Page 61 of The Night Prince 6

“I think that if anyone can turn this around it’s you,” Finley promised.

“Oh, that’s… that’s… it’s that bad. It really is. Worse than I thought,” Rhalyf laughed. “And I thought it was truly bad.”

He leaned forward and groaned. Finley’s heart clenched again for another reason.

“No, no, that’s not… I’m not good at this, Rhalyf!” Finley flapped his free hand.

“You’re good at everything,” Rhalyf contradicted.

“No, that’s Declan. I’m good at scholarly things and game things and, hopefully, magic things.” Finley lifted his chin.

“I felt you were meant to be a mage from the first.”

“You thought casting a single spell would kill me.”

“Yes,” Rhalyf nodded. “But I thought that would be an awful shame, because you have the soul of a mage.”

“People do have souls, you know?” Finley let out a soft huff of laughter.

“Yes, of course!” Rhalyf shrugged, but then seeing Finley’s expression of wonder as he said it added, “You didn’t… you weren’t sure… of course not.”

“I wasn’t until all of this happened. I was so certain that there was nothing. No souls. No afterlife. We just… ceased to be. Even though I had heard the professor’s voice long ago.”

“Everything changed for you with the Leviathan and what came after… I can’t say that I can completely understand that. Being with the Aravae–pretending to be one–and becoming Aquilan’s friend changed my understanding of what things could be like. But your whole world evaporated and then reconstituted,” Rhalyf mused.

“That’s one way of putting it. It was more like a dream made real… after a lot of horror,” Finley admitted. “But the price of magic is always high.”

“It is,” Rhalyf agreed softly.

“Anything worth anything costs something. There’s risks. Nothing is certain. But it’s worth it. Like for Aquilan,” Finley said.

“Meaning? I feel some wisdom is about to be spouted. And I need it,” Rhalyf said with an uncertain smile.

“You need to take this with a grain of salt. You see, what I would think is reasonable and logical for Aquilan to do is… I often misread people and situations like that,” Finley confessed. “Why you did what you did makes perfect sense to me. And, if I were Aquilan, I would be upset when I first found out. I might say some terrible things. But then I would remember that I love you and I would think hard on why you had to do what you did.”

“And then?” Rhalyf looked so hopeful.

“I would forgive you.”

Rhalyf let out a breath. “That would be… a relief. If he did that.”

“But that would take time. And I might not trust you for… awhile,” Finley admitted.

“That doesn’t sound relieving, but very true.”

“What’s worth something costs something. And Aquilan means so much to you,” Finley ended.

Rhalyf let out a breath. “I’m sorry, Finley.”

“What for? I–”

“I was asking you to lie to me. You don’t do that,” Rhalyf laughed softly. “It’s one of the things I value about you.”

“I understand why you want comfort,” Finley said.

“But no one can give it to me, but Aquilan,” he admitted. “And it will be a miracle if Aquilan forgives me. It will likely be impossible for things to be as they are now. He will see me forever differently and not in a good way.”

“Would you do anything differently knowing what you do now?” Finley asked.