Chapter 98

“I wish you had not.” Netya sniffed, easing his hand aside to examine the wound. It looked deep and painful. “This was not worth it. Not for my sake.”

“You did not make this happen,” Caspian said.

He was trying to reassure her, she could tell, but despite his best attempts she could still hear the emotion in his voice. He was feeling the deaths of Hawk and Essie even more keenly than the pain of his wounds.

“I tried to stop this before it happened. They did not even try to listen. None of them.” He closed his eyes, squeezing Netya’s hand tight with shaking fingers. “Perhaps Adel was right. It is pointless.”

“Is she..?”

Caspian shook his head. “She lives. The poison was not enough to best her.”

Netya would not have thought herself capable of relief in that moment, but she felt it all the same. An aching hollow in her chest closed up a little, and she silently thanked the spirits for not taking away her mentor as well.

Caspian embraced her aga