Aerion went silent, eyes narrowed at me, searching my face. I returned his gaze calmly, reassured by Elise's hand.
"I carry the divinity of Fate," I continued. "To claim it and properly instate their new god, they must first kill me and take it. That's why Lord Evlon has hunted me across the northern continent, and why he's going so far as to call an arbiter."
"I figured it was something to do with that, given the change of power and your identity as the previous fate hero, but what makes this so pressing? You've held it for a year now, right? On the scale of immortals, they could wait ten, twenty, even a hundred years for you to die naturally, and it couldn't make that much of a difference. Not worth the resources they're burning now."
"Maybe, but it's...different."
"Different how?" he pressed.
I hesitated again. Was this secret something I could share so freely? I had Silent Stars active, as I always did, yet it wasn't spies I was worried about.
