Page 137 of The Last Remaining Light

Korvel lifted his attention to her and looked taken aback. He blinked it away.

“You need to get off the upper district,” he said.

“We are trying,” Alyra replied before Elowynn could answer.

Korvel’s attention remained on Caelyn. “Who is he?”

“No one you need to concern yourself with,” Elowynn said, her tone tense.

Something painful moved in his expression. It was ugly and complicated. His gaze dipped once, almost unwillingly, toward the bruise on her arm. Shame crossed his face so quickly she might have missed it had she not spent five turnings learning how to read men who hid truth behind manners.

“I can get you through the east exchange,” he said.

Caelyn’s voice was quiet, his eyes still downcast. “Why would you?”

Korvel looked at him fully.

The two men stood in the bleeding light of the ruined Spire with Veylspire collapsing around them, and Elowynn felt a strange pressure build between them that had nothing to do with resonance.

Korvel saw the way Caelyn stood near her without touching her.

“Because if she remains here, she dies,” Korvel said firmly.

Caelyn finally snapped his blackened gaze up and took one step forward. Frost curled in thick tendrils beneath his boot.

Korvel reared back, his eyes widening. “What the—”

Elowynn moved between them before either man could do something irrevocably stupid.

“Enough!” The word came out sharper than she intended, but both of them looked at her.

She was done being maneuvered. Done being grabbed. Done being protected into corners!

“Korvel—” she said, forcing her voice steady through the smoke burning her throat and the exertion of running, “—if you can get us through the east exchange, then do it. After that, you will go back to whatever impossible choices you've decided only you can make, and we will go our way.”

His face tightened, but he nodded.

“Fine.”

For once, he didn't argue. Perhaps he really did want to see her to safety. Perhaps she had been wrong about some things.

Time would tell, she supposed.

Korvel led them through the exchange square without any further words. Guards moved aside for him even while glancing uneasily at Caelyn. Elowynn saw Korvel notice that too. Saw the questions gathering behind his eyes, but fortunately, he didn't ask any of them.

At the eastern entrance, he stopped long enough to issue a series of rapid instructions. Several guards immediately broke away, dispersing back into the chaos above.

The remainder looked as though they intended to follow.

"You have other responsibilities," Korvel said.

None of them appeared pleased by the order, but neither did any argue.

By the time Korvel turned back toward Elowynn and the others, they were alone.

The eastern exchange tunnel carried them beneath two damaged terraces and through an old administrative passage Elowynn had never seen before. The air was stale and thick with dust, but the stone held firm when another surge of resonance rolled through the city. Somewhere overhead, the shriek of tearing metal echoed through the ceiling.

Lora walked close beside Elowynn now, one hand brushing her arm as though silently reassuring her that she was still there.