[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.]
Thordin’s hammer clanged off the anvil instead of the blade, ringing wrong, sounding off-key. Phelan risked a glance up at him, knowing what he’d see in his friend’s face—astonishment, disbelief, confusion.
He was wrong, though. There was a strange sort of curiosity in Thordin’s look, mingled with surprise and somehow, against all odds, understanding.
“You can’t imagine a world where she’s not in it,” Thordin murmured. “Whether she’s your friend or your enemy.”
“Both of them,” Phelan said softly, leaning his head back against the wall and staring at the shadowed ceiling. “Killing Hecate would destroy my sister. And if Hecate’s gone…” His eyes slid shut. “You’re right. I can’t imagine a world where she doesn’t exist. She’s—she’s like some kind of constant in my world.” His eyes flickered open and he sighed. “I’ve spent centuries telling myself I hate her and now I’m finding myself asking whether or not I really do.”
Thordin put the blade back into the coals to heat again. “What conclusion are you coming to?”
“That I’ve only fought her because I had to, because she seemed hell-bent on stopping me from doing what I need to do—either through killing me or kidnapping me. But looking back, I don’t know that I ever really hated her. I was angry, yes—especially when she’d go after Teague, or chase after me when I really, really had something important I needed to accomplish. It was an unwelcome distraction, but…I don’t know. I don’t know that I ever really hated her.” His voice grew soft. “And I don’t know if she ever really hated me, either.”
Thordin nodded, taking the blade out and laying it against the anvil. The hammer fell true this time, the clang echoing softly as he continued his work. “Then you know what you have to do, don’t you?”
Phelan choked on a laugh. “We don’t know where she is, Thordin. No one does. That’s the only thing that’s preventing Aoife from rushing off right now, I think—the fact that we’ve got no clue where the Hecate is.”
“There’s someone here who might know.”
Phelan frowned, then stiffened. “He’s still unconscious.”
“If she’s determined enough, old friend…”
Phelan squeezed his eyes shut. “I just have to hope no one’s mentioned him to her yet.”
And failing that, I have to hope that Cariocecus doesn’t know where to find the woman my sister wants to kill.
