Page 123 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
Finally, she drifted into her tent, stripping off and sinking into the foamy waters. Garnet had mixed lavender into it, but it did little to relax her as she scrubbed away the dirt and grime of the last few days.
The wound on her leg had disappeared, no doubt due to the sun stone’s magic. What did it mean, this pure heart of hers? What did it make her, aside from some kind of energy source?
The surface of the water stilled to a glassy level. Her mind flashed once more to the Mirror.
The power to resurrect a god.
“Snow?” said a voice on the other side of the canvas.
Eirwen squeaked. “Cole! I’m naked!”
“I can’t see anything! I just… you seemed a little out of it earlier. I figured you wouldn’t want to talk in front of anyone else. What’s going on?”
It was exactly what she needed to hear and exactly what she didn’t, all at the same time. In a split second, she was lost to a torrent of tears. Every thought, fear and feeling came cascading out of her.
“I just… I don’t know what I’m going to do!”
“Hey, it’s all right, don’t worry,” Cole’s shadow pressed against the fabric wall. “You’ll figure it out.”
“But what if I don’t?”
“I’ll help you. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”
“Why? Why would you help me?”
Cole hesitated, just for a fraction of a moment. “Because I think you’re what I was waiting for.”
“What?”
“The reason I didn’t leave Aberthor. The real reason. Something was holding me back. I felt like I was meant to stay, that there was something I was supposed to do. I think, maybe, that I was waiting for you. I think I’m supposed to help you take it back.”
“Cole…” Eirwen wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.
“I know. Crazy, right? Because that sort of thing sounds like fate. Real magic. The kind that barely exists any more.”
Eirwen swallowed, her heart thumping against her throat. “Real magic exists,” she said. “You’ve seen it.” It was stamped into the scar on her arm.
“Not for humans, though,” he said. “We can witness it. We can wield it. But nothing like that. That would be too good for us. Well, maybe not too good for you, apparently.”
Eirwen ignored the faint smile in his voice. There was something else there, behind it. Something behind every smirk and teasing comment. Something that had always been there. “Too good for us,” Eirwen started, “or too good for you?”
Cole froze. “Finally saw through all the false bravado, huh?”
“Cole…”
“It’s all right, Snow. I’ve come to terms with it.”
“You… you don’t think you’re good enough?”
“Of course I’m not. I mean, look at you. You lost everything and never complained, and you’re only now trying to take it back because you think it’s the right thing for other people. I had everything growing up, and I still wanted more. I was cruel to servants. I didn’t see them as people. And I was cruel to you, even when you were kind to me. I don’t deserve anything that I have. You are kind and caring and lovely, and I’m the son of a monster–”
“You are not your mother,” said Eirwen forcefully. “You arenothinglike her, and sure, perhaps you were a bit of an ass when you were young, but you’re the one standing beside me, trying to help me take back the throne for all the right reasons–”
“Not quite all of them,” he said. “But… thank you.”
“What… what do you mean?”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, right now.”
