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Seph snapped her gaze back to his. The idea sounded ludicrous to Seph, given their present circumstances. “Bring themhere? Well, that’s just…Alder, this entire conversation is absurd, and you know it!”

He raised a dark brow. “Do I?”

Seph faced him fully. “This is madness, Alder! You know what Abecka is—was—capable of…the kind of power she possessed. You saw it just as I did. That is what the people of Lightneed, and I can’t even read your damnable symbols!” Seph paused, finding herself quite out of breath again. She scowled at Alder. “Why are you smiling? This isn’t funny!”

“I know it isn’t.” He pressed his lips together, as if he were trying very hard to keep his smile from spreading wider.

“I’m not a child running away from responsibility, but I know my limitations, and this is beyond me.”

Alder did not appear to agree with her, and Seph couldn’t take it. It was too much and he was too handsome, and so she turned her attention back to the fire. Anywhere but at him. Her hands clenched the mantel, and her chest heaved. Then he was there, right behind her, but careful too, as though he were approaching a wild animal.

Now Seph was out of breath for an entirely different reason.

“I understand what it’s like to be given responsibility you don’t want.” His voice was low and so close that it felt like an embrace. “I ran from mine. As I said before, I hurt many in the process, and not a day goes by that I do not regret it.”

There was no humor in his voice now, and when Seph dared a glance back at him, he’d lost his smile. The embers from the hearth warmed his skin and softened all his sharp edges. Seph swallowed, hard.

“That’s different,” she said.

“How is that different?”

“How is that different? You were born here! You were raised here. You’re connected to youreloitin a way that I will never be?—”

“And you are connected to your humanity in a way that I will never be.” His eyes were blades as they cut back and forth between both of hers. He leaned forward just a hair, but it was enough to make Seph’s pulse skyrocket. “Josephine, do not think for a moment that you are less because you were not born in Canna, or…or that you’re incapable because you can’t command youreloitlike Abecka could, but honestly, I believe even that’s just a matter of time. You’ve connected to youreloitfaster than anyone I’ve ever seen, but that’s not why I want you to stay.”

Seph stared at him, heart pounding. “You want me to stay.”

A muscle flexed in Alder’s jaw, and then it washewho turned to face the embers. He rested a fist upon the mantel too, leaning against it, and Seph had the distinct impression he hadn’t meant to admit that.

Still, she waited, and she adjusted the neckline of her gown, which had slipped precariously over one shoulder in her fervor.

“We need your humanity, Josephine,” Alder said at last, his attention fixed on the fire. His words were an echo of Abecka’s. “That is far more powerful than any enchantment. Don’t believe me? Ask your grandfather. Ask him why this land was cursed in the first place. I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t for any lack of power.”

He was referencing the curse, of course, and why it had originated, but Seph already knew the answer: Canna had been given all the power in the world, and it had damned her in the end, because as Canna had grown inflated with pride, she’d lost her humanity.

“All I ask,” Alder continued quietly, “is that you do not dismiss the idea so easily.”

Seph mulled over his words. “When do they need an answer?”

“Soon,” Alder said. “And preferably by the time I return.”

Josephine’s eyes widened with alarm. “Where are you going?”

Alder looked back to the embers. It was difficult holding his train of thought with her standing there beside him, with the light illuminating her feminine silhouette through the thin fabric of her nightdress, her cheeks pink and hair as wild as if he’d just ravaged her in the bed.

Had shereallynever been with a man?

It made Alder feel positively debauched. And then he thought that Rys would kill him if he knew the sort of thoughts he was having about his sister. To be fair, Alder was nottryingto have them. In fact, he’d made a valiant effort to stay away from Josephine, not only to keep her safe from himself, but also because he wasn’t used to a woman taking up so much space in his head.

Carrying her on his back hadn’t helped either, and bathing her had been its own form of torture, but—Demas as his witness—Alder had done his best not to look at her naked body. He’d respected her privacy as best he could, averting his gaze whenever possible. It helped that Sienne kept glaring at him, but Alder’s primary motivation had been knowing that Josephine wouldn’t want him to look. He just hadn’t expected her to be so embarrassed.

It was endearing, really, and it brought a brilliant shade of pink to her cheeks, one that made him want to carry her right over to that bed and show her just what he thought of her body.

He didn’t, of course. He might be a selfish ass, but he wasn’t a total boor.

“To…pay a visit to my uncle,” Alder said tightly. “We need far greater numbers, and I believe he can supply that. Lord Hammerfell employed Weald’s largest army, and he served my mother with unfailing loyalty, which I hope to persuade him to transfer to me.”

“But if this uncle of yours was so loyal to your mother, why is he not here?”