"You mean," Devic said, as he narrowed his eyes at her, "you want to abandon your duty at the palace… just to fight with him? And you think the king would allow that?"
Nyella's hands tightened around the reins. "I don't care what he'll allow. This is my fault. All of this, everything happening to him, it's because of me. Because I made him expose the dragon. So I have to give as much help as I can."
"First of all," Devic replied firmly, "it is not your fault. Deep down you wanted him to, yes, but you did not say it directly."
"You don't understand what that kind of guilt feels like," she said.
He looked at her. "Do you think I haven't carried worse guilt than that?"
Nyella's lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn't answer.
"And secondly," Devic went on, "let's just hope he comes with us. Because if he doesn't, we'll have a much more difficult situation to deal with."
