Timeline: a Wings of Fire fanfiction (COMPLETED)

40.

Clearsight

Darkstalker is in his office. Judging by the hurricane of paper scattered all over the place, he hasn't left it all night.

I rub my eyes. "Hey. Evening."

He doesn't respond.

I sigh, nudging him with my shoulder. "Hey. I'm here? Your wife? We need to talk."

He frowns. "Oh. Um, hey."

"We can't just keep hiding away from the world forever. We need to go to work today."

He's silent.

"Well?" I sigh, giving him another nudge. "This is important. I'm sure your scroll can wait."

Darkstalker rubs his temples, spinning around to meet my eyes. "Yes. You're right. We should go. Shadowhunter will be safe here, I've been fortifying the protections all night, and I think I have some pretty good intel into what's happened while we were... away yesterday."

I frown. The scroll he's holding is starting to look eerily familiar.  "Darkstalker, what..."

"I used your navigator. I hope that was okay?"

I nod quickly. "Oh yeah. Of course—"

"And... look at this. I've been analyzing this all night." He passes me the scroll.

"Three moons," I whisper, stomach dropping like a stone. "Darkstalker... This is a mess. Are you okay?" His sharp handwriting is scattered all over the place--I can barely make out the drawings below it, let alone what he's trying to communicate.
He snatches the scroll back and slams it against his desk, growling. "Yes. I'm okay."

I fiddle with my talons, mostly so I don't have to meet his eyes. "Really? You know if you need to talk, I'm here, right?"

"Clearsight," he hisses, adding another note to the scroll. "How many times do I need to say it? I'm fine."

***

"Do I look okay?" I examine my jewels in the mirror, frowning. I normally don't care about how I look. But for some reason tonight, it's impossible not to feel self-conscious.

Darkstalker sighs. "Clearsight. You look great."

I groan, taking another sip of coffee and looking away from the mirror. "I guess we should ask your mom to look after Shadowhunter or something."

Darkstalker nods absently. "I'll work something out."

I force myself to breathe. It only half helps.

"If something happens—if my life is in danger, you have permission to make me invulnerable. Okay? Just in case things go wrong today. I don't think they will, but--"

"It won't come to that," Darkstalker says calmly, face made of stone.

"I'd rather be careful," I mutter.

***

"Lady Clearsight and Lord Darkstalker," Darkstalker says calmly, passing a palace guard our IDs. (A system Queen Vigilance only recently introduced—even though it's pretty much useless.)