Remec’s house was small and comfortable, with a warm fireplace and the subtle feel of neglect. It was in the cobwebs that lingered in the corners and the bare larder that Remec had filled this morning when they went into Mountain View together. It was in the slight dust that covered the shelf and the old smudges of ash beside the fireplace.

It wasn’t about the time they’d spent at Mountainkeep either. Remec was a traveler. He returned to this place when he was done, but it showed to anyone that stepped foot in his home. That was good. It meant that none of his neighbors would question why he was gone so often now.

“Here,” Remec handed Ezo a mug of tea, and he sipped it while waiting for Remec to take a seat across from him.

“The tunnel is holding up well,” Ezo said. He wasn’t happy to be away from Kammon right now. They finished yesterday, and Kammon looked a little rough. Ezo hadn’t realized it then, but Kammon had been widening and smoothing the walls behind him as they worked. It wasn’t too much for them to handle, but Ezo had wanted to do the work himself with as little help as possible.

“You’re leaving soon, aren’t you?” Remec asked. Ezo had noticed that about his uncle’s friend. He was usually direct with his words. Ezo appreciated that.

“Kammon needs a few days to recover from the tunnel before we travel, but yes. It’s time for us to get back to the world. I want to take Kammon to Riverkeep, and we have some friends we need to check on.”

Remec took a drink from his mug and stared at the fire. Ezo wasn’t sure what was on his mind, but he’d asked Ezo to join him at the house alone for a reason.

“How long do you intend to travel with Kammon?”

Ezo stared at Remec, taken aback by the question. “What?”

“You are trusting him with Jacob’s secret. And with Riverkeep. I understand why you’ve spent time with him, Ezo. Kammon is handsome and charming when he wants to be, and from what I know, he’s one of the few people in the world who can understand your abilities.”

“But?”

“Ezo, you know what he is.”

“He’s a good person, Remec. You’ve spent a month with him.”

“He is the Calamity! And the day I met him, he used magic to choke someone until he passed out.”

“Would you rather he killed him? Because Voth wasn’t going to stop.”

“It isn’t just that, Ezo. He’s probably killed more people than the rest of the War-Sworn combined.”

“He was just a soldier, under orders,” Ezo defended.

“He was a killer and became Disavowed. Who knows what he could do now?”

“Are you serious?”

“Ezo, Jacob used to talk about him. He scared your uncle.”

“Why?”

“Because of what he was. What he’d done.”

“If Jacob was scared of him, it was because of what the Imperium had made him into. It was because they took a child and indoctrinated him until becoming War-Sworn was the only option he could see. Don’t use Jacob as a way to spread your own fears.”

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“Ezo, he has killed people.”

“And he saves people!” He’d raised his voice, but after listening to Kammon at the river the other day, he had to defend him. “Don’t you ever talk to him like that,” he cautioned Remec. “That’s what he thinks of himself, too. He blames himself because he didn’t question the orders he’d been trained to take since he was seven years old! You can’t ignore how he saved my life the night we met. Or how he saved an entire town.”

“He did what?”

“I was staying at an inn on the river in Mason Creek. It had been raining heavily for days. It was too much for the dam, and it broke. Everyone ran, but I headed toward the water.”

“Ezo, you didn’t…”

“I couldn’t. I tried to stop the flooding, but I wasn’t strong enough. When I was about to lose it all, some guy I’d never met joined his magic with mine, and we turned the water aside. I passed out. That’s how close I was to drowning in that flood. He took me back to the inn and watched over me until I could get up on my own. He left without even telling me his name. He had no reason to save me, let alone risk his life to help me. Knowing what I do now, I don’t want to think about how badly that exhausted him.”

“I’m glad he helped you, Ezo, and that you were able to save that town. I can’t imagine what it would have been like for you to face that after what happened here. But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re trusting the Calamity with your life and secrets.”

Ezo ground his teeth. “Why is this coming up now?” he asked. “It’s been a month. I thought you’d gotten over this since we found Mountainkeep.”

“Because he’s not just a traveling companion, is he, Ezo?”

He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. He and Kammon didn’t hide their relationship.

“I’m the closest thing you have to family, Ezo. I’m worried about you. I can believe that the Calamity would turn over a new leaf. What I can’t believe is that you aren’t going to get burned by him before the end.”

“I’m not a child, Remec. Do you think I was some inexperienced kid when he found me?”

“Ezo.”

“He’s not the first lover I’ve had, and not even the first one I picked up since leaving Fairhills. He is the only one who’s ever understood me, though. He’s just as concerned as Jacob was about the Imperium trying to get hold of me. He’s warned me at every turn about who he is and all the reasons why I shouldn’t be with him. He fucking ran when he was in danger instead of letting me help so that I wouldn’t be caught up in it, too. He’s a good man, and I won’t stand here and listen to you put all of that on him.”

“Ezo.”

“What did they say about Jacob?”

“What?”

“He ended his service to take care of me. Did they say anything about him? Disparage his reputation? Talk about the evils he’s done in his service as if they weren’t the ones who ordered it all?”

Ezo had no idea if they had tried to slander Jacob when he left, but Remec’s silence told him that he’d hit the mark. “And you believed in Jacob. Because you knew him.” He took another guess. “Because you were in love.”

Remec’s eye jerked up from his mug. “You knew?”

Ezo shook his head. “Jacob never said anything. I know what it’s like to love an impossible man, though,” he added with a small smile.

“The War-Sworn aren’t easy to love,” Remec said. “Their duty is too strong. Their lives aren’t their own. I was never happier than when Jacob returned to Fairhills, and he was finally away from the Imperium. He was a different man after that. A better man.”

“So why doesn’t Kammon deserve that same chance?”

Remec frowned, then took a drink of his tea. “I don’t like it when you remind me of Jacob.”

Ezo laughed softly, and Remec smiled at him. It wasn’t enough for Ezo, but it would take time before people saw past Kammon’s infamy and saw the man instead.

After a pause, Remec asked another question. “Is Kammon as dangerous as they say?” Remec asked.

Ezo could lie. It would make Remec feel better, but Ezo wasn’t that type of man.

“Even more so. I’m not sure there is anything that could stand up to Kammon. We’re lucky he is the man he is. He’s ridiculously overpowered and only-,” he almost mentioned the thing locked onto Kammon’s soul but remembered himself at the last minute, “exhaustion limits him.”

“They’ll come for him, Ezo. What will you do when they show up and he falters?”

“He won’t. Because if they come for him, they’ll have to deal with me, too. With our bond, there is no one that can stop us.”

“That’s not reassuring, Ezo.”

“No, but it’s true.”

“Ezo, if anyone found out, it wouldn’t just be the Imperium coming for you.”

“I know.”

“The world would try to put the two of you down.”

“I stand with Kammon, Remec. No matter who or what comes, I will stand with the man I love.”