1564024802

(Autumn Admireceo1iq) #1

around the cave, as if she could see the world
beyond it. “She spun fantasies that felt so real
...” She bobbed under the surface. Perhaps
she’d needed the cooling water of the lake to
be able to hear her own voice again; perhaps
she needed the distance between them so she
could speak these words. She emerged,
slicking back her hair with a hand. “They felt
like this.”
Half of him didn’t want to know, but he
asked, “What sort of illusions?”
A long pause. “It doesn’t matter now.”
Too soon to push—if ever.
Then she asked softly, “How long?”
It took the entirety of his three centuries of
training to keep the devastation, the agony for
her, from his face. “Two months, three days,
and seven hours.”
Her mouth tightened, either at the length of
time, or the fact that he’d counted every

Free download pdf