The cadre was gone. The trees had stopped moving.
Lancelot stood at the edge of the churned ground with the broadsword low and looked at Vane, and Vane understood that the sentence Ormond had cut off an hour ago was still waiting, and that it was going to be finished now.
"I didn't get to say it," Lancelot said.
"No."
"I'll say it once."
Nobody moved. Isole had Mara against her side. Ashe stood with her odachi point-down in the dirt. Anastasia had not taken a single step since he stood up from his knee.
"The fox took me through the dead worlds," Lancelot said. "Past the ovals where the ground's been emptied. There's always a house near the edge. There's always something left on the floor. In the first one it was a toy. Wooden. Paint worn off one side from being held."
Vane's chest went tight. He had stood in a house exactly like that, in Ossara, and never told anyone.
