Page 70 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“You care deeply for Nerida,” Faythe said unexpectedly.

Tarly swallowed hard at the mention, resisting the urge to glance back at the tent he wouldn’t even see from here. “A mistake,” he said. “All things considered.”

“There might be a cure for the dark fae bite.”

“I think Nerida is the best healer I could have by chance run into. Not even she can feel a resolution.”

“That’s why you’re going to Lakelaria.”

Tarly didn’t answer—couldn’t even muster a lie.

Faythe said, “You had a mate, didn’t you?”

She must already know the answer, but she asked anyway, as if she’d been mulling over the concept prior to this.

“She rejected the bond after faking her death for decades to escape me.” He huffed a sarcastic laugh. “It’s quite epic when you think about it. How terrible I must have been for her to have taken such measures.”

Faythe deliberated for seconds that crawled over his skin. He didn’t know why her judgment weighed on him. Or why he stayed, near desperate for her to say something.

“Your father lost his mate and turned to Marvellas in his grief,” she said, pondering over the facts.

“I don’t know what one has to do with the other.”

Faythe’s eyes held him a moment longer before they flickered, and she smiled. Tarly was beginning to feel uneasy in her company.

“I’m glad she has you.”

“I don’t really offer her much. She might actually tell you how I didn’t need to step into her path at all. She could have taken care of herself.”

“I like to believe there a reason for every path crossed.”

“Yeah, well, mine is coming up a little short.”

“If you didn’t have hope, you’d already be dead some way or another. Don’t forget that.”

Tarly appreciated the sentiment.

“I’m sorry about Reylan,” he said, feeling ridiculous the moment he did. They were weightless words with what she was suffering.

“I’m going to get him back. That’s the hope that keeps me alive.”

“Your human friends…do you really think they’re working for Marvellas now?”

“Yes…and no. I believe Marlowe sees things and leads by what she thinks will help, even if it’s gaining for the enemy right now. She can’t tell me everything, and I know that. But it’s hard to accept sometimes.”

There were some things beyond Tarly’s comprehension, but he wanted to learn all he could. There was so much he wanted to know before he was gone.

“You don’t want to go to Lakelaria, do you?” she asked.

Tarly wished he could keep his mouth shut, but there was something about Faythe that made him talk as if she might offer some answers, even if not so direct.

“I don’t want to spend what little time I might have on myself. I want to help shift some movement in this war. If I’mon borrowed time, I’d like it to count for something since my life before now has been nothing worth remembering.”

“That’s understandable,” Faythe said. “But for what it’s worth, I think you’ve impacted more than you know already.”

“I wasn’t implying I need validation.”

“I’m not supplying you with that. I only mean, if you don’t see the hearts you lie in, you don’t deserve to be in them.”

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