Miinhart Forest, Desmond, 10416 P.C.

Two days of nothing but walking was doing a number on Todd's feet. They ached and his joints burned, but he didn't dare speak up about it. Already, he was feeling that familiar sense of incompetence with Terrence now in the picture — the young man was everything Annabella had wanted Todd to be, and Todd was feeling the sting. Annabella didn't admit it, but he knew she was awed by the prince. He carried himself with such maturity and wisdom, not to mention the secret powers he fostered behind his confident, easy-going attitude. It was hard to forget how easily he had killed the Gartirih.

Trailing behind Annabella and Terrence, he idly listened to them talk. Annabella was giggling — giggling. Annabella never giggled. Todd found himself gnawing on his bottom lip, twinges of jealousy piercing his heart. Why did he feel so... forgotten? He kept replaying the moments he had shared with Annabella in the garden, reliving the feelings of intimacy, the happiness that had flowed through him. She had finally accepted him for who he was, and had even hinted that he was her best friend.

So why did he feel invisible now?

"The mountain is pretty close," Annabella was saying. "Shadow Wood shouldn't be too far away now."

"How far do you wager?" Terrence asked smoothly — everything he did or said was performed with that cool smoothness, like glass or marble.

"Maybe another hour or two."

"Great," Todd said, and then bit his tongue hard. His voice betrayed his exhaustion, and Terrence had noticed it.

"How about we rest for a bit?" the young man suggested, slowing to a stop. "Stephanie, have we got any water?"

"No," Stephanie replied, slowing to a stop beside Todd. "We ran out."

He held out his hand, and she unbuckled the canteen she had been carrying on her hip and handed it to him. "Know of any streams around here?" Terrence asked Annabella. "We're in your territory."

She smiled slightly. "We are, and I do. If we are where I think we are, there should be one just over here..."

Todd watched them walk off, letting out a quiet breath. Annabella seemed to have forgotten him altogether, she was so entrapped in Terrence's subtle affections.

"They'll make a good pair, I think," Jessie said, overly chipper. Todd couldn't understand how she could still be in such a good mood after their long, exhausting trip. It was beginning to grate on him a bit. It was cold and miserable, and he didn't share her sunshiny attitude.

Stephanie brushed past him, and he blinked himself back to focus. "Stephanie," he said quickly, stopping her. "Can we talk?" He felt Jessie's gaze on him. "Alone?" he added.

She glanced behind him at Matthew before she nodded, turning and leading him a short distance away. Matthew looked very much opposed to being left alone with Jessie, but Todd needed to talk to Stephanie. Her coldness was getting to him, and he had to try and make amends with her somehow.

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She turned around to him after they were out of earshot, folding her arms and setting her jaw a bit. "What do you want?" Her voice was short and clipped.

He swallowed hard — he had never been on this end of Stephanie's anger. "I'm sorry," he started slowly. "I should have told you."

She looked away. "It's fine."

"It's not fine. I can see that, Stephanie, you don't need to lie about it."

"You lied first."

Todd took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I didn't lie," he started.

"You just weren't truthful," she finished for him, her voice a bit sharp. She looked up at him, those emerald eyes burning a hole right through him. "I thought you trusted me."

"I did. I do," he said quickly, watching the way her eyes darkened at his words. He was digging himself into a hole — why was that becoming a regular thing with her lately? Where had their connection gone? She had always trusted him, always felt safe with him, and now she didn't. He couldn't believe how horribly he had messed up.

"I mean, I get it," she said, her voice a bit thick. "I get how hard it must have been for you, I really do. I expected more from Annabella, really, being how she's just so direct and thoughtless to other people's feelings."

Her jab at Annabella irked him. "We didn't know how to tell you."

"Words. Just simple, audible words." She sounded near tears, and Todd didn't know what to do.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Us."

"It's not that simple."

"I know."

"No, you don't." She shook her head. "Your dad didn't leave you behind and then expect you to come running right back to him."

So that was what this was about. "I... I mean, I'm sure He had a good reason for what He did."

"Good reasons for leaving His only daughter behind? There's no good reason for that."

Todd knew he had to tread carefully. "Sometimes... things happen that we can't understand, and we just need to—"

"I don't need you to preach at me, Todd," Stephanie retorted, cutting him short. "What happened to your unbelief, huh? What happened to make you so trusting in the Immortal One?"

"I should be dead, like, five times over. But I'm still here. You're still here. Everything is happening the way He said it would."

"Is that so? If I remember correctly, it was Motch who found Terrence, not you. You weren't even needed, Deliverer. Excuse me, but I don't feel like talking about this anymore." She brushed past him to rejoin Matthew and Jessie.

Todd stared after her, struck silent. Her words cut deep, slicing straight to his heart and confirming what he already knew and had been told before: his role hadn't truly been needed, and no one seemed to be regretting that.

For the first time in a long, long time, Todd found himself longing to go home.