But a ghost? There was no stopping that. Not Ser Dalius. Not…whatever she had seen. He was no bad man. She had believed that. Yet he had embodied—become—

Features so twisted it stopped being a face. More like a gaping chasm of want. A mouth, speaking as hands touched her with a chill that went beyond physical cold.

The [Knight] stood far, far away from her. He was on the edge. Clutching at his head, struggling. He looked up.

“Must it be now?”

A minute ago she might have wavered. Given him her day. But—Cara looked at Ser Dalius and knew it had to be.

“Please.”

She whispered. There was no artifice in that. She could act—but she feared any lie would send this fragile man—he was so lonely.

“Dalius. You can come with me.”

It was a terrible thing she did. A devil’s whisper in his ears. He looked up at her, desperate, and then—

turned.

“…Perhaps. But I swore to guard this place. If I opened it—I would you left…while I remained.”

The words came out of him, slowly. Painfully. Cara shook her head.

“I…”

I want you to come with me. The words hung in her throat. The [Knight] nodded, as if hearing her reluctance himself.

“But you’ll go. But if I open it—”

He gazed at the door, and she saw how afraid he was. How he shook like a leaf. At last, the [Knight]

whispered.

“Forgive me. But…I…I do not want to be alone again. Forgive my weakness, Noelictus. Cara.”

Dalius knelt, pressing his head to the ground. Shuddering. He looked at her, once, and she saw the terrible desire there. Longing.

Humans were not meant to live this long. He had suffered in this darkness, how long? She had lasted less than a week. But he—

The young woman looked down at him. The [Knight] met her gaze. Desperate. He warred with his very soul. Every part of him that was Human told him to make her stay. The one thing that held him back—

was his conscience.

His honor.

She had never met someone like him. Torn. Undying. Struggling with right and wrong. The [Singer]

hesitated.

Did she have any right? No. Perhaps not. But she was desperate. She wanted to…live. And she wanted him to do the same.

Cara turned to look at the doors and the line in the world. It was that, to her.

In this crypt, there was nothing. Only Dalius—and he?

He was going as mad as she. Her breath was choking in this dusty air. She heard rustling. The skittering of dead things. She was cold.

Sunlight. She was forgetting what it looked like. She had seen it so long, but now she was trying to remember its warmth. Cara looked at the doors, and she was almost ready to run at the glowing wards.