Page 49 of Salt Between the Wolves

"It doesn't matter what I think."

The words landed harder than any accusation thrown at her in the square because they were wrong.

It mattered more than anything.

A short laugh escaped her, carrying neither amusement nor bitterness, only exhaustion.

"Of course it matters."

"Eira—"

"No."

She rose so abruptly that he stopped mid-sentence.

"It matters to me."

Despite her efforts, her voice trembled.

"Everyone in that square looked at me as though I brought this here, as though Riven died because I stepped through Ironfang's gates."

Soren remained silent, not because he didn't care, but because he did, and she could see it in his face. Somehow, that made everything worse.

"If I hadn't come here..."

The question caught briefly in her chest before forcing its way out.

"If I hadn't come here, would he still be alive?"

The room seemed to fall completely still.

No answer came, and although his gaze never left hers, the lie she feared never arrived either.

The silence stretched between them, long enough for Eira to feel the answer settling inside her before he finally spoke, his voice low when the words came at last.

"I don't know."

The words should have comforted her.

Instead, they hollowed something out completely because he couldn't say no.

She lowered her gaze.

Riven's mother had screamed it in the square, and now the silence between them had confirmed it—not as truth, but as possibility, which somehow felt even worse.

Soren took a step toward her, closing a small part of the distance that had opened between them.

"Eira."

She retreated instinctively, only slightly, but he noticed.

The movement hurt him, and she noticed that too.

For a moment, neither of them knew what to do with that realization.

Finally, Soren exhaled.

"There will be additional guards assigned to your quarters."