Page 33 of Witchlight
Caden set his jaw. The scar on his chin shone, a white line from some blade that didn’t quite hit. “You will have to discharge me, Safi. I will not obey.”
“And if I do discharge you? Then what? Willthatmake you search for them?”
His forehead cinched down.
“They are your Thread-family, Caden, and until you find them—or at least learn what happened to them—you’ll never be whole.”
His forehead sank lower. “You think meunwhole?”
“Yes.” She tugged him closer; he did not resist. Snow tumbled betweenthem. “You’re gruff and withdrawn. You don’t sleep. You don’t enjoy the revelries like the other Hell-Bards, and when I offered everyone a chance to exit the service, you were the first to bark,No.”
“Because I want to protect you.”
“Lie,” Safi spat, planting her free hand over her heart. “I can feel it right here”—her fingers curled into a fist—“that this is a lie, Caden. One you don’t even believe. You stay here because you have no one else to care for and nowhere else to go.”
His eyes flashed with a spark she hadn’t seen in a long time. It wasn’t anger so much as insult. She had hurt him.
And that, in turn, hurt her. She needed him to leave—shewantedhim to leave. And as much as Lev and Zander were deeply important to her, they were only a secondary motivation. A distracting left hand while her right hand cut the purse.
Caden tugged free from her grasp to stalk four paces away. “MostHell-Bards have no one to care for and nowhere else to go.”
“And you are not most Hell-Bards.” She chased after him, matching his drawn shoulders and set jaw. “If I have to discharge you to make you search for your family, then that’s what I’ll do. Butpleasedon’t make me do that, Caden. You’ve done nothing dishonorable, so I’ll have to tell a terrible lie, and we all know how much I hate lying.”
This startled a laugh from him. His brown eyes softened. “Tell me: Does your magic catchyouwhen you lie?”
Safi grinned—even if inwardly she grimaced. “I don’t want you to go.”True.“You must know that, Caden.”True.“But I think you have to.” She reached up and cupped his face.
He sighed and settled into her hand. Once, Caden had been her enemy. Now he was her Thread-family. Safi didn’twantto send him away. She didn’twantto be away from him. But Lev and Zander did need finding.
And where she was going, Caden couldn’t follow.
“If you won’t do this for yourself, Caden, then at least do it for me. Lev and Zander are out there, somewhere, and you need to find them.”
Another sigh. His eyes closed, and he leaned his forehead against Safi’s. She smelled the day on him: steel and snow, Solfatarra and horse. Above all, though, Safi felt the truth of him: strong, reliable, real. “Where do I even start, Safi?” Caden’s voice was gruff, and the crackling of the fire almost stole his words. “I have no leads.”
“No,” she agreed. “But Iseult has an idea—a good one that I can’t believe we didn’t think of sooner: Threadstones.”
Caden’s cheeks twitched. “You mean the things Nomatsis make?”
“Yes. Iseult’s mother and her apprentice Alma are both Threadwitches, and they’ve agreed to bind your Threads to stones. It will let you find your Thread-family.”
Caden’s breath caught. “And…” He wet his lips, his head still pressed to Safi’s. “Why would they do that for me? What must I do in return?”
“Travel east with them. To Saldonica. They could use a trained soldier at their side.”
“So you’ve already set this up, I suppose.” An observation, not a question.
“Yes, I have.”A whole week ago, in fact.
Caden didn’t answer, and for several dragging moments, Safi could see him mentally mapping out what all of this might mean. Traveling with Nomatsis; guarding them while they built him a Threadstone; using that stone to find Lev and Zander…
“So this is my mission? And I have to comply?”
“No, of course you don’t have to comply.” Safi cupped his face again. “But Caden, I want you to. Iwantyou to find peace, and I don’t see any other way to give it to you.” Her eyes burned with tears as she said this, and her magic sang with truth. “I will miss you, Hell-Bard. You know that, right?”
Caden sighed and leaned once more into her touch. “And I will miss you, Heretic.”
“Does that mean you will accept the mission?”
