Page 108 of Slaying the Shadow Prince
‘Get up.’
Talemir rolled over with a moan, to find Wilder glaring down at him.
‘I taught you better than to wake a sleeping warrior,’ Talemir muttered, realising too late that his shadows were still drifting around him.
He snatched them in.
‘You taught me a lot of things I’m not sure I believe in anymore,’ Wilder bit back, his rage palpable.
Talemir’s chest tightened. ‘How did you find me?’
‘Followed your horse’s tracks. I knew he’d seek you out.’
Talemir looked around, confused to find his stallion grazing nearby. The beast had always had a blind sense of loyalty.
But his horse was not the pressing issue at hand. Talemir stood, brushing the grass from his clothes, and surveyed Wilder, his horse wary only a few feet behind him.
Unimaginable tension was taut between the Warswords, corded with Wilder’s simmering fury. He was deathly still, but for his fists clenching and unclenching by his sides. A muscle pulsed in his neck.
‘I’m sorry,’ Talemir said, his throat thick. He found he couldn’t look at his protégé, not now that Wilder knew what he was —
‘Sorry? For what,exactly?’ The words were loaded, venomous.
Talemir flinched. ‘Everything.’
‘That’s not good enough.’
‘I know.’
Wilder shoved him.
Talemir staggered back, keenly aware of the cliff’s edge.
Would it matter if I went tumbling over it?The thought was sharp in his mind, a question, a dare…
‘How could you keep that from me?’ Wilder demanded, advancing, his nostrils flaring. ‘We’re family, you and I. How could you?’
‘Wilder —’
‘Don’t fuckingWilderme,’ he snapped. ‘You’re fuckingone of them. You’re a fuckingshadow wraith, Talemir —’
‘I’m still me.’
‘Are you? Because the Talemir Starling I know wouldn’t have abandoned an army, or the woman he clearly loves, to a doomed fate.’
The words hung heavy between them, raw and true.
‘They were better off,’ Talemir said weakly. ‘Better off without me. All I do is poison everything. I’m a monster.’
Wilder shoved him again, hard. ‘Yes, you are,’ he growled savagely. ‘And you didn’t trust me with that. You trusted Drue, evenAdriennewith that information – strangers, but not me?’
‘You’re different —’
‘Damn right I’m different. I’m your fucking brother, Tal.’
‘I’m also now the thing that robbed you of your real brother.’
Wilder’s face fell. ‘You’re not. I saw —’
