“You once served Karak,” Darius said, easing into his bed, which was really a cot with a bit of extra padding. “Surely you can understand Daniel doubting you, especially after all he saw at the Blood Tower.”
“You once served Karak as well,” Valessa said, crossing her arms. “How easily they forget.”
“They haven’t forgotten. I’ve proven myself. You haven’t.” Darius opened an eye, closed it. “You’re not going to stand over me like that all night, are you? Just because you don’t have to sleep doesn’t mean you get to be weird.”
“Damn fool.”
After that there was silence, and that was enough for Darius to know she’d left. Sighing, he got up from his bed, took a look around to confirm she was gone, and then hurried out of his tent. Finding her would be difficult, especially if she didn’t want to be found. She could make herself look like any man or woman, and cover herself with the finest of dresses or the lowliest rags. A frightened part of himself urged retrieving his sword for safety. Valessa still insisted she’d take her revenge against him. Was he being a fool for trusting her so?
Darius shook his head. Enough thoughts like that. Looking about the tents, he tried to think where Valessa would go. She’d want to be alone, he knew. His gut told him she also wanted to be herself, not Vale, nor any other disguise. On a hunch he headed from their camp at the edge of Willshire and into the village itself. Nearly everyone was asleep. Away from all the soldiers that looked to him for leadership, and free of the eyes of villagers who saw him as their only savior, he felt himself relax. Forget finding Valessa, it felt good to be walking alone through empty streets. His walk took him through the center of town, and he stopped to stare at the pit of ash where he’d beheaded Conn. But Conn wasn’t the only person he’d killed there. He’d fought Valessa to a standstill, slaughtered a dark paladin of Karak, and even chased away Cyric.
He shook his head. Burning that altar had been the best thing he’d done.
Continuing north, he found a large barn. It was in there the people of Durham had been imprisoned to await their sacrifice upon the altar. Darius had hidden with them, and he remembered their anger and betrayal when they first saw his face. He’d been at Velixar’s side as Durham burned to the ground. The memory made his heart ache, and he tried to remember the fiery altar, remember saving Jeremy Hangfield and his daughter from the sacrificial dagger.
But of course it hadn’t been him. One of the other soldiers, Gavin, had fired his bow to stop the descent of that blade. Darius had stood frozen amid the crowd, terrified of making a mistake.
“You’re a persistent one, aren’t you?” Valessa said.
Darius looked up to see her hunched on the rafters, wearing the visage of her true self. She was dressed in plain grays, just like when she was a member of the gray sisters.
“You do anything stupid, it’d be my fault,” he told her. “And I do enough stupid things on my own, I don’t need the help. Come on down.”
She shook her head.
“Daniel is a stubborn fool. If I stay here instead of your tent, he won’t be the wiser, and honestly, I’d rather be anywhere in the world than beside you right now.”
Darius sighed.
“What is it?” he asked. “What did I do? Is it because of my sword earlier?”
Her silence was answer enough.
“You told me to do that,” he said, feeling his temper rising. “You said to show how I could control you. You can’t get mad at me for doing what you told me to do.”
“You still don’t get it.”
She turned so her back was to him. Darius stepped deeper into the barn, climbing atop a few bales so he was closer to her, and faced her once more.
“There’s a lot of things I don’t get,” he said, forcing himself to stay calm. “I don’t get why Jerico let me live. I don’t get why Ashhur allows such horrible deeds throughout the world. And I don’t get women. So please, help a paladin out.”
When Valessa looked up, a black cloth covered her face, hiding much of her features.
“You hurt me to show I would not hurt them. But all of it was a lie, and you know it. No comfort. No truth. Just a farce pretending at control. If I wanted to, I could kill this whole village, every man, woman, and child. Only you could stop me, only you. I offered to stand there to appease Daniel’s weakness. And stand there I did. If you must, I told you. If you must. You could have said no, but you didn’t. You needed that pathetic display as much as Daniel did, and I’m a fool for thinking you were better than him.”