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“You claim to be willing to choose me over everything, Carleah. Do not be surprised that I will do the same.”
“I’m not.”
“Then don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“As though you’re disappointed in my answer.”
Carleah climbs onto my lap and straddles me. My hands rest gently on her bandaged thighs, though the salve Affree gave us has already nearly healed all of her wounds. “I am not disappointed in your answer, Fort, but I can see that there’s more bothering you. What is it? And why are you hiding it from me?”
I take a deep breath. “She also told me that, when the time comes down to it, and I’m faced with that choice, I’ll choose wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“I don’t know what it means, but I feel like everyone we meet has something to say about how we’ll handle something. As though their words are meant to influence us. I wish everyone would keep their fucking opinions to themselves and let us handle this the way we need to.”
I cover Carleah’s hands with my own as they rest on my chest.
“Ignore the noise,” she says softly. “It’s you and me, Fort. Tomorrow, we will rescue Salma and her people. As soon as we do that, we will speak with the dwarves and convince them to leave these caverns as an army at our back. Once we reach Soreno, we will make them honor our ally agreement and stand beside us in this fight. Then, we take back Navalis and secure the future of this realm.”
She says it so simply, as though merely speaking it will make it true. “What about Salma’s prediction?” I question. “Does it not weigh on you?”
Carleah smiles. “No, Fort, because I know that, whatever choice you make, it will be the right one.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I have faith in you. And because I believe in what we have together.”
“And if I choose wrong? If somehow, what I do ends up destroying you?”
She leans down and presses her lips to mine. When she rights herself, there’s a hint of pain in the movement. “One of these days, I am going to convince you to see yourself through my eyes.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Because there is no question to be answered. You may have been born of destruction, but you chose not to live in it. Every choice you have ever made has led you right to my side. Who am I to doubt the ones you will make in the future when I am so pleased with every other one you have made?”
“Once again, you refuse to see me for what I am, Carleah.” I gently set her aside and stand. “I am a Tenebris. I was created in the same manner those monsters in Dead Man’s Land were. The same blood runs through my veins as those who destroyed your home. Yet your faith in me is unwavering. You say it is because you love me. Because you see me for what I am. But I cannot help but wonder if you aren’t choosing to look past what you know because of what you feel.”
“And so what if I am?” she demands. “So what if all I choose to see is the good in you? Is that so wrong?”
“No, but it’s foolish.”
“Fort.” She crosses toward me. “I’ve said this to you more times than I can even count, but I’m going to say it again, so I am begging you to hear me this time. I know what you are. I’ve seen where you came from. I walked the same desert path that you once did as a child and looked into the cold eyes of the man who fathered you. And I am telling you that there is no part of you that resembles those places. You may have their strength and speed. But it was my father who trained you with a sword. My brothers who you practiced with. It was my mother who taught you to read and write.”
Emotion claws at my chest while I absorb everything she is saying.
And, for the first time, I hear the truth in her words, and it eases some of the hatred I carry for myself.
Carleah stares up into my eyes. “You come from Nemoregno. From the Tenebris. But you carry the heart and soul of Navalis.”
Chapter 20
Carleah
True to her word, Affree has arranged for two dozen of her best warriors to leave the caves with us and bring Salma and her people here. They stand straight, white armor gleaming, just before the entrance to the tunnel that will carry us out of the caves.
Fort stands beside me, dressed in the same armor as the elves, two swords sheathed on his back. He looks so much like the man he was before Navalis fell that it makes my heart ache just slightly.
