Page 65 of Sightwitch
“I’ll be right there,” he told the woman. Then he swung his gaze back to me. His expression was inscrutable behind the wool and fur. “I need to go to the stables. We’ve had disease hit my favorite hounds. Lady Saria just arrived to help, and … I apologize, Sister Eridysi. Can you speak with the general alone?”
I bowed my head. “Of course.”
“Thank you. I will join the two of you soon.” And with that, he yanked on his goggles and pushed back into the winter’s day.
The door thunked shut, and I was alone. After hanging my cloak and goggles on a knob by the door, I crossed to the fireplace to wait.
As I warmed up, a grin eased over my face. My head lolled back.
I had done it.I had done it!One passage was complete, and the remaining five would be easily done. Then, once we had them all, we could start porting people away from the Exalted Ones. Even the blade to kill them was almost complete too. All our plans were coming together.
I beamed so broadly my cheeks hurt. Even when the door rushed open and footsteps stomped inside, even as I turned to face whoever it might be, I still grinned.
I couldn’t help it.
The general stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of me, the door open and his mittened hand clutching the latch. Snow swooped in. Cold washed against me.
My smile faltered. Then frosted away entirely. Why did he stare? Why did he not shut the door?
I offered a polite bow. “I am Sister Eridysi. You must be the general.”
He flinched. Then, voice muffled by the angle and the layers, he mumbled, “Yes.”
Aiming for a string of hooks nearby, his back to me, he removed each layer. Hat, scarf, leather armor, outer coat, undercoat.
He shrank and shrank and shrank, until at last there was nothing but a man with dark hair and a standard black silk uniform.
Then he turned to face me.
“You,” I breathed.
“You,” was his reply. Then his gaze dropped to his toes, and he scrubbed a hand over his dark hair.
Nervous. He was … nervous.
“You told me you were a soldier.” Accusation laced my tone.
He offered a tight laugh. “An advanced soldier.” Then he shrugged, his eyes finally lifting to meet mine across the room. “Does … it matter?”
“No!” I rushed forward two clumsy steps. Then stopped, feeling a fool.
Now I was the one staring uncomfortably at the ground. “I simply … That is to say, I assumed you were somewhere near the Convent. In one of the Rook King’s southern forts.”
“A fair guess.” He cleared his throat. “I never specified.”
“You must truly love the girls.” I twirled away and marched to his desk. It was so much easier to speak when I didn’t face him.
So much easier to breathe.
“Not that I doubted you loved them, of course,” I rambled on. “But it must take you an entire day to travel both ways.”
“Eachway,” he corrected. “The journey takes two days.”
I watched him from the corner of my eye as he approached me at the desk.
He frowned. Then he was at the table and standing beside me. Close enough that I could smell iron and horse. Close enough that, if I wanted to, I could have reached out and touched him.
“So you arethatSightwitch. The inventor without the Sight.”
