Page 433 of Of Empires and Dust
“I loved her too,” he whispered to the wind. So many nights he had dreamt of what would have happened if he had stayed his blade… if he had lifted Alvira to her feet and taken a different path. But such things were the dreams of children. The past could not be changed. He had made his choice and now was reaping the consequences. But he could still make a difference. He could still save the dragons.
Helios lifted his head as the sound of crunching dirt broke the swashing of the lake’s waves, followed by the nicker of a horse.
Eltoar drew a sharp breath and let it out slowly. This was another moment of clear and true choice that would affect the very fabric of the world. This time he would make the right one, no matter the cost.
Fane stopped his horse by the base of the rock upon which Eltoar stood and dismounted. The horse shook and snorted as Helios leaned closer.
“Shhh…” Fane whispered. “Be still.”
Eltoar could feel the Spark rippling from his old friend as Fane calmed the horse with threads of Spirit.
“I received your message,” Fane said as he stepped onto the rock beside Eltoar, black and red robes trailing. When Eltoar didn’t answer, Fane spoke again. “I am truly sorry for yourloss, old friend. I know there are no words that can bring you comfort, and so I will not try. This war has taken so many lives. With Elkenrim and Merchant’s Reach lost, that is another half a million souls sent into The Saviour’s light.”
“And yet still you sit behind Berona’s walls.” Eltoar knew it was unwise to provoke Fane, but he was tired and he cared little for anything bar the choice that needed to be made.
“You know well why I do.”
“Mmm. You search for this Heart of Blood. The vessel with the strength to cross Efialtír into this mortal world.”
“I do. And I believe my search is finally at an end, is it not?”
Eltoar closed his eyes and gave a short sigh. “How long have you known?”
“I have suspected for some time now. But I was not absolutely certain until you asked me to meet you here.” Fane looked up at Helios, who now loomed over the pair of them, the crimson light of the moon glinting off his scales. “Why?”
“I made a choice.”
“You didn’t trust me.”
“I trusted you enough to follow you down this path. And I trusted you enough to call you here.”
“You betrayed me.” Fane clasped his hands behind his back, and Eltoar could feel a shift in Helios, a pressure building within him.
“I saw the power within that vessel. It was the kind of power no mortal should wield.”
“You took it as insurance, Eltoar, as leverage for a day like today. Do not play coy or feign honour. I have not the patience for it. I am assuming you called me here because you have decided to return it?”
“And if I did… what is to stop you killing me the moment I give you what you want?”
“Do you think so little of me? That I would kill my oldest friend?”
“I think you would try.”
Fane gave a laugh at that, a genuine laugh, the kind that had been so commonplace before the man had come back from Mar Dorul all those years ago. “Why now?”
Eltoar turned to face Fane, staring into the man’s eyes. “I need you to be honest with me.”
“Am I not always?”
“No. You are not even honest with yourself, old friend. I have followed you because I trust your heart. But your web of plans and your gilded words obscure the truth even from you. So I need you to be plain, and I need you to be honest. Can you do that?”
Fane nodded, staring back out at the lake. “There are few left living in this world who would speak to me with the honesty that you do. It is… refreshing.” He ran his tongue across his lips. “Ask me what you will.”
“If you had the Heart in your hands right now, could you breathe life back into the eggs? No maybes, or ifs, or convoluted stories. Yes or no.”
The waves lapped against the rocks, mirroring a rumble resonating in Helios’s chest.
“Yes.”
