Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)

by Brandon Sanderson

Szeth put one hand to the wall and let the bundle of swords slump from his other hand onto the floor. “Why?” he asked, his back bowed. “Why would I deserve happiness? Give me a single good reason, bridgeman.” Kaladin took a gamble. A line that wouldn’t be true for everyone, and would be dangerously untrue to say to some who had come from places of abuse. But he’d heard enough of Szeth’s story, despite the parts that the man obviously hadn’t shared. “One good reason, Szeth?” Kaladin replied. “I’ll give you two. One mother. One father. I don’t know where your parents are, if they’re still alive or if they’ve passed, but I’ll tell you this. They loved you. They want you to be happy.” “I don’t deserve their names,” Szeth said. “The things I’ve done…” “Things you were made to do,” Kaladin said, stepping forward. “I spent years believing my parents would hate me for my failings, but I knew—I always knew—that was a lie. You know too, don’t you?” Szeth looked away. So Kaladin stepped forward again, careful, as if he were approaching a timid animal. “You are not a thing,” Kaladin whispered. “You can choose. What do you want, Szeth?” “You’re wrong,” Szeth said, harsh. He turned, then cocked his head—and was probably hearing the spren. That cursed highspren who hovered around him, unseen, whispering lies. “I … I’m flawed. My choices can’t be trusted. I do not know right and wrong.” “No,” Kaladin said. “Szeth, listen to what that spren is saying, then think. When you were about to hit...