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He stares at her, no emotion lighting his expression, and lifts a single shoulder.

“You did. In your way you did. But we all have hard truths we must face. If it came to it, in the moment, you would raise your sword for Axton rather than your shield for Ellie. And that is the difference between us. I don’t blame you for it, don’t hold it against you.

You were a good friend to her in the ways you were able to be.

But no, you don’t understand me. Not anymore.

If you ever did. Because thinking that time will heal this?

” He shakes his head, unable to continue.

“And this one?” She turns her head to glare at me, but I have no part in this, and keep silent. “This one does?”

“I don’t know, Bet. But she did more for us, and with less reason.

She gave us a gift of time that I’ll never be able to pay back, though I can’t fathom why.

And she knows loss, knows it well enough that it is as natural to her as breathing.

” Kylabet is desperately trying to maintain her composure, but is obviously close to breaking, the strain of the last week or more wearing on her .

“ I know loss, Teo.” Anger sharpens her tone, truth heavy in every syllable, and he bends his head in acknowledgement.

“You do, Bet. I’m sorry. You do. I don’t mean to disparage you.

Just not the sort that rips you from your tethers, that takes you from your very home and casts you out.

” Something flickers in his expression, a sort of thoughtfulness that is almost scary in its lightning quick flash.

Kyla and I both see it, but it sparks hope in her, rather than fear.

“You are still there, Teo. And I will prove to you that I am not duty above all else.”

“Bet…” he begins slowly, and she looks up at him eagerly, hearing a door opening in his words.

“If you…if you are my friend, truly, then do not begrudge me where I may find solace in the coming months. Even if it is in a place you would not approve.” Two sets of eyes dart towards me in unison, then back to each other.

“Teo…”

“I will be careful. I give you my word. If the offer is even taken. But give me yours in return that you will accept it, without reserve.”

She shakes her head, and sighs. “I would never betray you. That is the most I am willing to give. The choices you make —”

“Are mine, and mine alone. And if any were to go against me, I want you to hear me now, If any were to go against what I feel I need to do, I would not let them stand in my way. Do you understand?”

Kylabet nods slowly, then glances behind her nervously.

“I need to leave before he comes back, but Teo, we will finish this conversation later. Without listening ears.” Turning to me, face threatening as a stormcloud, she lifts her blade and places it gently over my heart.

It is less a threat than a caution. “Even a whisper of this conversation and I will cut out your tongue, Binder.”

“In most instances, Commander, I think you will find me mute as well as blind.”

She exhales heavily, but doesn’t reply, and starts to walk away.

After a few steps, though, she pauses almost reluctantly, then calls out over her shoulder, “And Teo. Don’t come back to camp at all wet.

He will see it and know. Any stones lost beneath the surface must stay where they are.

However pretty or precious they may be to us.

” Though regret and sorrow choke her words, there is no room in her tone for argument.

“You have no time to linger, in any case. He will be looking for your footsteps in the shadows of mine.” She waits a heartbeat for a response, but when none comes, her shoulders curl forward, and she trudges away.

The moment she is gone, Teo lurches toward the lake, where small, white-capped waves have started rolling toward the shore, the morning wind now blowing steadily.

Throwing out my hands just in time, I grab the back of his tunic and yank him hard enough to pull him off his feet, though the moment he connects with the ground he is up again.

“I have to...Ellie…” His voice is a death rattle, a moan from beyond the veil; I have to throw my arms around him to force him to be still.

“Stop! Stop, Teo!” I plead, and it’s only by the grace of the Gods that he stills for the briefest of moments. “I can get her.”

Little Keeper? For the first time in my life that I can remember, I am reluctant to hear Lorcan. He can tell, somehow he can tell, and worry suffuses him so intensely I can feel it drip out of his bones, down my back, along my spine.

“What do you mean?” Teo asks, struggling against me again. “It would be just as bad if you went back to the camp wet, Wren. It is a death sentence for either of us. At least I want to be gone. Put me with Ellie if you can.”

“Stop!” I say again. “Just trust me. She’ll come to me if I call her. Just stop! Give me a chance.”

It is enough to calm him, though his chest still heaves and his eyes are wild.

I let him go cautiously, making sure he is still and unmoving before walking to the edge of the shoreline, carefully keeping my feet from the water.

Crouching down, I put a hand beneath the cool surface, and call out to Ellie’s bone.

Come, Ellie. Come here to me.

It only takes a moment, maybe two, before I feel her respond, her bone tumbling towards me, then I catch her and pull her from the water, drying her on the edge of my tunic. She is confused, but not upset, just looking for Teo from the second she emerges from beneath the waves.

Lorcan is tense on my skin.

Someday , he says slowly, someday perhaps you will trust me with all of your secrets, Little Keeper. He’s almost disappointed, or hurt, and his pain becomes my own before I am even aware of it.

Lorcan…

I won’t take what you’re not willing to give, BoneKeeper. You’ve had enough of that in your life. It keeps life interesting, I suppose. These little surprises.

But he doesn’t feel right, and I’m trying to think of how to explain it to him, how sometimes I’m not even sure of what I can do until the moment it happens, when Ellie is grabbed from my hand.

“Loll...” Teo breathes against her surface in such relief it is painful, pressing the rough bone to his cheek, eyes closed.

We are silent for a heartbeat, maybe two, when his lids open and his gaze lands unerringly on mine.

“What would have happened to her?” he asks.

“Had you not been here. Had I been unable to find her. What would have happened? ” There is something eerie in his tone, an echo I don’t know how to identify, and for the first time since I met him, I am scared of Teo.

Rocking back on my heels, I start to take a step back, but he holds up his hand to stop me.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Wren. I just…what would have happened? Please.”

“She was asleep in her bone, Teo. I think, though I can’t promise, that she just would have remained asleep.”

“Asleep and alone, lost forever beneath the waves. Trapped.” He stares down at her, cradled protectively in the curve of his palm.

“We have her though. She is safe.”

“For now. With you as her Keeper and her voice.” He is hollow, hollow, hollow, winds whipping through a mountain cavern, and the fear I had of him from moments before turns to fear for him.

“It is more than most have. And she is happy to be near you.”

“Is she.” It’s not a question, and demands no answer.

“It’s time to return to camp, Wren. There is nothing good that will happen to either of us if they have to send someone after us.

” He pauses, staring out over the water, then glances back at his hand before tucking Ellie against his chest. “If I don’t get the chance to later, I want to thank you, Keeper, for saving her.

Both times. I know I don’t seem grateful at the moment, but please know that I am.

You risked much for us while Ellie was alive, and then more to bind her soul to bone.

I — I do appreciate you, more than you know.

It’s just…” His voice drifts off, smoke on the breeze, then he shakes his head and tries to smile at me, more a baring of teeth than anything else.

Taking my hand, he tucks it into the crook of his elbow, and urges me forward.

“Come along, Wren. A poor pair of eyes I’d be if I let you stumble through the woods.

” Glancing down at me, gaze thoughtful and considering thinking I can’t see him anymore without my bones, he nods once, as though coming to some sort of decision.

“I am indebted to you, BoneKeeper,” he says somberly. “And I always repay my debts.”

Squeezing my hand gently, he leads me down the rough path into the trees, away from the water and the brief moment of peace we found before the day broke.

Murmuring soft guidance, he warns of roots and tripping hazards, helping me over the rough ground with nothing but gentleness and patience.

So there is no reason for the chill that suddenly surges forth in my heart, the frost of fear filling my lungs.

Nothing other than the fervent promise of a debt repaid, and the empty brown eyes of my only friend in this camp.