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“I’ll be fine,” he said, his jaw set.

“Says the man who just fainted.”

“For ten seconds,” he groaned. “Just promise me.”

I refused to promise what he was asking for. I would not exchange my life for his. But, since the likelihood of that situation seemed impossibly small and far away, I nodded. “Fine. Were you hunting akadim?”

Rhyan rose to his feet and gestured for me to come with him into the center of the room. I watched him carefully. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and I could see the bags under his eyes. I’d only ever seen them once before—after his all-night hunting trip to Elyria.

“I was,” he said, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He seemed to be covering up a slight wobble.

“Where?” I moved toward him.

He swallowed, his lips tight. “They were back in Elyria. The same nest from before. It had been rebuilt. And…the pack has grown.”

“Auriel’s bane,” I muttered.

“Yes,” he said, that one simple word holding an infinite amount of gravity within it. “It was the same as last time. The nest was abandoned, and we destroyed it, but something’s changed. Almost like they’re planning or organizing. Akadim, as far as we know, have never organized themselves.”

My stomach twisted. “What’s causing it?”

“Either they’re evolving as a species or something has learned to control them.” He pushed his fingers through his hair. “I’m going to be making more trips as we head into winter. They’re taking volunteers—anointed soturi and any apprentices who want to go. We’re going to have to start hunting.”

“Are you volunteering?” I asked, my pulse racing.

His mouth tightened again. “I have to go.”

“Aemon?” I asked. “Is he forcing you?”

Rhyan shook his head.

“But you have to go on these hunting trips?”

“Lyr, there were victims in the nest. I…you don’t want to know the things I’ve seen, the things they did to these people.” He looked a little green as he spoke, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head as if he could shake out the images. “I have to stop the threat. It’s what it means to be a soturion.” Rhyan shrugged his shoulders back and shook his arms out, like he was still trying to wake up, get his energy back.

“I know what it means,” I said. Rhyan had driven the lesson home on my first day: soturi stopped the threat at any cost—even if it meant not saving the life of a loved one. Everything in the warrior’s life was sacrificed to kill the akadim, to keep it from killing again, to keep it from making more. “But it’s not your job to kill every akadim out there. You said they’re taking volunteers. But you didn’t have that option? That doesn’t sound like volunteering to me.”

“I swore an oath. End of story. We need to start training. This whole thing has already cost you time you can’t afford to waste.”

If Rhyan had the ability to stop a threat, he would take it—he always acted to keep others safe. But he was also focused on my success. He knew he needed to train me, that his ability to remain in Bamaria was dependent on my ability to pass the Emperor’s test. Killing an akadim before hadn’t been enough to absolve him of his crimes. He’d been forced to become my bodyguard as well. Going on all these extra trips didn’t make sense, they wouldn’t get him back to Glemaria, they wouldn’t—

“Fuck,” I said, realization dawning on me. “You promised your sword to my father. Didn’t you?”

A small nod was all he gave in confirmation.

“And that extends beyond being bound to me, being forced to protect me. Now you’re hunting akadim for Bamaria?”

“Let’s just practice, partner.”

“It’s not right,” I said.

“Lyr, stop. I can take care of myself. I’m more than capable of handling this task. I mean, I literally came here and offered my sword after killing an akadim. Are you really surprised that I’m now being asked to stop a threat that’s moving closer to Bamaria—closer to you? You had to know,” he said. “I’m a killer. It’s in the fine print.”

“You’re not a killer.”

“You don’t know everything about me.”

“I know you’re not a killer.”