Page 95 of A Promise of Peridot
A half laugh. “No.”
“Even still. I don’t... see you in that way. I hoped I would, really, I did. But I fear we might just be good friends.” I couldn’t help the relief that swept through my limbs. It was a truth that needed to be said. No matter what happened next.
“He’ll never be what you deserve.”
“I don’t know if I deserve too much right now.”
“Well,” he said, considering. “You could start by apologizing to Mari. I think she’s more betrayed that you accepted your fate so... flippantly... than she is about the amulet. It’s as if in doing so, you’ve abandoned her.”
“A lot of people have,” I murmured. “Abandoned her, I think.”
He tilted his head at a contemplative angle.
“That’s pretty good advice, Fedrik.”
“You’re lucky to have a friend like me.”
I smiled a bit. I was, actually. “She wasn’t wrong, though. I’m different now. Maybe I can’t be what she needs.”
“Why don’t you let her make that decision?”
I moved to walk around him and out of the tent to do just that, but Fedrik pulled my hand into his. “Kane will never stop looking for that blade. And while he drags you across Evendell to hunt for it, you’ll keep getting burned and beaten. And not just by your enemies. He’sbadfor you, Arwen.” Fedrik drew in a breath. “Let me take you back to Azurine. No expectations. Nothing implied. I just want you to have a life outside of all this madness. Outside of Kane. Let me offer you a different way to live.”
I stiffened at his words. “But the prophecy—”
“You can enjoy whatever time you have left. And I’ll be by your side until the very end. As a friend. Or as anything you want me to be.”
“The blade is supposed to call to me.”
“He’s hunted for it without you for years. It was out of his own selfish need that he brought you along in the first place.”
“I chose to come.”
“And I’m saying maybe you shouldn’t have.”
The hearth crackled softly as we stood there, wet clothes still clinging to our bodies, my bloodied hand still wrapped in his.
“Thank you,” I croaked. “For the offer.”
“Will you think on it?”
“Arwen? Fedrik?” Griffin’s voice drifted in from the campsite.
Fedrik cleared his throat. “We’re in here.”
I slipped past him to where Kane and Griffin were surrounded by our canvas packs, their tents broken down and bundled up. I couldn’t meet Kane’s eyes. I didn’t want to know what he was thinking. What he might or might not have heard.
Griffin cocked his head toward us. “Where’s the witch?”
My breathing was still uneven, but I managed to say, “She went looking for you.”
The commander’s eyes widened a bit at my words, and he looked from us back to Kane, whose eyes narrowed in concern. “So, no one knows where she is?”
A furious shiver ran up my spine, but I steadied it with a slow inhale. “I’m sure she’s fine.” I moved for the knot of darkness and leaves surrounding us. “Mari?” I called out. “Mari!”
I didn’t care if there were more bandits, more soldiers—
“Mari!”
