Page 11 of Sun Elves of Ardani

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Someone has to.”

Kadaki sat down in the chair beside his. After a moment, he reached out and rested his hand on hers. Tense, she curled her fingers around his.

She had come to appreciate his friendship a great deal this past year. The loss of her magic had not been a single, dramatic event. It had been a slow death by a thousand cuts.

Five years ago, she had protected the Kuda Varai axis by putting herself in harm’s way. She’d used her own body as a conduit for all the magic in the forest, channeling a lifetime’s worth of energy through herself in a matter of minutes. It had been an utterly foolish choice made in desperation. It should have killed her. But it didn’t.

And at first, she’d thought she’d gotten away with it. Somehow she’d not only done the impossible, but also lived to tell the tale and had not a scratch to show for it.

But then the weakness had begun. She’d started to have difficulty working spells she’d had no trouble with before. She’d told herself that she was merely tired and needed time to rest after exerting herself. But it grew steadily worse over months, then years.

She’d gone too far that day in Kuda Varai. She’d broken something inside herself.

She’d met with doctors and mages, alchemists, herbalists, hedgewitches, shamans, priests—anyone who was willing to see her. She’d traveled throughout Ardani, then to Uulantaava and even to Ysura. She’d searched libraries across the continent and spoken to scholars of all sorts. There was no one and nothing that could help her.

On top of that, she’d disobeyed her captain during that incident, foiling the entire company’s mission, and even though it had been the right thing to do, she didn’t think that the rest of the army would see it that way.

So after they’d escaped Kuda Varai, she’d left. She’d run away. With Neiryn. And then Neiryn had left her, just as she’d begun to realize her magic was fading. And then she’d had nothing… until she’d reconnected with Roshan during her travels.

They had known each other since they were children, both of their families having been frequent visitors to the temple of Paladius, but the two of them hadn’t been close until they’d met again last spring.

He made the days feel less dark. He didn’t judge her for arguably being a traitor, and he didn’t care about her magic skills or lack thereof. Kadaki had never been good at connecting with people or maintaining friendships, but he was the sort of person who made it easy.

They’d been somewhat drunk in The Smiling Dragon one night when he’d confessed his dilemma with his family, who had suspicions about his taste in romantic partners and disapproved. They’d refused to offer him control of the western branch of their mining empire and the deed to the house by the mine until he was married to a woman.

“I could do that,” Kadaki had said. “I could be your wife.”

He’d given her a skeptical look.

“Not really, I mean. But we could have a wedding. Make it official. That would get them off your back, wouldn’t it?”

“You would do that?”

“Why not?”

“Kadaki, it would mean not marrying anyone else. Don’t you want to marry someone you love?”

“I don’t love anyone.”

“You will someday, though.”

She’d smiled bitterly. She’d come to the conclusion that she wasn’t the sort of person who would ever fall in love. “I mean it, Roshan. Let’s get married. I’ve got nothing else to do now. Give me a place to keep out of the army’s sight, and space to research, and I’ll happily marry you. That’s all I need.”

They’d announced their engagement a week later. His parents had been thrilled.

She squeezed his hand. It occurred to her that today was the first time she’d physically touched other people in over a week. The last time had also been Roshan; he’d put an arm around her shoulders when they’d been in town last week.

Things like that—talking to people, casually touching people—came so easily to him. She didn’t know why she couldn’t be more like him.

“Thank you, Roshan.”

“For what?”

“Being nice to me.”

He laughed. “You are so odd, Kadaki. And so adorable. I can’t believe no one else snatched you up before I did.”

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