Page 31 of Frostforge: Passage Two

"The failed experiments," Roran said suddenly, his voice rough."That's what Instructor Virek called them last year.Every golem that wasn't perfect enough for Frostforge's standards, abandoned out there.Useless junk."

Thalia glanced at him."Some of them are still functional."

"Right."He flexed his right hand again, wincing slightly.His knuckles were split and crusted with dried blood."They just weren't obedient enough."

The bitterness in his voice was new — or at least, newly unmasked.For a long moment, they stood in silence, the wind carrying occasional creaks and groans from the field below as the warming day caused the ice to shift on the metal forms.

"Are you okay?"Thalia finally asked, looking directly at his bruised face.

Roran's mouth quirked in what might have been an attempt at his usual charming smile."What, this?"He gestured at his black eye."Just a little Northern hospitality.You should see the other guy."

"I did see the other guy," Thalia replied, not letting him deflect."Nash looked a lot better than you do right now."

The forced humor faded from Roran's face.He turned back to the view, his jaw tight."It doesn't matter."

"It does matter."Thalia shifted to face him more directly."They outnumbered you five to one.And Nash — what he said was —"

"Nothing I haven't heard before," Roran cut her off.His breath clouded between them."Isle rat.Warden scum.Less than human.It's all the same garbage."

"That doesn't make it right."

Roran ran a hand through his tangled curls, wincing as his bruised fingers caught in the wind-knotted mass."No, it doesn't.But me punching him didn't make it right either.Just confirmed every suspicion they already had."He let out a harsh laugh."The instructors probably think I'm stealing the weapons too."

Thalia felt a chill that had nothing to do with the wind."Are they questioning you?"

"Not yet."Roran's eyes tracked a distant raven circling above the Golem Fields."But they will.The thing is..."He trailed off, his expression clouding.

"What?"Thalia prompted gently.

"I'm tired, Thalia."The admission seemed to deflate him slightly."Tired of constantly defending myself.Tired of being suspected just because of where I'm from, how I fight."He turned to her, and for the first time since she'd known him, the easy confidence was gone from his face."Do you know what it's like to have everyone watching you, waiting for you to confirm their worst assumptions?"

Thalia thought of her first weeks at Frostforge, of the sidelong glances and whispered comments."I do, actually."

"Right."He looked abashed."Of course you do."

The wind shifted, bringing a fresh bite of cold.Roran pulled his cloak tighter, then surprised her by continuing.

"There's something I haven't told you.About why I was late returning to Frostforge this year."

Thalia kept her face carefully neutral."You said you were held up at a checkpoint."

"That happened," he confirmed."But it wasn't the whole story."He stared out at the frozen wasteland, as if gathering his thoughts from the ice."I wasn't just delayed.I...went looking for information."

"About what?"

"About who killed my family."His voice had gone flat, emotionless in a way that spoke of carefully controlled pain."The raid that destroyed our trading caravan wasn't random.I've always known that.So during break, I traveled the coast, asking questions."

Thalia remained silent, sensing that any interruption might cause him to retreat behind his usual walls.The wind whipped a strand of hair across her face, but she didn't move to brush it away.

"I talked to everyone who might know something — mercenaries, sailors, fishermen.Even found a former Isle Warden in a coastal prison."Roran's eyes hardened at this."He wasn't very cooperative at first."

The implication hung in the air between them.Thalia suppressed a shiver.

"What did you learn?"she asked, when it became clear he wasn't going to continue without prompting.

Roran shrugged, the movement too casual, too rehearsed."Not much.Dead ends, mostly.A few rumors about a specific raid commander, but nothing I could verify."He glanced at her, then away."Waste of time, really."

Thalia studied his profile.There was a tension in his jaw that hadn't been there before, a guardedness in his eyes that made her wonder what he wasn't saying.She'd seen Roran lie before — charm his way past suspicious instructors or talk himself out of trouble with easy smiles and half-truths.This felt different.More personal.

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