Page 33 of Lost in the Fog

She blinked as she felt normal again. “What? Oh no.”

“I put the ring on you and slowly trickled energy into it. I am guessing you aren’t as whole as you were hoping.”

“Well, fuck.” She looked at the wedding ring. “So, how do we get you out of this with me alive?”

He shrugged. “We don’t. I am in it. I knew it when I chose this path.”

She looked at the ring, and the gemstone swirled, the dark green woven with gold. “So, you knew what my connection was.”

“You were bleeding power. It was a simple guess. It clung to your father like blood.”

“Oh.” She looked at him. “So, what do we do now? I had this whole discrete withdrawal from your business arranged. It would have been subtle, and no one would have noticed.”

“I would have noticed. My staff have been giving me reports on your progress. They are very impressed with you. So, what have you learned about my business?”

“You like things that go very fast. You have two of your people working for you in the design and assembly stages. You have been out of the Stronghold for at least ten years. It feels like you were in the first breakout.”

Ornolf smiled. “You are good at observing.”

“Amassing information is my favourite thing to do.” She smiled slightly. “Acting on it is my second. So, what do we do?”

“Perhaps, we could try the marriage?”

Gia looked at him in surprise. “What?”

“It started out of necessity, but now you and I have an opportunity to start our lives over.”

She blinked. “Do you know how my guys died?”

“Yes. The Stronghold was pulling us apart. Literally. They were weak after a prolonged confinement, and the first torture session did them in.”

Gia remembered the incredible feeling of weakness and pain before she fell into dreaming. “Oh. If you give me their names, I will make a memorial for them here.”

“They didn’t have names. They hadn’t joined this world yet, so they hadn’t needed names.”

“Oh. That’s... sad.”

“It is, but I remember them, and under the right circumstances, I can share the knowledge with you.”

Gia paused. “That requires a further link.”

“Yes, wife. It does.”

“Why did you return to the city?”

He chuckled. “The queen told me it was time, so I returned.”

“You do what she says?”

“Of course. She rules our domestic lives. Without her, none of the others of your kind would have risen to the surface. We are immensely grateful for the efforts of our queen.”

“To get us here?”

“Yes. The first time, she joined the king and court alone. That ended in disaster. This time, she got the heir to a safe age, she gathered her court, and those ladies gathered their mates. The king is the last step this time, not the first.”

“Huh. Regis didn’t really describe that.”

“She wouldn’t. She’s about to take charge of a lot. I don’t know where he is going to live, but we know that she is set to take care of her people.”

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