Page 34 of Invocation

He dropped his pack to the ground on the other side of the room, then looked up as if to ask something. He opened his mouth, then closed it. There was a long silence. His eyes never moved from hers.

Now that they were alone in a quiet room, she didn’t have the luxury of anything else to distract her from him, and she thought again of their kiss at the shop.

He took a step toward her.

Novikke took a quick breath, searching for something to break the silence before he reached her. “Your sister is…”

He stopped. His expression darkened. Exhaustion lined his face.

She knew that this hurt him—the fighting and killing. The things Avan and Kashava had said. It wasn’t in his nature to do any of these things, but he’d done them nonetheless.

“She does what she thinks is right,” he said with an ironic smile. “As she always has.” He leaned on the table against the wall across from her, which wobbled on unevenly cut legs. “No one in this entire forest can see reason.”

“Maybe tomorrow she will. Like Kashava said.”

“Maybe. But I’m not going to wait to find out.”

Novikke raised her eyebrows. “What are you planning?”

“To go to the temple myself, without Avan’s help.”

“And then?”

“Get to the heart, and beg Ravi to give me the power to save her.”

“Won’t they deny you entry?”

“Almost definitely.”

“Then how will you get in?”

He smiled bitterly. “I…haven’t figured that out yet. Perhaps Ravi will bless me with inspiration tonight.”

“What would you say your chances are?”

“Low. But I have no better plan, and I have to try something, and I have to do it soon.”

He came closer, standing in front of her. “You should leave,” he said. “Use Kadaki’s device to go back to the forest. It isn’t safe for you here. There’s a good chance I’m going to be killed or arrested tomorrow, and if that happens, it’s best if you aren’t here.”

She frowned. “This is the whole reason I came here with you. For just this situation. Your chances are better if I’m here to help you.”

He shook his head. “Kashava was right. Bringing you here was a mistake. After what happened earlier…”

“If I hadn’t been there earlier, you’d have failed already,” she said, crossing her arms. “I’m not leaving. We’ll go to the temple together.”

He frowned, eyeing her narrowly.

“And I hope you’re not about to try to make me do otherwise, because I’ll be annoyed if I came all the way here and endured all of this just to be cut out at the last moment.”

“After everything that’s happened, you still want to stay?” He took another small step closer until they were almost touching.

She thought of the dead trees and animals they’d seen, and imagined the entire forest like that—reduced to a dry, lifeless husk. She couldn’t let that happen to Kuda Varai, to Vondh Rav. More importantly, she couldn’t let it happen to Aruna.

“Of course I do,” she said.

He reached toward her, and her heart raced in anticipation of the touch.

She forced herself to say, “Don’t.”

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