Flashback ( PDFDrive )

Fitz’s missing bandage.
Covered in plenty of his DNA.
Which . . . seemed like a pretty clear statement of which side Alvar
had chosen.
His timid, mournful expression was also gone, replaced with his old
familiar arrogance. As if someone had flipped a switch and the old
Alvar was back—just like that.
“You made it in time for the main event,” Vespera said when her
eyes locked with Sophie’s.
“And you’ll be staying right there,” Ruy added, flashing fresh layers
to the force fields that Tam, Wylie, and Dex were already attacking.
“So go ahead, Alvar,” Gethen called. “We all know how much you’ve
gone through to get to this moment. Time to fulfill your assignment
—”
“Hang on,” Keefe interrupted, turning to Alvar. “You seriously
allowed them to erase your memories, torture you, drug you, abandon
you, almost kill you—and let you rot for months in a miserable prison
cell—all in hopes that the Council would move you back to Everglen
so you could . . . open a gate?”
“It was not about the task,” Vespera answered for Alvar. “It was
about proving his value.”
“By opening a gate,” Keefe insisted. “That’s . . . the dumbest thing
I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Sophie had to agree.
But Alvar held his head high, holding his same arrogant expression,
and even Biana looked like she was starting to accept that the old
Alvar had fully returned.