Warbreaker

Chapter 36

I will not leave you, Susebron wrote, sitting on the floor beside the bed, his back propped up by pillows. I promise.

“How can you be sure?” Siri asked from her place on the bed. “Maybe once you have an heir, you’ll grow tired of life, then give away your Breath.”

First of all, he wrote, I’m still not even sure how I would get an heir. You refuse to explain it to me, nor will you answer my questions.

“They’re embarrassing!” Siri said, feeling her short hair grow red. She turned it back to yellow in an instant.

Secondly, he wrote, I cannot give away my Breath, not if what I understand about BioChroma is true. Do you think I’ve been lied to about how Breath works?

He’s getting much more articulate in his writing, Siri thought as she watched him erase. It’s such a shame that he’s been locked up his entire life.

“I really don’t know that much about it,” she said. “BioChroma isn’t exactly something we focus on in Idris. I suspect that half of the things I know are rumors and exaggerations. For instance, back in Idris, they think you sacrifice people on altars in the court here—I heard that a dozen times from different people.”

He paused, then continued writing. Regardless, we argue something that is absurd. I will not change. I am not going to suddenly decide to kill myself. You do not need to worry.

She sighed.

Siri, he wrote, I lived for fifty years with no information, no knowledge, barely able to communicate. Can you really think that I would kill myself now? Now, when I’ve discovered how to write? When I’ve discovered someone to talk to? When I’ve discovered you?

She smiled. “All right. I believe you. But I still think we have to worry about your priests.”

He didn’t respond, looking away.

Why is he so cursedly loyal to them? she thought.

Finally, he looked back at her. Would you grow your hair?

She raised an eyebrow. “And what color am I to make it?”

Red, he wrote.

“You Hallandren and your bright colors,” she said, shaking her head. “Do you realize that my people considered red the most flagrant of all colors?”

He paused. I’m sorry, he wrote. I did not mean to offend you. I—

He broke off as she reached down and touched his arm. “No,” she said. “Look, I wasn’t arguing. I was just being flirtatious. I’m sorry.”

Flirtatious? he wrote. My storybook doesn’t use this term.

“I know,” Siri said. “That book is too full of stories about children getting eaten by trees and things.”

The stories are meta phors meant to teach—

“Yes, I know,” she said, interrupting him again.

So, what is flirtatious?

“It’s . . .” Colors! How do I get myself into these situations? “It’s when a girl acts hesitant—or sometimes silly—in order to make a man pay more attention to her.”

Why would that make a man pay attention to her?

“Well, like this.” She looked at him, leaning forward a bit. “Do you want me to grow my hair?”