Page 13 of Silver & Gold

Now Seth was the one shaking his head, like he couldn’t bear for this to be true.

It was, however, easy enough to prove.

Raider had a sense of being separate from himself. It was a familiar sensation, one he’d experienced sometimes when he couldn’t quite handle things that were happening to him.

It was a sort of numbness, where he felt his body but not quite. Where he chose his words but not quite.

He heard his own voice, weirdly monotone, saying, “Describe him.”

Some part of Raider’s brain registered Seth’s eyes jumping to him, but his own eyes remained on Julian, who said, “He’s, um, about my height—”

“Come here. Stand up.”

After a wary glance at Seth, the young arcanist scooted across the platform. Seth moved back to make room for Julian to stand, his shackled hands held awkwardly at his waist.

Raider stepped up to him and gauged the height, about four inches less than his own. For a second, he saw a different face, a different man. Some of the protective numbness left him, and a tremble started in Raider’s body. He pressed on, while he still could. “What else?”

“Thick curly hair, mostly gray, but it looks like it used to be black. Dark eyes, darker skin than yours—”

“His hands.”

When Seth sucked in a noisy breath, Raider didn’t even need to hear Julian say, “The left one is scarred, front and back. Like something—”

“Went straight through it.”

“Yes.” Julian frowned, clearly puzzled by Raider’s guess. “How did you …”

Julian trailed off as Raider turned away, heading up the steps. Distantly, Raider heard Seth call his name, but he couldn’t respond. He needed out—now.

Hauling open the door, he escaped into the night.

CHAPTER 5

TAKING THE STEPS three at a time, Seth was only a few seconds behind Raider, but it was enough to have him in a panic. Gods, if Raider had vanished—

He was standing in the wine-pressing pavilion.

The sky was lightening in the east, enough for Seth to see that Raider’s back was to him and his arms were crossed. His pack lay at his feet. As Seth neared, Raider turned to face him—and took a step back. Seth didn’t like that.

Fingers twitching at his sides, Seth asked, “Are you okay?”

“I just needed a second.”

“You can have that second with me.”

Seth wasn’t going to let him isolate again like he’d done after he’d found the book. Like he’d done after the sand serpent fight. Like he did every fucking time he couldn’t deal with something. Because looking back? Seth could see a lot of this. He just hadn’t seen it for what it was at the time.

Raider turned, arms still crossed, and looked down the vineyard’s slope to the river. The lessening darkness meant that Seth could see details he’d missed before: the boat pulled up on the riverbank, the workers’ huts. These things said they needed to move on. Soon.

Raider must have had a similar thought because he asked, “Is Julian coming with us?”

“I would imagine so. I unshackled him, but I took the book.”

“You should give it back to him. Let him take it to Kastari.”

“That’s not an option.”

“Rahim and Malik saw the book. They can report me to the empress without it.”