“Please be careful,” she said.

“You too,” he replied. He stared down at her for a moment, then something sparked in his eyes. “Oh.” He reached into his pocket. “I know you refused to leave on the last caravan, but I think it’s finally time you have this.” He pulled out a small object wrapped in cloth.

She looked questioningly up at him.

“Please,” he said. He pushed it toward her.

Reluctantly, she took it in her hands. She unwrapped the cloth, but I couldn’t see what it hid.

Her eyes went wide. She looked up at Cion. Her hands were shaking.

The cloth that had been concealing the object fell back. Gold glinted in the moonlight.

It took me a moment to recognize what I was seeing. A bracelet. And not just any bracelet. An engagement bracelet.

My heart dropped.

“It’s time for you to leave the palace,” he said.

She shook her head in disbelief and appeared to be blinking back tears.

“Just keep it for now,” he continued. He curled her fingers gently around the bracelet. “We can talk about it later, after we destroy the water controls. Things will be different after that.”

She looked up at him. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to speak. Finally, she said, “I hope you’re right.” She tucked the bracelet into her pocket and wiped her eyes. “But I still don’t want you to do this.”

“I know,” he said gently, “but Kateri is offering us our best chance yet.”

Latia shot me a hard, studying glare, like she was reliving every moment we’d spent together, weighing if I would be up for the task. Then she turned back to Cion. “I only hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I do.”

They stared at each other for a few moments. Finally, Latia lowered her gaze and nodded. “All right.”

He pulled her into one last hug.

I turned away, offering them what little privacy I could while ignoring the tightening in my stomach. It’s not like I had any claims on Cion. He was my trainer, nothing more. Besides, I had bigger things to worry about.

I never even wanted to wear one of those engagement bracelets. Shackles, I had called them.

Only, maybe I was wrong. Maybe they didn’t chain you down. Maybe they chained you to someone. Someone you never wanted to lose.

Cion released Latia, and she wiped away a tear, pulled up her hood, and to her credit, walked with her shoulders thrown back until she faded into the desert shadows.

Cion watched her go for a long time. Eventually, he turned to me. “I wanted to tell you about Latia,” he said, “but—”

“I get it,” I said. I didn’t need him to explain. I didn’t want him to explain.

Just like my father kept the location of the water controls secret, Cion had kept her a secret. You did that to protect the things you cared about most, the things you couldn’t afford to lose.