Page 198 of Mountain of Mirrors and Starlight
The deadline came and went, missed by most of them. Time trickled onwards.
And Caer grew weaker. He tried to hide it from the rest of the group, but Aislinn could tell. There was something in the slope of his shoulders, the hollows of his eyes. Her father’s magic was wearing off, leaving him exhausted. She knew the fever would come back again soon, making it almost impossible for him to fight. She was tempted to say nothing, to wait until he was too weak to follow them, but how could she take that choice away from him? How could she face him after that if they both survived?
He dismissed himself to go and get a drink from the kitchen, and Aislinn got up to follow him.
“We need to go soon, don’t we?” she whispered to him.
Caer nodded. “I’m sorry.”
Aislinn pulled the drawstrings of his shirt. “Mortals apologise too much,” she said. “For all sorts of things that are not their fault.”
“You apologise to me all the time.”
“That’s because I love you, and I mean it.” She patted his chest, and went to move away to get ready.
“Ais?”
“Yes?”
“Was there a moment?” he asked. “A moment when…”
“When I fell in love with you? Or when I knew?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head. “It was like watching the sunset,” she told him, “and never being quite sure when it was night, until you looked up and found yourself surrounded by stars.”
He smiled. “You’re quite the poet.”
“I amnot.I am a warrior, loyal, brave and true.”
“I think you can be those things and a poet also.”
She smiled. “Was there a moment for you?”
“Yes,” he replied. “All of them.”
“You areso suave.”
He grinned. “I have my moments.”
Aislinn sidled back towards him. “When this is all over, I’m going to drag you into the nearest bedroom, and fuck you so hard you go dizzy.”
Caer spluttered, an action that quickly turned into a cough. Aislinn initially mistook it for embarrassment, but there was something beneath it, harder—a sound that grated against her bones.
“Steady,” she said, sliding a hand to his chest. “We need to keep up appearances. I’ve promised not to leave you behind, but I don’t think Minerva’s beyond tying you up for your own good.”
Caerwyn leaned against her as the coughs subsided, smiling as soon as he could. “Does your protection not extend to fighting dwarves on my behalf?”
“Notthatone.”
Caer laughed. “Wise.”
She went back to the table. “It’s time,” she said.
Minerva looked up from her cards, her eyes darting briefly to Caer. “All right. Let’s move out.”
Thegroupsweredivided.There was no darkness to hide them, no cover of night. Minerva had grown used to the turn of the sun in the World Above, grown to like the change, the silence of the night. She rather liked it.
