“You’re joking.”
He half-smiled. “I wish I were.”
I reached out and took hold of the pouch. I said, looking down at the dried meat, “You can show me, then. But first I need to visit my home.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Eurydice
Dorianand I stepped out of the cave after sunset. Thanks to the hollow pool, I could see the outer wall from bottom to top. It emerged from the night in grayscale, torchlight babbling at golden intervals atop it. The stones stretched smooth and unbroken from end to end. In just three fortnights, they had rebuilt the outer wall to its old height.
I had never stood on this side of the wall. I had never been the monster in the night.
Maybe I had dreamed that night. Maybe?—
“I always thought it was beautiful,” Dorian said beside me. His finger traced through the air, following the wall’s line from mountainside to curving edge. “The perfect angle of it. Hard to think humans could make such an exact circle on that scale.”
“You don’t think much of humans, do you?”
His gaze was still on the wall. “I don’t think much of any sentient creature. But that has nothing to do with their intelligence.” He glanced at me. “Ready?”
I swallowed, gaze traveling up the wall. I had never been scared of heights, but this… “Yes.”
“We can wait, Eury.”
I shook my head and stepped forward. Fear was the only path to courage. “Where are these handholds?” I was doubtful even now that the wall—our precious wall—was compromised. I had seen it blown to bits, and yet the child in me still believed it impenetrable.
Dorian pointed. “The closest are where it joins with the mountainside.”
“Theclosest?”
“It’s a long wall.” He started over the barren ground. “You’ll go ahead of me.”
“Shouldn’t I follow you?”
“The handholds are marked. You can’t miss them.” He paused. “And I doubt you could catch me if I fell atop you.”
We walked, and the wall loomed. As we neared it, Dorian’s voice lowered. “Once you’re at the top, you’ll be about twenty paces from the closest guard. Move quickly to the stairs.”
“And if they notice me?”
“They won’t.” In the darkness, his lips kicked up. “You’ve changed, Eury.”
“They’ll be on alert, after the attack.”
“They won’t notice you. Listen—right now, listen for your footsteps.”
I couldn’t hear them. I couldn’t hear my own footsteps.
I stopped.
He turned back. “You do it automatically now, when you don’t want to be heard.”
“It’s not that,” I said.
He seemed to understand immediately, because he approached. He came so close, he blocked the sight of the wall. His hands rose,and he hesitated. When I didn’t move, he laid them lightly on my shoulders.
“You’re not going to fall,” he whispered. “Trust me.”