Page 149 of Between Despair and Hope

“There’s a reason they call me the Bloody Prince. You don’t know what I did in Varmeer. And that was a world that still had you. That’s why I’ve stayed away from you—because a world without you in it is one I would lay waste to and have no remorse.”

“Don’t say that.” She brought her lips to mine, softly pressing a kiss to the corner of my lips, just above my chin, the other corner, my nose. “You’re good on your own. You just want to be better because of me. And I feel the same way about you.”

Pressing her lips to mine, she wrapped her arms around my neck as she stood on tiptoe. A loud crashing echoed above us, and she pulled away on a gasp.

“Gods damn dragons,” I grumbled.

The dragons absolutely would not go through the rifts with us, and Em didn’t want to leave them behind. So we rode them to her home. She’d offered Irses to me, considering Ryo was still on the smaller side, but the larger dragon had expressed his discontent by huffing at us both and refusing to allow me to climb onto his back. Stubborn, jealous monster. I was rather annoyed about our change in plans because it took all fucking day. Traveling with my guard took us three days from her home to the mountains, and it took us nearly twelve hours to travel the same path by dragon. Rifting would have been far quicker. We’d only stopped once to warm up and eat before we were on our way again. Even though it was dark by the time we approached, we skirted south of Brambleton proper, not wanting to frighten anyone or alert anyone of our presence. News of the dragons had likely spread throughout the kingdom by now—or would soon enough. But, still.

Em had opted to stop at her home rather than go straight to Ravemont, and I didn’t question it. This trip was for her and her father. Dismounting the dragons in the clearing where my soldiers had once camped, she patted her loyal pets and asked them to stay put. I didn’t understand how they knew what she was saying, but Irses curled up as I built a dirt enclosure from the ground to help protect them from the cold.

“We are going to have to practice this with you.”

“I told you, I can barely do it at all. It was…difficult at the Cascade when I had to—to bury the soldiers.”

Of course it was Em who had to help Dewalt and the others handle that. Fuck. It should have been me.

“It will just take some time and practice,” I replied.

She crouched, slipping a glove off her hand, and pressed her fingertip into the dirt. Concentrating, her eyebrows scrunched up, and I felt the faintest rumble in the ground.

“Well, that’s a start.”

“I’m trying to be precise about it. It’s all or nothing for some reason.”

I knelt beside her and put my hand on the small of her back. I smoothed over the bond, and she shivered as I poured some of my divinity into her, trying to help her coax it to do her bidding.

“You’re moving it, not getting rid of or adding to,” I whispered, realizing why she was struggling. “Use your divinity as a shovel.” She huffed a laugh as the tiniest bit of earth parted, leaving a hole. “There you go, Em.”

“A shovel?”

“That’s how my father taught me. Hanwen spent some time as a farmer. Did you know that? He hated it so much, he focused his divinity into making it easier. That’s where it comes from.”

“So, what you’re telling me is your divinity comes from the laziest god.”

“Ourdivinity.“ I grinned. “I don’t know if I believe it though. Imagine Hanwen as a farmer. Why would he do that? For fun? Because he was bored?”

“Why do those fucks do anything they do?” She asked, looking cross, and I failed at keeping a straight face.

“Why, indeed.”

She stood, concentrating on the ground below her, trying to build more of a barrier for the dragons before she harrumphed in frustration. “Would you just do it? This is going to take me forever.”

I smiled and did as she asked, then followed her through the rift she made for us.

“Oh,” she whispered as we stepped into her kitchen. I slid closer, placing my hands on her hips.

“What is it?”

“It’s so…small. And it’s falling apart.” She spun to face me and looked up with panic in her eyes. “Why did I ever let you come here? Oh gods, this is a mess.” She put her hands on my chest and backed me up toward the rift she’d already let close.

“Em, it’s fine. What are you doing?” I laughed. “This is your home, Elora’s home. It’s perfect because it was yours. But if you’ve become too accustomed to a lavish lifestyle in these past few months, we can always continue on to Ravemont.”

She glared up at me, and I held her face in my hands before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“I don’t want to go to Ravemont tonight. The letter, uh, the letter his nurse sent said he acts up at night,” she murmured.

“How so?”

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