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Book VII: Chapter 4

  {-Rennyn-}

  “I need you to tell me what happened—from your point of view. I can’t, in good conscience, give you the goddess’s armor if things turned out how I thought they did. If I’m going to entrust the entire fate of my nation—of every nation—then I need to know you’re not going to falter. And please, don’t try to hide anything, or think it’s too unimportant to mention. I may be young for a king, but that doesn’t make me weak.”

  Dain had gotten Rennyn and Kaylin to tell him about a lot of the things they’d done—both in this life, and in the past ones. Rennyn told him most of it; what had happened between him and Viragi, somewhat mentioning Allyna, and discussing his and Dhymos’s history with each other. And when Rennyn faltered, Kaylin filled in the details, also giving some information about what she’d done in the lives without him… though it more or less amounted to “I had other work from the goddesses,” so it wasn’t anything more than he already knew.

  And when they finished, the only thing they could do was wait for Dain’s judgment. Rennyn thought it might’ve come quickly—that they said enough to clear up any confusion, so the only thing left to do was to accept.

  But perhaps he just underestimated the king that he was talking to.

  “This… past of yours. You said it taints things. And… that was the reason you weren’t able to defend yourself against Viragi when you needed to.” Dain looked straight at Rennyn. “Did I get that right?”

  “No point in hiding it,” Rennyn mumbled. “The consequences are already clear. I was able to figure out what the problem was, though. It’s not going to happen again.”

  “Is it?”

  “Not as far as I can help it.”

  “It’s interesting that you say that, because… where I am, it doesn’t seem like you can. There’s more going on here than the fact that you were caught off guard. They were able to use something against you—your own past—and you let that happen.”

  “And like I said, it’s not going to happen again. I learn from my mistakes.”

  “Somehow, I find that all hard to believe.” Dain sighed. “This time, all that happened was that you were attacked. Luckily for you, none of your friends had to get involved, and Viragi didn’t seem interested in taking the other goddess’s items from you. I need more than words, Rennyn. I need more than an empty promise. I need a full, unwavering guarantee that you’re not going to let your own head get in the way of saving the world. And nothing I’ve heard or seen has shown me that you’re ready to take that step.”

  Rennyn was about to argue, but Kaylin put her hand on his shoulder, so he gave her time to speak. “With all due respect, I trust what Rennyn’s telling you. We’re working through it, finding solutions. By the time this happens next, we’ll be ready.”

  “And when do you think next will be? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? I know what it means to get lost in your own head. And trust me, it takes more than ‘we’re working through it’ and ‘I’ve learned from my mistakes’ to make something like this really work.” Dain stood up. “As it stands right now, I just can’t give you the goddess’s armor. I just want you to think about why that is for a while, then… then you can come to me, and we can sort out what it will take for you to earn my trust.”

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  “This is a life or death situation—the whole continent’s fate lies in the fact we’re able to do this,” Rennyn pointed out. “We might not have the time to sit around and wait for you to change your mind!”

  Dain started to walk out and, just as a servant opened the door for him, he looked over his shoulder and said, “So says the ‘hero’ who has spent weeks recovering from something that could’ve been avoided.” He sighed. “We’ll continue this later. I have to start preparing things for the ball.”

  With that, Dain left, and soon Rennyn and Kaylin did the same. A servant showed them where the others were, even if Seldir wasn’t there. If there was reasoning behind it, Rennyn didn’t listen long enough to hear it; he went over to a corner to sit down.

  For some reason, this wasn’t a problem that he thought they would have. He was prepared for a lot of things—including having to fight for it, of all things, because his memories told him that might be necessary. But this wasn’t a matter of the fact that Dain supported Dhymos, or that he found some sort of benefit in letting everything get ruined. No, he wanted to help his people, and he knew that the only way that was going to happen was by letting Rennyn have the goddess’s armor. Right?

  But then… why was he so adamant on refusing to give it to Rennyn? It was the only way that they were going to fix things. He understood that he made mistakes, but there were some things that were out of his control. Unless… Dain assumed it was something he could control? But he seemed to understand the nature of the memories, too.

  If there was one thing that Rennyn was able to take away from the whole situation, it was that nothing made sense. For now… maybe waiting was the only thing they could do. It wasn’t like they could just take the goddess’s armor and be on their way—that was going to cause many more problems than it solved. So they had to do this Dain’s way… and hope that it didn’t end up leading to something they could’ve prevented.

  “Rennyn.” Kaylin’s calm voice pulled him out of his thoughts, causing him to look up at her. “Are you alright? Worried about what King Dain said..?”

  Too many things came across his mind all at once, so they only thing he could manage to say ws, “This is a mess.”

  She slowly sat down beside him and placed a hand on his. “But we’ve dealt with messes before, right? We’ll figure out what to do here, just like we have before. There’s nothing to worry about—all we have to do is listen to what King Dain would like us to do. We’ll prove to him that we’re ready to take the goddess’s shield. Alright?”

  “Either way, there’s not a reason to worry about it now,” he mumbled. “It’s out of our hands. It has been, since the moment King Dain made his decision…”

  She nodded. “That… isn’t the only reason I came over here, though.”

  “It isn’t?”

  “Did you notice how Lyrei left about the same time we came back? She was trying to find King Dain, but it turns out she couldn’t. Turns out that she doesn’t know how to waltz and Noa’s never learned how to lead. I thought that, maybe… we could show them.”

  “Us?”

  “We both know how from other lives, and they both need to learn their parts before the ball if they’re going to dance with anyone. Besides, I… have a selfish reason for wanting it, too.” She looked away and blushed. “If I’m close to you… no matter what, I know it’s going to be okay. So, what do you think..?”

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