He's never been any good at sneaking around. Even as a boy, he was always taller than everyone else and not very graceful. So it's no surprise that Fury catches him.
"Arden," she whispers, "you cannot go back there." Her fingers close around his wrist and she's shaking, and he wishes she wouldn't look at him with those eyes.
"I have to," he says. "My lord is dead and the Empire is rising, but even if it means my life I have to try. If there's even the smallest chance we can win and get Chalphy back-"
"You'll be killed," she chokes, and it's almost too much. "Please, Arden, remember what you promised me in the desert! You said you'd stay alive, and we'd spend the rest of our lives running our little shop in Silesia. Think of our children, Sety especially. A growing boy needs his father!"
Sety couldn't be any different from Arden. Smart and quick-minded with a natural talent for magic, yet somehow the boy thinks the world of him. And Fee, always asking him to tell her stories about Chalphy...is this really something he should be doing?
"Arden." She's pulling at the fabric of his shirt now, her face pressing against his chest, and he feels torn. He thinks of Fury smiling at him from the sky, their busy lives as shopkeepers, the swelling pride he felt at holding his children for the first time, watching them grow older, Fury pretending she didn't like their pet baby fox and slipping it scraps when she thought nobody was looking. He thinks of introducing Alec and Noish to his kids the last time they were all together after the battle at Bahara...
...Alec and Noish, fighting for their lives on the battlefield. Noish's hot-headed seriousness, Alec's easy smile, busting each other's chops, drinking and telling jokes, the day they swore their undying loyalties to Lord Bryon and his family.
His loving family versus his motherland. How could anyone choose?
"I..." He swallows, shaking his head. "I have to," he says again, with more conviction. "Fury, please understand. I love you and the kids more than anything, but Chalphy's my home. I have to try to save it."
"Then let me go with you," she says firmly. "I won't let you die out there alone." But even through her determination he senses doubt.
"The kids need you," he says, and she doesn't argue. A long silence follows.
"I want your promise that you'll come back to me," she finally says. "No matter how it ends."
He pulls her close, savoring the warmth of her body against his, wishing he didn't have to let her go. Next to knighthood she's the best thing that's ever happened to a guy like him.
"You have my word of honor," he says.
He leaves the next morning, and she sees him off with a smile and a kiss.
Two years later, it's the last thing he thinks of as he lies dying on the soil of his motherland.