Page 172 of Duskbound

"Let me guess…" Laryk's voice dropped lower, that dangerous edge returning. "You're the shadow I saw that night. The one standing beside her." His eyes fixed on Aether with renewed interest. "The one who took her."

"Took her?" Aether's shadows pulsed. "Or saved her from a realm that would have killed her once they discovered what she was?"

"And what exactly is she?" Laryk's gaze cut to me. "Since you seem to know so much about her now."

"More than you ever did." The words carried ice.

Laryk's hand tightened on his dagger. "I trained her. Shaped her into?—"

"Into a weapon." Aether's interruption was sharp. "Into something you could use."

Laryk barked out another laugh, but this one held no humor. "Icared forher. Which is more than I can say for whatever this is." He gestured between us. "Tell me, Fia, did they break you? Turn you intotheirweapon instead?"

"That's enough," I demanded.

"Is it?" Laryk's emerald eyes burned. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you've simply traded one wielder for another."

The shadows in the room darkened at his words, and I felt Aether's rage building beside me. The air grew thick with it.

"Both of you, stop." My voice tore through their posturing. I wanted to say more, to tell them I wasn't a weapon for anyone to wield, at least not anymore. But it wasn't the time—not if we were going to convince him to work with us.

I stepped between the two men, turning to face Laryk. "This is bigger than all of us. Personal feelings aside, I've seen what's happening beyond these borders. I've watched children starve, families lose everything. This is life or death."

His eyes bore into me, and behind the mask, I could see the pain—the grief of what he was witnessing, of losing something he had been searching for. He was lashing out like a wounded animal, but I had to try everything to get through to him. To get us back to that place where we were only moments ago.

"You said to me once that you believed Sídhe made mistakes in the aftermath of the uprising." I studied his face, searching for any reaction. "So it leads me to believe that if they were doing something terrible, you would not stand for it. Would fight against it."

He looked away, jaw tightening.

"You've always known something was off. Even before you saw the figure through the darkness in Emeraal, even before you argued with Mercer, argued with the King?—"

"You saw that?" His head snapped back to me.

"Yes." I took a step forward. "I saw you trying to tell the others that there was more to this war. But nothing about it has ever sat well with you. The scar on your face, your ability to anticipate their moves—you've always known something was wrong, Laryk. And you wereright. This whole time."

He stared at me, something breaking in his expression before that careful mask slipped back into place.

"I know you probably hate me right now. But don't let that interfere with doing what's right."

His jaw tensed, a muscle ticking beneath the skin.

"Could you really go back, now knowing what you know?" The words came out as a plea. "You could keep helping Sídhe drain a realm who has done nothing to provoke such a theft?"

"I have no proof of that." The growl in his voice betrayed the look in his eyes.

"Laryk," I began, my eyes glossing over, "You believed me only moments ago. What changed?"

"How am I to be certain you haven't been manipulated?" His eyes cut to Aether. "That all of this isn't some elaborate lie?"

"I don't have any way to prove it to you other than my word. You can't even get into my mind—you think I'd let anyone else do that to me? I didn't want to believe it at first either. I fought the truth with everything inside me. But then I saw it.Lived it. It's real, and it's only going to get worse." My voice steadied as I continued. "All the pieces are there, Laryk. You just have to want to see them."

Heat filled my voice as the words poured out, "It will continue, this greed, this oppression. The King is never going to stop. Not unless we break this cycle."

Doubt flashed across his face as he turned away, dragging a hand through his copper hair.

"I want us to work together. Because if we don't..." I swallowed hard. "If we don't, then real war is on the horizon. Not these attacks on arcanite. Real. Bloody. War. The kind that destroys continents."

He spun back toward me, head tilted. "Is that a threat?"

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