Page 114 of The Sundered Realms

Now Liris was catching up to the argument they were actually having.

Vhannor hadn’t been slow after all. He’d thought she was trying to die, that she wanted to sacrifice herself.

Liris looked directly at him, angry he could have thought so little of her resolve even for an instant.

“I have a secret,” she told him. “I’ve never believed in sacrificing myself.”

In the face of her anger, he breathed in, closed his eyes, and let it out. “I think it goes somewhat further than that,” Vhannor said, taking a step forward. “I think you despise the entire concept with every fiber of your being.”

Subsuming everything that made a person unique and free for some “greater good,” as if rejecting individuality could improve a whole?

Yeah, okay, she absolutely hated everything about that.

Liris nodded tightly. “You’re not wrong. So that’s not what I’m going to do.”

Vhannor nodded back, lifting a hand toward her face. “And I’ll help you.”

She caught his wrist. “Will you?” she challenged. “Or will you be so worried I might feel trapped that you’ll refuse to do anything?”

He sucked in a breath. “Is that what you think I’ve been doing?”

“Am I wrong?” she challenged.

“Yes.“ Vhannor took one last step in, so they were face to face, and brought his other hand up to clasp the one holding his. His lavender gaze blazed gold. “I’m not going to waste my energy on someone who won’t try to stay.”

Oh. This was yet another argument.

Or maybe it had been the same one all along.

It was all about how they would live, could live, together.

“So as long as I want to stay,” Liris said slowly, “and you finally believe that I mean it—“

“Then I will never let you go,” Vhannor said. And then added, “Up to and including the dispelling we’re flying toward.”

“What?“ She shook their hands free. “Vhann, you can’t interfere—“

“Of course not, nor would I try to stop you. You don’t need that from me. But you can’t keep me from supporting you.” This time she let him take her face in his hands, transfixed by his intensity focused on her, his gaze, his voice. “You may have to dispel alone, but I will shield you. I will make sure there is a world still here to come back to when you’re done. As long as you want to.”

Liris whispered, “If you question me on that one more time—“

He didn’t.

He kissed her instead.

Liris decided that grabbing him and holding on until made to let go was sufficiently expressive of her thoughts on the matter.

The advantage of their route was not its physical proximity to Ormbtai, but that it took them through more Gates that wouldn’t hinder them. They’d get as close as they could before the inevitable difficulties arose.

They flew for a while longer, and this time Liris’ thoughts weren’t... calm, exactly, but even her anxiety seemed tired. The endless rolling hills of this part of Yani were almost meditative. They passed through a Gate to the tropical end of Sonang, which had so many bugs the amount of magic it took to make bearable made it uninhabitable, and squeezed through a barely defended Gate on the other side. An obfuscation spell was enough to pass through to the abandoned ruins on the other side, only visited in dry seasons, which this was decidedly not. That made it an ideal place to rest before continuing on, since given the day they’d had, they were going to have to rest sometime or else they’d be too tired to square off against Jadrhun. And the hateful power structure in Ormbtai.

With an adapted protection spell, the downpour in Tinardu didn’t present as much unpleasantness. Still, since the former monastery had crumbled in the Sundering, there was a distinct lack of roofs. It was more efficient to maintain a smaller protective sphere for a longer period.

Liris huddled next to Vhannor, fully aware that was not why they’d decided they didn’t need much space for their camp.

His lips quirked. “Comfortable?”

“I wouldn’t say no to warmer surroundings,” she murmured.

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