Page 230 of Sword & Shadow
A sorrowful joy rose in Evylin. How could she truly appreciate the sentiment when she’d so foolishly been the one to drive him away?
Staring at her hands, Evylin let the discordant feelings rage unhindered. “Auden said he told you to let Hewitt go. He found out?”
“He did, but I didn’t listen.”
“Mm. Did he see him? Is that how he discovered him?”
Deckard shook his head. “He stumbled upon me talking with Hewitt in the woods. Auden couldn’t see or hear him; he just knew I was talking to someone invisible and correctly assumed it was Hewitt’s ghost.”
Evylin frowned. “No one else saw him? Until after the Time Keep?”
“No.”
“But I saw him in the Night Keep.”
Deckard shrugged. “I would assume that’s because it takes Night magic to summon a ghost, and we were in its Keep. My power was probably stronger there, making him visible.”
Evylin considered the memory. “And,” she added, “I was holding the Night Relic at the time.”
“That probably had its influence as well.”
She played with the folds of her skirt. “I understand why you didn’t tell me,” she said softly. “But I wish you had.”
“I do too,” he admitted.
“And I wish I had told you that I’d seen him. If we could have made this connection before, I could have talked to him sooner, and we could have avoided...”
Deckard didn’t respond but held her gaze with a gentle look of understanding. If they had discovered the truth sooner, so much would have changed. Evylin would have let go of her fear. The parties may still have split, but she would have gone with Deckard. These last weeks, they would have been happy and in love, as she knew they should have been all along. And now, they’d lost so much time.
“Anyway,” Deckard said, breaking the silence. “That’s the end of my story. As dull as I remembered.”
The fire crackled, tinting the white walls and floor tiles in its golden red hue. Evylin hesitated, not wanting to relive the days without him. She didn’t care to give voice to the memory of Thom’s traitorous confession.
“I suppose,” she spoke regardless, “it’s my turn now.”
Sitting up straighter, Evylin took a deep breath. “Our travel wasn’t much more exciting than yours, but it was greatly more dramatic.”
“So I gathered,” Deckard said with a lightness that didn’t quite match his expression.
Evylin attempted to ease the growing tension in the atmosphere. “It was like being home with my sisters again. I never thought men could be so emotionally unstable.”
She was relieved to see he afforded her a small, amused smile.
With a sigh, she continued, “It didn’t start that way, of course. We all got on rather splendidly the first while. Ethenn and I trained together most days, and we became...close, I think. At least, closer. I sort of assume I know what it’s like to have a little brother now.”
This elicited a chuckle from Deckard. “He’s more talkative when you get him alone, isn’t he?”
“That he is,” she agreed. Then she bit her lip. “He gave me your birthday gift.”
Deckard paused, meeting her eyes.
“It was beautiful,” she said, her voice weak with affection. “I’m rather disappointed, knowing that it’s lost to me forever now.”
“It’s a painting,” Deckard said kindly. “We can find another.”
Evylin’s chest expanded with tender emotion. “It was so similar...”
His smile practically made his eyes sparkle with triumph. “You noticed.”
