Chapter 59: Faith, Part 4

The healer crossed the room to stand closer to him. He had gray hair pulled back in a loose knot at the back of his head, lines in his face. Rare to see a healer who lived long enough to turn gray. Cemal bowed his head low. "You have the power of the Avatars."

"Overgenerous," Cemal replied as he lifted his head. "I was Oathbound and that lent me power I do not possess on my own."

"Was?"

Cemal looked away, stared at the moonlight coming through the floor to ceiling windows on the far side of the music room. "The bond is broken, and two of our party have left. It was forged by mistake some months ago, and it's only by the Dragon's mercy it lasted this long."

"Yet you do not seem relieved."

Cemal shrugged, still feeling too raw to discuss emotions and hopes that he'd only begun to acknowledge were even there.