Traitor's Moon

room, focusing on its remaining contents. Whatever he left behind he wasn’t likely to see again. No matter. He was about to go when the soft glint of silver caught his eye amid a pile of clothing next to the bed. Bending down, he fished out the vial of lissik the rhui’auros had given him.
    â€œMight as well have something to show for my troubles,” he mumbled, slipping it into a belt pouch.
    The first lamps were being lit when he finally slipped next door. Alec hadn’t offered to come, bless him, just given him a quick, knowing embrace.
    Both Adzriel and Mydri were at home. Taking them aside into a small sitting room, he shut the door and leaned against it.
    â€œI’m leaving Sarikali tonight.”
    Mydri was the first to recover. “You can’t!”
    Adzriel silenced her with a glance, then searched her brother’s face with sorrow-filled eyes. “You do this for Klia?”
    â€œFor her. For Skala. For Aurënen.”
    â€œBut it’s teth’sag if you leave the city,” Mydri said.
    â€œOnly for me,” he told her. “I’m still outcast, so Bôkthersa can’t be held accountable.”
    â€œOh, talí,” Adzriel said softly. “With all you’ve done here, you might have won your name back in time.”
    There it was, that question he’d buried alive.
    â€œPerhaps, but at too high a price,” he told her.
    â€œThen tell us why!” Mydri pleaded.
    He gathered the two women close, suddenly needing their arms around him, their tears hot against his neck.
    O Aura!
he cried silently, clinging to them. It was so tempting to let them convince him, to take it all back and simply wait out the inevitable here, as close to home as he was ever likely to get in this life. If Klia were taken hostage, perhaps he’d even be allowed to stay with her.
    It hurt. By the Light, it hurt to leave that embrace, but he had to, before it was too late.
    â€œI’m sorry, but I can’t explain,” he told them. “You couldn’t maintain atui if you had to keep my secret. All I ask is that you say nothing until tomorrow. Later, when everything’s sorted, I’ll explain, I swear. But I promise you now, by the khi of our parents, that what I’m doing is honorable and right. A wise man warned me that I’d have to make choices. This is the right one, even if it’s not what I’d hoped.”
    â€œWait here, then.” Adzriel turned and hurried from the room.
    â€œYou little fool!” Mydri hissed, glaring at him again. “After all it took to bring you here, you do this to her? To me?”
    Seregil caught her hand and pressed it over his heart. “You’re a healer. Tell me what you feel,” he challenged, meeting her anger with his own. “Is it joy? Betrayal? Hatred for you or my people?”
    She went still, and he felt heat spread slowly across his skin beneath her palm. “No,” she whispered. “No, Haba, I feel none of that. Only resolve, and fear.”
    Seregil laughed a little at that. “More fear than resolve just now.”
    Mydri pulled him close again, hugging him hard. “You’re still a fool, Haba, but you’ve grown into a fine, good man in spite of it. Aura watch over you always and everywhere.”
    â€œOur other sisters will hate me for this.”
    â€œThey’re bigger fools even than you,” she said with a tearful laugh, pushing him away. “Adzriel’s the only one of the five of us worth a peddler’s pot.”
    Laughing outright, he thanked her with a kiss.
    Adzriel returned with a long, slender bundle in her arms. “Wemeant to give you this when you left. It seems the time has come, if a bit sooner than I’d anticipated.” Folding back the cloth wrappings at the upper end, she presented him with the hilt of a sword.
    Seregil reached without thinking, closing his hand around the leather and wire-wrapped grip. With a single smooth motion he pulled the blade free of its scabbard.
    Polished steel caught the light like dark silver. A grooved fuller ran down the center of the blade, making it both strong and light. Tapered cross guards curved gracefully toward the blade, good for catching an opponent’s sword.
    Seregil’s breath caught in his throat as he hefted it. It moved perfectly in his hand, just heavy enough, and balanced by the weight of its round, flat pommel.
    â€œAkaien made this,