"You won't be staying here," Kain said at last.
Airalai's head tilted, but instead of looking happy at the news of her release she looked rejected, "You don't want me anymore?!"
"I am releasing you," Kain corrected. "But it's not as if we'll have no more contact anymore. You'll go back to the Black Dawn, but under my orders. Tell them you survived an ambush. Say the Knight came to retrieve you, but he fell—burned to ash. That much is true enough. Or it may be soon"
Her eyes narrowed, then glimmered with a disturbing kind of amusement. "And the beacon? They'll ask why it flared."
"You tell them the truth," Kain said coolly. "You were ambushed. Injured. Infected by a weird worm that never left your body—it's still draining you. Anyone who examines you will see the toll. That will be your cover. You escaped with your life, barely. They'll believe it."
