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“Well, I did a little digging, and turns out it wasn’t during the day. The boy hadn’t even made it to his shift that morning, and his parents hadn’t seen him the evening the day previous. Whoever your sources were had it wrong. We might have stopped them from taking Sverik and his wife, but they must have already taken the boy.” I was careful not to identify Sharla, or he may have asked how I knew her name. She’d screamed for Sverik, so I knew his name was safe.

He stood lethally still. The kind of stillness that had my skin pebbling, but not from the cold. From concern. What if I’d revealed too much? That Chol, in fact, did have a hand in all of this, and was partnering with me only to sift out how much I knew before I became a threat. Maybe discovering the blatant lie was the deciding factor he needed to end me here and now. I firmed up my footing.

My hand slowly worked its way back over the pommel, ready to strike like an asp if he so much as flinched in my direction. I wasn’t the praying type, but if I was, that’s what I would be doing now.

Don’t do it, Chol. Don’t make me. Please be who I hope you are.

But he didn’t lunge forward. Instead, he crumpled to the ground, burying his masked face into his gloves.

Before I could register my response, I’d released my hilt and moved beside him, resting my hands over his back and on his arm. “What’s wrong?” He didn’t look injured, and the way he’d sat looked intentional, but my heart pounded regardless.

“I keep failing,” he whispered, the quiet admission barely hitting my ears as the roaring wind tried carrying it away.

“What are you talking about?” I dropped to my knees. With a life of its own, my hand moved back and forth between his shoulders.

“I can’t explain it.” His clipped, defeated words stung like a slap in the face. Screw anonymity.

“Try,” I said.

He peered at me, the moonlight making his irises sparkle just like the night sky. But something else, besides the lack of light, darkened them, too.

“I can’t get a grip on anything these days. I’m questioning everything I know, things I thought were true. I want to fix things, but it almost seems that whenever I try, I only end up creating more problems.” His head dropped in defeat.

A heartbeat passed, and then his strong jaw was cradled in my palms as I forced his eyeline back to me. “You have me. I’m on your side. You don’t have to question that. I don’t know what’s weighing on you, and I don’t expect you to tell me, but I want you to hear me when I say this, Chol. There aren’t many people willing to put themselves in the midst of this awful situation. It takes someone with courage, someone with a good conscience to even strive for what we’re attempting. One man, or woman, can’t be expected to solve the issues in the world. But as a team, we stand a pretty good chance, I think. Especially if I’m a part of it.” I released a light laugh. “So don’t count yourself out yet, because I need you by my side for this.”

He brought up his hand to cover one of mine, holding it firmly against his face, and he closed his eyes. The warmth seeped through his glove into my hand, and something unfamiliar settled within my bones. His touch was magnetic, a pull stronger than I would have anticipated.

For a moment, I forgot about the chilly wind, the rustling leaves, the restless ocean. My body melted into the comfort of his touch, of the one person who saw me being truest to myself. I didn’t know what he dealt with in the light of day, when he didn’t have fabric concealing his face, but I also felt as if I didn’t need to. Even concealed, I couldn’t fight off the feeling that we saw each other.

I saw a man who was well trained, strong. A man who held courage in his heart to stand up against evil. A man who probably had the opportunity to seriously injure or even kill me, but never tried to. Nothing to prove except to himself, no desire for glory. A heart set on doing the right thing, that pained under the weight of feeling like a failure.

He finally opened his eyes to catch me frozen intently on him. “Thank you, Ella.”

Too soon he let me go, and I made a concerted effort to drop my hand before I made it weird.

“I think you may have been right,” he said, letting his legs straighten onto the grass.

“Probably. But about what?”

He laughed softly, and the sun glowed within my chest. My mask hid my triumphant smile.

“I don’t know if it’s related, but some of the guards…it just seems like they’re hiding something. I’ve been trying to look into the murdered body on the beach, and the guards apprehended a suspect, but…” Chol struggled to find the words. “I missed my opportunity to learn more because I became distracted. The suspect died. There’s no more lead.”

I found myself placing my hand on his thigh, for no other reason than I wanted to. When I realized what I’d done, I retracted my hand with lightning speed and cleared my throat before continuing, “About that murdered man. I found out more about him.”

“What did you find out?” He sat straighter, leaning closer. I didn’t pull back, and my cheeks heated despite the cool breeze.

“I met someone today who knew him. She actually came here looking for him, suspecting he might have gotten into trouble. She said she’s from a place where others are disappearing too, but there, everyone who’s gone missing has magic.”

“Where?”

“She didn’t say. She carefully guarded that piece of information.”

“So we know the victim had magic, and wasn’t from this town, but we don’t know from where, and wherever this place is, they’re experiencing the same troubles.”

“Mhm, and when I went to visit Clemmons’ parents, they had willowroot in their home. I know it’s flimsy, but it could suggest they’re a family of magic wielders, too. Oh, and Mr. Gallagher, I’m going to look into him as well to see if he had any, or if he was simply a supporter.”

“Huh…” He quietly contemplated the theory. “I haven’t been aware of any upticks in magic resentment, but then again, there’s a lot I’m not hearing these days.” He dragged a hand over his hood, careful not to pull it back too far.