Possibly the first intelligent thing anyone had said in the library since entering it. Humanity, for one brief shining moment, stumbled into reason.
Phei moved toward Sienna at once.
He crossed the space quickly and reached for her before she could retreat back into the shadow that had hidden her. His hands closed around her shoulders gently, then shifted to her arms as if making sure she was real, standing, steady.
"Sienna."
She did not look at Dravenna.
She looked at him:
Those violet eyes, ancient and cold and impossibly young in the same breath, met his amethyst gaze with a composure that had cracks running through it. Not visible to most. But Phei had spent too many years reading the smallest failures in Sienna's indifference.
He saw them now.
