Shock stole my steps for a moment, then I had to half-run to catch up to him. I snatched the weapons from his hands in case he thought better of it.
I unsheathed them. Watched the light play over the carvings on the black steel—Nightborn steel. The good shit.
Not just any blades. My blades.
I’d thought it would feel right to have these in my hands again, like being reunited with an old friend. Instead, I had to brace against the sudden, visceral memory of what I had done with these very weapons the last time I’d held them.
“Why would you give me these?”
“I figured you’ll need them. No poison in them, though. I haven’t had time to track any down, but maybe we should call it a precaution.”
Raihn was walking fast. I didn’t have much time to admire them, stumbling along as I affixed the sheaths to my belt while keeping up with him.
Leathers. Weapons. Human districts. It was all eerily familiar, and yet, so wildly different.
We emerged onto a denser street, little clay buildings packed together like crooked teeth. “Keep that hood up,” Raihn muttered, though there was no one around, and crossed the street to a rickety building with four stories that all seemed to be a little misaligned, like a stack of unsteady bricks. A single lantern swung in the breeze at the door, the suggestion of light seeping between curtained window panes. Raihn opened the door without knocking, and I followed.
It led us into a small, dim lobby, with a single desk and a narrow staircase. A rotund, middle-aged human man dozed at the desk, an empty glass of very pungent-smelling alcohol drawing amber circles on scattered papers.
Raihn ignored him, and I followed his lead as he went up the stairs. At the top floor, he reached into his pocket and produced a key. Apparently, the lock didn’t work very well anymore, so he grumbled through three attempts before the door finally swung open.
He gave me a sly smile beneath the hood. “After you, princess.”
Tentatively, I stepped into the room.
It was an apartment. A stark contrast to the one we had just left in the castle—the entirety of the place was smaller than the bedroom alone there, the only furniture a single small bed, a dresser, and one tiny desk that I suspected Raihn probably couldn’t even fit at. It was clearly occupied, though—the desk held books and papers, one half-open dresser drawer revealed a glimpse of crumpled fabric, and the washroom lantern was still lit. The bed was a little messy, like someone had slept in it recently and made it very hurriedly.
I walked around the room slowly, brow furrowed.
“Who lives here?”
Raihn closed the door and latched it behind us.
“I do.”
I halted mid-stride. My brows lurched.
He chucked softly. “It’s still satisfying to shock you. Fine. Maybe ‘living here’ is a bit of an exaggeration.” He unhooked his cloak, tossed it onto the bed, and then fell backwards onto it with a grunt of satisfaction. “It’s… somewhere private to go.”
I thought of all those days that I never heard Raihn’s footsteps return to his rooms.
“You sleep here?”
“Sometimes.” A pause, then, “Sometimes I can’t… sometimes I just want to get away from that place.”
I watched him practically deflate onto the bed. He did immediately seem more at ease here. Like the remnants of whatever mask he wore within the walls of the castle had finally fallen free.
I didn’t want to see this version of Raihn—the version that reminded me far too much of the man I’d…
I cleared my throat, stuffed my hands into my pockets, and wandered the perimeter.
“No one knows about it,” Raihn said.
“No one but me,” I corrected.
I could hear the smile in his voice. “No one but you.”
“Stupid of you.”
“Maybe.”
“Since I’m a traitor and all.”
“Mmm.” The bed creaked as Raihn sat back up. I turned around to see him giving me a stare that made me jolt. All seriousness.
“We need to talk,” he said, “and we needed to do it somewhere I knew no one else would hear us.”
“I thought you said everything you needed to say. Or Septimus did, at least.”
My words were pointed, the accusation clear.
“I say what I need to say, in front of them.”
“You manipulated me,” I snapped. “You’ve been playing games with me since the beginning.”
Raihn’s face hardened.
“You committed an act of war, Oraya.”
I let out a choked laugh. “I committed an act of war? Me?”
This was a mistake. I shouldn’t even be here. I was armed now. I could— He winced, then raised his hands. “I—let’s not. This isn’t what I’m here for.”
“Then what?”
He stood, went to the dresser, and pulled something out of the middle drawer—something long, wrapped in fabric. He lay the object over the desk beside me and unwrapped it.
My heart caught in my throat.
The Taker of Hearts. Vincent’s sword.
It was an incredible weapon—he’d had it for centuries, and never refuted or confirmed the legends surrounding it. That it was god-forged. That it was cursed. That it was blessed. That he’d carved out a little chunk of his own heart to have it made. He’d told me these legends when I was a child, sometimes—always with a completely serious face but a glint of amusement in his eye.
Legends aside, the reality was impressive enough. The weapon was incredibly powerful, enhancing Vincent’s already-significant magical strength. It was his and his alone, rejecting all other wielders. I used to joke that the sword was Vincent’s true greatest love. For most of my life, I think I believed it.
Now, the image of Vincent’s bloodied face, straining to look at me in his final breaths, cut through my mind.
I loved you from the first moment.
My chest was very, very tight.
Raihn stepped back, leaning against the wall, as if to give me space alone with it. “You can pick it up,” he said—oddly gently. “Just be careful. Hurts like a bitch if you touch the hilt too long.”
I unsheathed the sword and lay it over the desk. It was light, a slender and elegant rapier. The blade was bright red, swirls and sigils carved into its length that matched those on my own. The hilt was made of Nightsteel, forming delicate spirals around the handguard, which resembled the bones of Hiaj wings.
I stared at it for a long time, not trusting myself to speak. A slow-rising tide of grief and anger swelled inside me.
Raihn had been keeping this sword. My father’s most prized possession, now owned by the man who had killed him.
“Why are you showing me this?”
Surely he couldn’t think it was some kind of sentimental peace offering.
“Could you wield it?”
I blinked in surprise and turned to Raihn. I briefly questioned if I’d heard him right.
“No,” I said. “No one can wield it but him.”
“But no one could use the mirror but him, either. And you used that.”
“That’s different. This is…”