Page 206 of Sword & Shadow
In the fading light, Hewitt stood beside Deckard, looking just as she remembered him, his scraggly beard, bushy eyebrows, massive frame, and commanding presence unchanged. Whole and alive. He wore his gray military coat, with the major’s insignia on the left breast pocket. His sword hung, belted at his waist. The hilt of a dagger peeked out from his boot. And his gray eyes pierced her with the intense stare that made her feel so safe, so secure.
“Hello, Evie,” Hewitt said, his rumbling voice resonating deep within her soul.
Before she could ask one of the thousand questions pressing to her lips, Auden pushed past Ilain. “I told you to let him go,” he yelled at Deckard.
“And I told him not to,” Hewitt said with a glare that challenged the highlord to defy him.
Evylin looked at Deckard. His green-blue gaze was locked on her as the Night Relic beamed bright amethyst on his chest. “You did this?” she asked.
“Yes,” Deckard said gently.
“What’s happening?” Rafferty asked. “How’s Hewitt here?”
“I’m a ghost,” Hewitt said.
Rafferty laughed nervously. “Good one. But really—how are you here? Did you make a deal too?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Deckard sighed. “I summoned him.”
“I told you not to, Jonn,” Ilain said worriedly.
“It was before we spoke,” Deckard told her by way of apology.
Evylin didn’t care about any of their questions or qualms. She crossed the space between them, staring up into the face of the man she thought she’d never see again. His expression softened, and he gave her a fond smile. The one he never gave to anyone but her.
“Is it really you?” she asked.
Hewitt dipped his chin. “It is.”
The truth hit her all at once. Her vision in the Night Keep. Deckard’s disappearances into the woods. His deep connection to Night magic.
“I saw you,” Evylin said. “In the Night Keep.”
“I thought so,” Hewitt said. “I didn’t dare to hope...”
Auden grumbled in the background, but everyone ignored him.
Evylin turned to Deckard. Her eyes dropped to the Relic, understanding dawning. “You summoned him with Night magic?”
“I did,” he said, his tone repentant.
Thoughts swirling and heart pounding, Evylin dropped her head into her hands. Her fingers felt like ice against her cheeks. She couldn’t understand, couldn’t reconcile everything that was happening. After the Time Keep, Thom’s confession, and Ethenn’s attack, she was too tired, too emotionally wrung out to comprehend that her uncle—herdeaduncle—was standing in front of her. Her breathing grew shallow as she struggled to keep the tears at bay.
As she hesitated, Auden began to order Deckard to release the ghost. Ilain tried to rationalize with her brother, but he shruggedher off. Rafferty helped Thom up, his face and throat splotched with welts and blood. Ethenn stood to the side, staring at his bloody hands.
Evylin closed her eyes, blocking out everyone else. Her thoughts churned over and over.
Hewitt was dead. But he was here.
Hewitt was a ghost. But he was here.
Hewitt washere.
“Would you twoshut up?” Hewitt shouted at the Calders.
