself to be afraid of him even when he leaned closer and showed his teeth. All she felt was… sadness.

“The same way they expect me to suffer, lifetime after lifetime. The same way they intend for me to keep on going, no matter what shit they throw my way. Because just like me, you haveno choice.”

So much pain, she realised. There was so much pain locked away inside him.

“Sypher.” She said his name softly like she was trying to calm a cornered wildcat. That muscle in his jaw feathered again. “I do have a choice.”

“You have theillusionof a choice,” he snapped.

"Listento me,” she insisted. He fell silent. “I have a thousand choices to make, and any one of them could be wrong. I could pick the wrong fight, take the wrong shot, I could decide not to do something, and a hundred people could die. I don’t know what will happen next or how many lives could be lost because of me.

“I need yourhelp. I can’t make the right decisions with nobody to show me what they are. You might think you have no choice but to be what the Spirits intend, but I don’t believe that. I believe they gave you a purpose, and how you meet that purpose is up to you.”

“What do you know of them?” he countered, bitterness making way for an aching, crushing sadness. The sound of it took her breath away. “Your eyes are clouded by worship. You grew up praying at their altars, giving thanks to them for the world you live in. You don’t knowanything.”

“Because you won’t tell me.”

He sat in stony silence. She sighed and chewed her lip, teetering dangerously close to making him shut her out altogether. She wanted to get past his rage so desperately, but he was nowhere near ready.

“Come on. You look exhausted.”

She beckoned him towards the washroom. He hesitated, but eventually, he stood. His limp had lessened a fraction, his bruises changing to the yellowed marks of an old injury, but he still looked ready to collapse.

Elda ducked through the door and frowned at the large stone basin, searching for a switch stone and coming up empty. A brass spout was set at one end, reflecting her confused expression back at her. She’d never seen a bath outside the palace before.

“It’s a tap,” Sypher said from behind her, making her jump. She turned to find him leaning against the door frame to watch. “You turn the top.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks flamed. “We only have switch stones in the palace.”

“Switches are too expensive for people out here.” He passed her and turned on the faucet, water pouring out in a loud rush. “Now explain to me why you’re trying to run me a bath.”

“If you soak in the healing salve, it’ll speed up your recovery. You should be right as rain by morning,” she explained, the flush creeping to the tips of her pointed ears. “I’m not trying to be inappropriate. I just wanted to help. But if you don’t want my salve, I’ll take the rest of it and go.”

“You found out tonight that I’m half demon, and you’re beingniceto me.” He squinted at her. “Did you hit your head when we fell?”

“I don’t have a head injury,” she snapped. “But I do owe you something for saving my life so many times already.”

To her surprise, he nodded. “Alright. Thank you,” he said awkwardly. She smiled and fetched the bottle of salve, pouring its remains into the steadily filling tub. Its earthy aroma bathed the room in pine-scented steam.

“I’m going to need more of this, somehow,” she mused. “Especially if you’re going to insist on being a living shield. You might need it more than I do.”

“I don’t insist; I have no choice.”

“You’ll still need the salve more than I do.”

He shot her a sideways glance. “Thanks for the concern. Just don’t assume this makes me like you.”

She grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Elda Gild!” came a familiar voice from outside the bed chamber door, followed by Reiner’s fist pounding against the wood hard enough to make it rattle. Sypher’s brow quirked upwards, and the princess felt all the blood drain from her face.

“Oh no.”

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