Nina looks back at Alina, her heart wrenching a little again at what she sees. But -- the Black Heretic? If she was truly dealing with someone hundreds of years old, someone who'd committed abominations, then...
She was way out of her depth.
And Alina was already drowning.
She meets Alina's gaze and sinks a little bit of steel into her tone. ] I'm not going to tell him.
[ Because if he was the Black Heretic, then Alina's fears were well-founded, and it would be a betrayal of everything she was and wanted to be to see the Fold be weaponized, to honor the man who'd marked them all for death in his selfish pursuit of power. And she didn't really think Alina had lost her mind - something had happened to convince her of this, and it was too frightening, too big, to be dismissed. And if Alina was wrong, nothing would be gained from Kirigan leaning about what she believed - what could the man say, 'No, I'm not,' and expect Alina to just go, 'Okay'? No.
But it was too big, and Nina was not prepared to fully confront it. She needed the added distance of the word if, she needed space - and she had the dangerous luxury of it here. ]
I'm not walking away from you, Alina. I'm just wondering if you've completely lost your mind. But I'm not walking away.
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Nina looks back at Alina, her heart wrenching a little again at what she sees. But -- the Black Heretic? If she was truly dealing with someone hundreds of years old, someone who'd committed abominations, then...
She was way out of her depth.
And Alina was already drowning.
She meets Alina's gaze and sinks a little bit of steel into her tone. ] I'm not going to tell him.
[ Because if he was the Black Heretic, then Alina's fears were well-founded, and it would be a betrayal of everything she was and wanted to be to see the Fold be weaponized, to honor the man who'd marked them all for death in his selfish pursuit of power. And she didn't really think Alina had lost her mind - something had happened to convince her of this, and it was too frightening, too big, to be dismissed. And if Alina was wrong, nothing would be gained from Kirigan leaning about what she believed - what could the man say, 'No, I'm not,' and expect Alina to just go, 'Okay'? No.
But it was too big, and Nina was not prepared to fully confront it. She needed the added distance of the word if, she needed space - and she had the dangerous luxury of it here. ]
I'm not walking away from you, Alina. I'm just wondering if you've completely lost your mind. But I'm not walking away.