Page 98 of A Dark and Drowning Tide

As though she were approaching a wounded animal, Lorelei knelt beside her. This time, Sylvia didn’t pull away. As carefully as she could, Lorelei cradled her face. Deep down, she knew she should not be touching her this way after what she had done. Beneath the mud and exhaustion, Sylvia was pristine. All her scars shone in the light. When Sylvia leaned into her touch, Lorelei indulged the desire to trace the one gashed into her cheek.

“Stop that,” she said stiffly. “Look at me.”

Sylvia lifted her gaze. Her snowy eyelashes were matted with tears. Lorelei had not been made for comfort, but for Sylvia, she would have to try. “You didn’t kill him. The nixies did. Had it been you who fell, he would not be grieving you. You’re too softhearted, Sylvia. Save your tears for someone who deserves them.”

Sylvia sniffled and hastily smeared away her tears.“Yes....Yes,you’re right. I suppose the boy I grew up with died a long time ago. Ijust...Ihad wished things could be different.”

“You did what you had to,” Lorelei said. “And you’ve done a far greater good. Without him, we might actually stand a chance.”

Sylvia frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Johann didn’t kill Ziegler. Adelheid did.”

“Adelheid?” Sylvia echoed.“No....Thatcan’t be right.”

“It is.” Lorelei had always known Adelheid possessed an ironclad determination. Now she knew that she was just as ruthless. She explained everything that had happened after she’d asked Sylvia to distract Heike, as well as Adelheid’s plan to assassinate Wilhelm and her offer to protect the Yevani in Ebul.

“I thought I was choosing the lesser evil. But I was wrong. I was afraid. I have been afraid all my life, and I fear I always will be.” She was babbling like a complete and utter ninny now, but she found she couldn’t stop. “I’m as wretched and cowardly a creature as you’ve always suspected. I am surly and selfish and cruel. But I should have been better than my nature. I should never have betrayed you.”

I should have chosen you.

“Saints, Lorelei,” Sylvia snapped, and it felt like an absolution. “You arehuman. Do you understand what’s happened here? You’ve acted the part of a villain so well, you’ve gone and convinced yourself it’s who you truly are. You are honestly one of the least self-aware people I have ever met!”

“I am perfectly self-aware! You are brighter than the sun itself. And me . . .”

“Enough.” Her voice wobbled. “You’ve made mistakes, as have we all. But don’t you see yourself? You are witty and observant. You are fiercely protective of those you carefor—andhopelessly loyal, in your way. I don’t believe you’ve ever once acted completely in your own interest, for better or for worse. I have always admired that about you.”

Lorelei did not know what to say. She suddenly felt quite flushed.

“I forgive you.” Sylvia smiled beatifically. It felt like sunlight. “Now, then. If I hug you, will I get to keep all my extremities?”

“We shall see.”

Sylvia did not need any further encouragement. She crushed Lorelei into a hug. For a moment, Lorelei thought she would be smothered. But once she relaxed into it, it wassurprisingly...nice,with the damp linen of her shirt and the thrum of her heart against her cheek. Sylvia’s fingers twined gently into her hair, holding her steady against her. The simple tenderness of it almost brought tears to her eyes, but she would sooner die than cry in front of Sylvia von Wolff. Old habits died hard, after all.

Lorelei drew back and met Sylvia’s gaze. Someday, she would find a way to express all the things she wanted to say. “Thank you.”

“Of course.I—”

“We can bring her down together.”

Sylvia blinked as though she’d been struck upside the head. “I-indeed? Ah. Yes, of course. Adelheid! Single-minded as always.”

“Focus, von Wolff.”

Sylvia’s expression soured further. But Lorelei was filled with reneweddetermination—andeager to dance quickly away from the topic offeelings. Instead, she imagined the look on Adelheid’s face when Johann had slipped beneath the river: the look of a woman who had only one thing left to lose.

“Johann was willing to defend Adelheid to the end,” Lorelei said. “But now the playing field is level. Heike is no fighter, and Adelheid will be reckless from grief. If we find the Ursprung first, we can decide what to do with it ourselves.”

“And when we return to Ruhigburg? Wilhelm will never see sense when it comes to Adelheid.”

“He will have to. Not even he is romantic enough to throw everything he’s worked for away for something as ridiculous as love.”

“It’s not ridiculous!”

Just then, sunlight lanced through the dense canopy. It illuminated the earnest, impassioned indignation burning in Sylvia’s wintry eyes. It painted her in soft pastels and danced in her wild hair. She was a work of art. She always had been.

“We shall have to agree to disagree,” Lorelei rasped.