Page 102 of Of Empires and Dust

“I’ll sleep. But first I need to tell Tora’s father. He lost his wife in the attack five nights ago. I want him to hear this from me.”

The look on Anya’s face melted away, and she let out a mournful sigh, her eyes closing. She nodded. “You made a difference with him,” she said, gesturing towards Conal, who stood at the end of the alley waiting for Anya. “He looks up to you.”

“I had a good teacher.”

Dahlen still layawake by the time Nimara slid into the room, her steps tired but careful.

“Let me help,” he said at the sound of her struggling to remove her armour in silence. He grunted as he dragged himself from the bed and helped her remove her breastplate.

“What are you doing awake?” Nimara let out a sigh of relief as the plate came free. She removed her gauntlets, then pulled her gloves from her hands and pressed her fingertips to his cheeks. “Nightmares again?”

He shook his head, then gave her a broken smile.

“Two of the older children took spears and went to fight at the walls.” He cupped her hands in his.

“Shit.”

“One of them lives, but he watched a Bloodmarked tear the other one apart. She was only fourteen.”

“Dahlen…” Nimara gripped the back of his neck and pressed her head into his chest.

“Her father just broke when I told him.” Tears wet Dahlen’s eyes as he thought of Tora’s father, one of the Belduaran Kingsguard, wrapping his arms around Dahlen, shaking andsobbing. Dahlen pulled away and leaned his head back so he stared at the wooden ceiling. He squeezed his eyes shut.

“You need to sleep.” Nimara brushed her thumb across his cheek.

He pressed his fingers into the creases of his eyes.

“Come.” She took Dahlen by the hand and put him to bed before undressing and climbing over him to lie at his back.

“My brother and my father are off somewhere fighting a war I should be fighting, and I have no idea if they’re dead or alive.” He stared across the dimly lit room as he spoke, curtains drawn to keep out the morning sun. “When my mother was dying, I promised her I’d look after Erik. Swore it to her as she lay there all broken, her skin all covered in those black marks. She didn’t cry. She just smiled at me…” He shook his head, a tear rolling over the bridge of his nose to drip onto the sheets. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”

Nimara didn’t say anything, but she wrapped her arms around him and pressed herself against his back.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost them.” For as long as Dahlen could remember, he and Erik had fought beside their father all across the continent. From Vaerleon to Cardend, to Arginwatch, Khergan, and Antiquar. And for that entire time, they had felt invulnerable. Aeson Virandr was a living, breathing legend. He was a Draleid of old, one of the greatest warriors to have ever lived. And he was their father. What harm could come to them with a father like that? A father who had trained them to wield a blade with his own hands.

Somewhere along the way, that fantasy faded. His fatherwasa warrior of legend, a master of the blade, a hero… but he was mortal. And mortal men could die.

“It’s all right.” Nimara pulled Dahlen tighter, her breath warm against the back of his neck.

“No, it’s not,” he whispered. “I wanted so desperately to prove that I could be what he had always trained me to be. That I wasn’t a failure. I wanted it so badly that I left him to find Erik on his own. Then I marched halfway across Epheria… If they die because I’m not there…”

A sharp pain flared in Dahlen’s left ear and he spun around in the bed, glaring at Nimara. “What the fuck was that?”

“I flicked your ear.”

“Why?”

“Because you were being an idiot.”

Dahlen turned back around and shuffled into the mattress, letting out a frustrated sigh.

A few minutes of silence passed before Nimara spoke again. “The people of Salme are alive because you arehere,” she whispered. “You have nothing to prove to anyone. The men and women of this place would lay down their lives for you in a heartbeat because of who you are… So would I.”

Dahlen didn’t answer, but he intertwined his fingers with Nimara’s where her hand rested over his chest, and for the first time in two days, he slept.

Chapter 24

Hidden Meanings

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