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"Then trust me, Jherek. Whatever it is you're hiding, trust me with it."

Tears welled in the young sailor's eyes and the pain in his throat and chest was almost unbearable. He tried to speak but couldn't.

Sabyna lowered her voice, and it was as if there were only the two of them in the world. "You believe in love, Jherek. I heard you say it, and I saw the strength of your conviction bind a spell that was very powerful. That wouldn't have happened if you didn't mean it. As you believe in love, believe in my love for you." Tears ran down her cheeks, tracking the blood and dirt on her face. "Tell me what holds us apart."

Jherek spoke the words he knew would doom him to un-happiness for the rest of his life. "As you wish."

XXIII

8 Marpenoth, the Year of the Gauntlet

"Arc you going to tell her then, young warrior?"

Jherek gazed at his hands as he toweled himself off once more. He'd never seen them shake that way. Except, perhaps, for the night he'd chosen to leave his father's ship and leap into the sea, not knowing if he would live.

He glanced up at Glawinn and said, "I promised her."

The paladin nodded slowly. "There's a case to be made for the fact that she coerced you."

They were in the warrior's quarters aboard Azure Dagger. Returning to Azla's ship in the dark with Vurgrom and his pirates as prisoners-and with the weakened prisoners the koalinth had held as livestock-had taken hours.

During that time Sabyna had concerned herself with the prisoners they'd rescued from the koalinth and given Jherek time to think. Unfortunately, all he'd been able to think on was this moment. When they'd reached the ship, he'd begged off time to bathe and tend his wounds, hoping the words he needed would come to him.

He'd drawn a bucket of fresh water from the ship's stores instead of bathing in the salt, wanting to be at his best even though he felt everything was going to end at Its worst. He'd washed with lye soap, then groomed him of as best as he could, borrowing Glawinn's shaving kit to scrape the sparse stubble from his chin like he was a man in danger of raising a beard. When he was finished with the task, with his hands shaking the way they were, he guessed that he'd drawn more blood than Vurgrom and the koalinth had.

"As much as I don't wish this," Jherek said, "I know she needs-and deserves-to know."

"And you? Could you love her from afar if it comes to that?"

Jherek looked at his friend and mentor. "Aye," he said, "without hesitation."

"Ah, but you've got Lathander's heart in you, young warrior." Glawinn's voice turned husky and his eyes shone brightly. Then you will never lose her, no matter how this goes."

"And her?"

Glawinn shook his head. "I cannot speak for the lady, young warrior. The thing that crosses the two of you is strong. It's not just her, it's you, too. She'll look at you and think of her brother, but you'll look at her and think of your father."

"No."

"You will, and you need to face that."

"My father will not be a part of my life forever," Jherek objected.

"No," Glawinn responded. "I don't think he will, but for a while longer yet, he will be."

Jherek folded the towel and looked around for his clothes. They weren't on the bunk bed where he'd left them when he'd gone to bathe in the crew's head.

"I took the liberty of seeing to your breeches," Glawinn said, taking them from the built-in chest of drawers. "I washed them while you were tending yourself, then dried them in the ship's galley."

Jherek took the breeches, amazed at how clean they were. He'd never gotten real clothes while on Black Champion or Azure Dagger, and the things he'd traded for while on Steadfast remained aboard her on the other side of the Whamite Isles. Azla sailed Azure Dagger around to the south of the island, intending to stop briefly at Agenais to replenish the ship's stores before returning Tarnar and his crew to their ship.

"Thank you,' Jherek said.

"I knew you'd want to look your best. Here are your socks."

Jherek took