Death Sworn(86)

The first step was the hardest, wrenching herself away from his side. The second took her under the sky, steadily lightening and stretching forever. A stray breeze brushed hair away from her face, something she had once—a few weeks ago—thought she would never feel again. The breeze was gentle and warm. She blinked away the blurring in her eyes.

On the third step, she stopped and turned around.

“You could come with me,” she whispered. Not entirely sure she meant it, but not willing to leave it unsaid.

From the darkness of the cave entrance, Sorin shook his head.

In the silence that followed, Ileni thought he was going to say he wasn’t letting her go. She didn’t want him to . . . oh, yes. Yes, she did.

Their eyes met. Sorin took a deep breath. “Ileni. You’re the most important person in these caves.” His words emerged in a sudden rush. “What Absalm said . . . you could change everything. You could destroy the Empire in a stroke. Bring us the victory both our people have been working toward for centuries. You could think about it. You could change your mind.”

And she probably would, eventually. If she stayed.

“I can’t,” Ileni said. “I can’t just let myself believe what everyone else believes. I need to see for myself.”

He blinked. “You’re not going back to the Renegai?”

“No.” After all that had happened, she was almost startled he would ask. Then she realized what he was really asking. “There’s nothing for me there. And no one.”

Sorin’s expression didn’t change, but his shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit. He stared at her, and then he smiled in sudden realization, a grin that made the dimness look bright. “You’re headed into the Empire.”

“I am.”

“You think you’ll find answers out there?” He shook his head. “I can tell you from experience, you won’t.”

“Maybe not.” She lifted her chin and met his black eyes. “But nobody in these caves even knows there’s a question.”

He was silent for a moment. Then he said, “When you do find those answers, you’ll be back. All you’ll have done is wasted your time.”

She couldn’t deny it. She couldn’t say he was right. She turned on her heel, shifted her weight to take the fourth step.

His voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear it. “I’ll be here, Ileni. When you do come back.”

She didn’t turn around. She took the fifth step, and the sixth, and the seventh, and then she stopped counting. The sun was rising in the gray sky, scattering the clouds. She set off down the road, toward the end of the shadow cast by the black mountains behind her.





Acknowledgments

Death Sworn is the first book I ever wrote with the knowledge that it would more likely than not be published. This was both reassuring and frightening, and I owe an extra measure of thanks to the people who kept both me and the book on track throughout the process.

First and foremost, to all my readers.

To my editor, Martha Mihalick, for making me cut the things that didn’t work and improve the things that did, for always pushing me to be better, and for pictures of jumping sheep.

To Anne Dunn, for careful copyedits and an email that made my week.

To everyone at Greenwillow, especially Virginia Duncan, Lois Adams, Patty Rosati, and Mary Ann Zissimos.

To Sylvie Le Floc’h, for an amazing cover that perfectly captures the feel of the book.

To Bill Contardi, for being in my corner.

To my family, for their excitement and enthusiasm, and for Googling me and then forwarding only the good stuff.

To Leah Clifford, for invaluable caving expertise. I’m sorry for fictionally destroying Lechuguilla Cave.

To all the Codexians, for everything, and especially for helpful answers to panicked mid-revision questions.

To Shanna Giora-Gorfajn, for supplying me with hot cocoa, even if she didn’t have to row through an underground river to do it. (You would have anyhow, right?) To Autumn Rachel Dryden and Janina Wilen, for throwing knives. I mean, not really. Okay, yes, really. But not at me. Actually, thanks for that, too.

And last but most definitely not least, to everyone who commented on this manuscript in its various stages (especially the frantic I-didn’t-realize-this-was-the-last-revision stage): Tova Suslovich (x2 or 3 or 100!), Christine Amsden, Cindy Pon, Bethany Powell, Brant Williams, Anaea Lay, E. Catherine Tobler, Kat Otis, Deva Fagan, Gwendolyn Clare, Laurel Amberdine, Sol Kim-Bentley, and Sharona Vedol. Your input and advice were invaluable.