Page 220 of Children of Fallen Gods

“If we left, we could be this way every day.”

My eyebrow twitched. It was the first time I had heard Tisaanah talk about running away, even in jest.

“We could.”

“Tell me where we would go.”

I paused.

It seemed dangerous to even think of it. And yet so easy, to slip into this game with her.

“We could live on a beach somewhere. Somewhere where there aren’t winters.”

I could hear the wrinkle over Tisaanah’s nose. “A beach? It smells.”

“Not all of them. Just Ara’s beaches. There are islands where the water is completely clear, no seaweed. They’re beautiful.”

“You cannot grow a garden on a beach. And what a great loss that would be.”

“Fair. Alternate proposal, then. We’ll find a forest, somewhere off in… in Besrith, or maybe on one of those southern islands, or something. We could clear out a nice big patch of land. Big enough for a decent garden. Far enough away from society that we can go unbothered for as long as we want.”

“A lake.”

“Hm?”

“It will be near a lake. I want to learn how to be a better swimmer.”

“I’ll allow it. I appreciate seeing you in wet clothes.”

She laughed, though it faded quickly.

“And the most important part,” she added, “is that no one will ever find us.”

“Not a soul.”

What a dream.

A long silence. We were almost at the Towers, those white columns looming over us, when Tisaanah said, quietly, “Would you go? Now?”

I questioned if I’d heard her right. “What?”

“If we could go, right now, would you?”

Yes.

The word rang out, emphatically, in my head. I wasn’t sure why it wasn’t the one to leave my lips when I answered.

“For a long time, I wanted nothing more than I wanted to leave Ara and never look back. But the Orders… they wouldn’t let me go. Those restrictions, after Sarlazai.”

Even when I had begged Tisaanah to leave Ara with me, I technically hadn’t been allowed to go. I had just been so desperate I was certain I’d find some way,anyway, to get the hell out of there if it meant keeping her out of the Orders’ grasp.

“Not anymore,” Tisaanah said.

A bittersweet pang twinged in my chest. Yes. Tisaanah had negotiated my freedom when she signed away her own, all of those punishments erased with the slice of a blade over her skin. And yet, I felt more trapped than ever.

“There is nothing stopping us. Even my pact to the Orders has been fulfilled.” Tisaanah wasn’t looking at me, her voice oddly flat.

I stopped short. Turned to her.

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