Page 88 of The Winner's Kiss
“Yes,” Arin said, “but even so, the risk for you is still different—”
“Stop saying that.”
“It is.” His face was unhappy. “There is a difference between you and me. If I die, you’ll survive. If you die, it will destroy me.”
Her shoulders sagged. She couldn’t bear his hollow expression. The anger drained from her.
“Please,” he said. “Promise me. You’ll still play a role. Tell Roshar and me what to do, and we’ll listen. But not the battlefield. You’re to stay safe.”
Slowly, she nodded.
“Swear.”
“I won’t be part of the battle. I give you my word.”
She moved to leave. She’d not gone two paces before he stood directly in her path. His eyes were narrow. “A trick.”
She spread her open hands. “You asked. I swore. We’re done.”
“You swore very specifically. I need for you to promise. You’ll stay off the battlefield and be safe. Say it. I beg you.”
“I’ll make no promises to you that you won’t make to me.”
She pushed past him.
Chapter 23
She entered Roshar’s tent. “I need your help.”
Blinking, he propped himself up on his bed. He said groggily, “And I need a real door. With a lock.”
“I have an idea.”
“I don’t know you all that well, and still hearing you say that makes me very, very worried.”
“Listen to me.”
“If I do, can I go back to sleep? Being a fearless leader is exhausting.”
“It’s about the Valorian scout.”
“You said she was useless.”
“In terms of what she can tell us. But if we play things right, her capture will be to our advantage.”
Roshar was fully awake now. “Go on.”
“The general is in his position with his troops at the estate they captured. A scout station is set between his position and a target. An officer remains at that station with message hawks. Meanwhile, scouts run from the station to evaluate the enemy, then report back to the station. The officer sends a coded message by hawk to the general, so if a scout’s captured, she can’t share much with the enemy, and since scouts get close to the target, they can’t launch a hawk. Too visible to us. We might shoot it down, then track and capture the scout. That Valorian you caught spying on us can’t tell us any codes, and won’t be able to say much about the general’s forces. But she will know the location of the relay station and to whom she reports.”
“You want us to hunt down and extract information from the officer?”
She shook her head. “Something better.”
“Pray tell, little ghost.”
“Send me in her place.”
He stared.
