Chapter 20

“Three, I know you.” Oberon stepped closer. His gaze was completely without fear. “You’re a good man. You deserve a warning of what is to come if it involves you. You deserve our help and our support if you need it. I know some of what you’ve been through in your life, Kaeva. I know asking you to look after another person is asking most people to affect the Earth’s rotation. So while I will not excuse you from this duty, I will tell you I am by your side in it.”

“As am I,” Lake added. “I know exactly how it feels to be picked for tasks by fate in which you want no part. You have my sympathy and empathy, for what those are worth.”

Kaeva studied his boots and the sandy dock. He remembered the day he’d decided to find Exile. He’d been in a shelter, one much poorer than the one Lake and Oberon had once run. Kaeva had drawn numbers like the rest of the urban homeless in some mid-Western city, and his number had been picked, which meant he’d had food and a cot for the night.