Chapter 9: Why Her

"She's alive," I said. "She's asleep. Keep your voice down."

Declan sagged against the wall.

He pressed the heel of his hand against his chest and breathed out hard.

"Thank God."

"You didn't come."

"I drove all night. The guards wouldn't let me past the gate until the healer's call came down." He stopped.

He looked at Torin, who stood at my shoulder with his arms folded and a gauze strip on one foot.

"I felt it, Cora. Every minute. Do you know what that's like?"

"No," I said. "I'm the one who refused it."

He flinched.

It was cruel, and I didn't take it back.

Torin looked at the ceiling. "I'll check on the healer."

He walked off down the corridor, and his footsteps faded.

I was alone with the man I'd been married to for eleven years, and the stone smelled of antiseptic.

"One question," I said. "Only one, and I want a true answer."

"Anything."

"Why Felicity?"

His face went careful.

"Every time. The ceremony, the storm, the boat." I kept my voice low and even.

"I've watched you put your daughter down for her for a year."

I didn't let him answer.

"I don't think you love her. I've seen your face when her name comes up. You look like a man called to the gallows."

"Cora."

"So why?"

He opened his mouth.

I saw the answer come up in his throat and I saw him swallow it.

"I owe her," he said.

"Owe her what?"

"I can't tell you."

"Can't, or won't?"

"Both." He pressed his fist to his chest again. "Please. Not here."

"When the claim is over, when things are quiet, I will tell you everything. I swear it."

"You can't do it now because now is when it would cost you something."

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