Chapter 11

Dianor speaks a derivative of Standard Senic with several liquid consonants, and their written script is this much more flowing cursive that looks like calligraphic art without even trying. Since the color red has some special cultural symbolism and their traditional ink is a very bright color derived from a bug—made artificially with cheaper acid these days—it can look very dramatic. It's equally difficult to actually decipher too, of course, especially since they're not exactly keen on clear record-keeping.

Serenthuar doesn't have the resources to make them into a reliable trading partner, but they always make sure an ambassador stationed at a connected realm is qualified to deal with whichever power structure is currently in place. Leveraging their black market is too important.

The adorable tiny native rodents are not generally treated as an asset, which I really think is a missed marketing opportunity. I hope I get to see one.

Braced as she was for attack, Liris was confused by what awaited them on the other side of the Gate:

Nothing.

She frowned, looking around—the Gate was a crumbling brick structure with chunks missing, and the clearing around this Gate was so small she'd have almost believed Dianor didn't know about it. "No guards?"

"They're not really organized enough for that in Lyedar," Shry said. "And without local cooperation, Dianor's current regime hasn't been able to make them. Not worth the effort."

Liris scanned further afield. She knew a little about Lyedar: it was a city in the Sundered Realms that had rejected central authority. Authority in Dianor was never centralized enough to make an issue of it—especially when they benefitted from the proximity of black-market goods and connections.

She couldn't look very far, because buildings multiple stories high towered in front of her, spaced by alleys. They were all different heights and looked to be tilted, like they were leaning into each other.

And people in an array of clothing styles, but all nondescript colors and fabrics, hurried about like there was nothing noteworthy about three strangers appearing through a Gate.

Or, like it wasn't worth their while to involve themselves in strangers' business.

"If there was an army staged to invade here, there's no sign of it now, Vhann," Shry said.

Where they would have put an army, Liris wasn't sure, but—if the breakdown in messages hadn't been to give those who took the Gate time to mount a force to take Periannolu, then what was even the point of taking the Gate?

Vhannor's expression darkened, but he didn't say anything. He just started walking again at a pace that suggested violence.

Liris and Shry exchanged a glance and followed.

Passing under the leaning buildings was unnerving, so Liris fixed her gaze in front of her. The streets weren't paved—if they had been before the Sundering, it must have been easier to remove entirely rather than maintain upkeep. She didn't smell sewage though, so someone must have taken responsibility for that. Lyedar residents were famously self-interested—who could that be?

The streets grew louder and more crowded as they passed through, and Liris focused on keeping an eye on Vhannor as he wended his way unerringly through the crowd, people moving out of his way where they jostled Liris if she wasn't fast enough.

Liris ground her teeth. How long would she be chasing after him?

The streets sloped steeply, and Vhannor led the way up a flight of steps to an octagonal building with a pointed dome on top. Unlike most of the city, this one had a heavy door on it.

Her eyebrows rose when Vhannor banged it open, still without saying a word. She wasn't sure how much of his ire was directed at her so decided not to risk prodding his mood and having it out with him until they'd done whatever he'd come for. Even Shry, who'd known him for years, was just going along, and Liris was happy to leave that conversation as long as possible.

Inside, thin burlap cushions were stacked near the door. The floor was tiled white with a brown star pattern, faded and chipped. Archways around four back walls led to different dark corridors—rather than opening the space with light, it was like they sucked all the light into them. Liris guessed this was a formerly wealthy person's entryway that had been abandoned—and taken over.

Straight ahead of them at the back was a raised altar, an intricate black stone rendering of a scaled, fanged god she recognized as having nothing to do with its surroundings: stolen, then, and not for the purpose of worshipping it in any traditional way.

It was framed by black curtains on either side, about the only things besides the rendering in here that weren't shabby. And in front of them was a large wooden block, atop which a man with a trailing black robe sat.

At the sound of Vhannor and Liris' boots crossing the tile, he glanced over a shoulder and smiled lazily. "Well, well. My dear, I believe we'll have to pick this up another time."

He was decidedly not shabby: dark curly hair, square jaw with a well-trimmed beard, and an expression that reeked of sensuality. Liris had only once seen anything like the sheer pheromone punch that packed, from a specialized Serenthuar agent who'd visited during her training. She quickly affixed a faintly amused expression on her face: this man would likely be attuned to physical reactions and would pick at any that seemed entertaining.

By comparison, the willowy brunette who stood up from behind the wooden block was merely gorgeous. Her smile promised future favors as she bowed and made her way out through one of the back corridors without question or protest.

The robed man spun around on the table, displaying his robe more dramatically: it looped loosely around his neck and then split over the shoulders to leave his muscled arms and lightly haired, gleaming chest bare. He wore black pants so wide they looked almost like a skirt, and his feet were bare.

He ignored Vhannor and Liris to fix his smirk on Shry. "You disapprove, I take it?"

Oh dear. Either Shry didn't know how to manage a man like this, or she didn't care to.

Still, Liris was taken aback by the disdain in Shry's voice as she responded, "Of you, priest? On principle. Of her taste? I would, but I imagine she only deals with you for the same reason we're here."

Reaching Shry's side and seeing her expression for the first time, Liris' kept her face even with a will. Shry looked instants away from murder. Vhannor stood stiffly on Liris' other side, his own expression fixed and not reacting.

The priest leaned back invitingly as he smirked. "Think that's it, do you?"

Enough. Shry might not know how to do anything but encourage their opponent and Vhannor might be inexplicably refusing to help any of them, but Liris was here too.

"Do forgive me," she said, ignoring how Vhannor's angry gaze flew to her, "I'm new and appear to have missed some history."

The priest raised his eyebrows mockingly. "Don't know what my job entails, huh?"

Coolly Liris said, "My first priority has abruptly shifted to discovering whether there's a reason my companion shouldn't stab you and thus I should step in."

His lips quirked. "Admirable. Your priorities are in order, I see."

Shry snapped, "Her priorities of actually wanting to help and defend people? Yes, they are."

"I wasn't being sarcastic," the priest said mildly.

Vhannor spoke for the first time, his voice cracking like a whip in the empty temple. "Yes, old friend. Let's talk about defending people, Neroth'kar."

Liris officially had no idea what was going on.

"So inhospitable to your own—partner, is it? Wonders never cease." The priest hopped off the table and whirled, his robe lifting around him.

Liris glimpsed the knife tattoo on his back and understood at least something, finally: he was a priest of the Forgotten, an order that cropped up only in the shadiest places to ostensibly offer solace to people who had none.

Even fleeing as she had without physical possessions and marked for death, Liris had still had her enormous education to fall back on, without which Vhannor would never have rescued her from obscurity. Now, at the university, she was still insulated from concerns she knew academically most adults and too many children had to face. Her days were spent with students and diplomats, not scrounging for bread.

For another person, a Forgotten priest might be their only hope for something different.

All Forgotten temples were neutral ground, which in practice made them hotbeds for criminal exchanges. Their mark was a knife in the back for a reason: people dealt with them at their own peril, and if the favors they traded came back to haunt them, no one could say they hadn't been warned.

Liris bowed, and the priest returned it: an acknowledgement that she had been duly warned and understood what it meant.

Her quick understanding intrigued him, but Neroth opened his arms wide to Vhannor. "What do you want to know? Anything for an old friend, of course."

Vhannor took a step forward. "Tell me what Jadrhun is up to."

Neroth's arms stayed where they were. "Jadrhun, is it?"

"Don't play stupid," Vhannor snapped. "Jadrhun was never interested in politics. There's no way he's been suborning all these people, acting in Dianor, without you knowing how and to what end."

Neroth lowered his arms, nodding agreeably. "And?"

"And," Vhannor growled, taking another step, "since you haven't had the decency to warn me, you're going to tell me how deep this goes, now."

The priest sighed, walking behind the wooden block. "Vhann." Vhann? "You know perfectly well I can't just give you that for free. I don't betray confidences like that."

But he would, for the right price? Interesting—what could Vhannor offer—

Vhannor slammed his hands down on the block. "You will talk to me before more people die!"

Okay, maybe he was somewhat angrier than she'd appreciated.

Liris thrust her arm out to her side, blocking Shry, who'd started forward, and said, "People are always dying though, aren't they? There are always people in pain, and on the edge, that no one is helping. That's always the leverage someone has."

The priest looked her way with interest. "Yes," he said softly. "What an unexpectedly open-minded woman you've partnered with, Vhannor."

The Lord of Embhullor's fierce glare might have quelled another person who wasn't so unimpressed with his current behavior. "If you didn't want me to talk, you should have specified that in advance," Liris told him.

Neroth choked on a laugh.

"The question," Liris said, "is why people think a demon servant can solve their pain."

It wasn't the priest that answered her, but a voice from one of the shadowed arches.

A sharp voice she recognized, as he strode forward with the same high-collared, asymmetrical black coat, the same jagged cropped hair.

"No," Jadrhun said, as Shry shifted her stance. "The question is what pain am I solving." Facing Vhannor he said, "And you shouldn't need to bully the neutrality to know that."

Liris had thought the tension in this Forgotten temple high before, but it was nothing compared to how she had to remind herself to breathe now.

Vhannor's eyes blazed as his hand clenched on his spell pad; Jadrhun's hung loosely in his hand; Shry had one knife pointed his way and another at the priest. Violence poised to erupt at any moment.

Vhannor said, "You can't turn back time and make the Sundering not have happened, Jadrhun."

What?

Jadrhun sneered. "You have no idea what I can do, Lord of Embhullor."

The demon servant turned to Liris, and she froze, then forced herself to breathe, ordering her body not to signal any attacks in advance.

She learned fast, but so did he, and he had years of practice. Jadrhun would be fast enough to stop her.

"We meet again, Liris," Jadrhun said with a slight tilt of a bow, keeping his eyes up. "That was well played in Serenthuar. I can't tell you how delighted I am that you found another way."

Was that sarcasm, or was he actually glad he hadn't ‘had to' kill her?

"Thank you for the incitement to expand my horizons," Liris said. "I intend to make the most of the opportunity."

Jadrhun's eyes glittered. "Do you? Do you know what you're truly capable of? Or have you traded one set of limiters for another?"

Well, this was an awkward and horrible time to not be supposed to cast any spells by Vhannor's command.

She risked a glance at him, but he was silent, his fists clenched with tension.

Trusting her to handle a demon servant herself, even without spells—or a test?

Liris said, "If your recruitment strategy always involves first attempting to kill with demons, I'm amazed you keep finding people willing to cast for you."

Jadrhun grinned. "You have to admit, as tactics for narrowing qualified candidates go..."

She would not laugh.

"But it's the benefits, of course," he said. "All the secrets of the universe. The challenge of unraveling any mystery, of being part of something greater. You can't tell me that doesn't compel you."

Jadrhun's attention focused on her, which was bad. Liris didn't know what anyone else was doing because hers had to be on him too. If she pissed him off, he could stop recruiting and start killing, and spells or no spells, she wouldn't make it.

She had plenty of other training, and Liris made a snap decision so she could focus. If it came to a fight, she'd aim for the priest. Neroth hadn't moved a jot from behind that block once he arrived there: it might have defenses she couldn't see, and taking him out of the equation was one of the few ways she could actually not make things worse in a duel with two master casters and a half-demon.

"I can't help but notice I was useful to you before, too," Liris said, "and you were still going to kill me. The only difference now is that I'm not under your power. I can't challenge the mysteries of the universe if I'm dead."

"I've never once harmed you," Jadrhun said mildly, which was... technically true but not actually a disagreement. "That's actually the last thing I want."

Now, maybe. But if she refused him? "What is your word worth?"

His expression blanked for an instant, and then his smile was back with a mocking twist. "Why, it's worth the world."

Shry cut in coldly, "The world is not yours to destroy."

Liris had less than a second to register that Shry's voice was coming from above. In the same instant Jadrhun's eyes lifted along with his spell pad, Liris dove for the altar.

She swung around behind the wooden block as lightning cracked behind her, but the priest was gone.

No: on it. She jumped up, sliding her legs in a lock around his and ready to forcibly yank him away from danger when she saw he had a sword.

A sword glowing so brightly with silver spells Liris couldn't look at it straight on.

But she watched Neroth cut straight through the ball of lightning Jadrhun had manifested between him and Shry with her knives: the magic collapsed, bright lines warping, and then vanished.

"Forgotten temples are neutral ground," the priest said mildly. "I will enforce that neutrality, and while I may not be a caster, I do have the power to do so. This sword cuts magic, demons, and people, and I assure you, I know how to use it."

It wasn't the block that had defenses: the priest had stayed there to reach a voiding magic sword.

Neroth held it between Shry and Jadrhun, whose knives and spell pad were still at the ready.

Liris held her breath.

"Shry, hold," Vhannor said softly.

With a sharp smile, Jadrhun slowly took a step back, then another until he'd backed away into the darkness.

Shry crouched, and before Liris had even realized she was planning to chase Jadrhun, Neroth had swung his sword toward her and said in a voice that cut through the stone space, "No."

Shry glanced at him without moving. "He's outside your precious neutrality now, priest."

"Do you think neutrality means we allow people to set up ambushes here?" Neroth inquired coolly. "Our guarantee would mean nothing, and that, I can't allow."

Shry sneered, her hands clenching on her knives. "Of course you can't. You'd rather create safe passage for demon servants than take responsibility for what that means and help people—"

"Shry, he's right," Vhannor cut her off through clenched teeth.

"Vhannor, you can't—"

Neroth said mildly, "Shit on the Forgotten temples when it's convenient and expect we'll forget later? No, he can't. Though of course I'm happy to oblige you if you're in the mood for a theological discussion on the value of our work—"

Shry threw one of her knives directly at the tip of Neroth's sword.

It bounced off.

But her deadly aim spoke for itself.

Shry and Neroth held each other's gaze for a long moment.

Only when Shry lowered her remaining knife did Liris breathe.

The priest glanced down at where Liris was still poised to take him down in a move, and his lips quirked. "Thank you for your faith."

Liris rolled off the block and tugged one of the altar's side curtains aside. There was the sword rack.

"Thank you for the gentle reminder," Liris said.

Because if he'd wanted to make an issue of it with the first person to breach that neutrality, Shry might be dead.

"Who says that we're done?" Neroth asked, facing Shry with a glint in his eye.

"Shry saw that I was trapped and chose to do something about it when others stood by," Liris said. Vhannor looked at her sharply. "So I can hardly fault her. But of course we're not done—now that we've taken the edge off of posturing, I was hoping to ask some questions. I believe I mentioned I'm new?"

The priest smiled over his shoulder at her, and with a sword in one hand it was even more devastating. Impressive.

"You are good, aren't you?" Neroth murmured, reaching his empty hand to her. Liris took it, and hopped up—only for his strength to take over halfway as he lifted her one-armed the rest of the way.

"Not done posturing?" she murmured.

The priest grinned, and hand in hand they jumped off the block together. Now even on the same floor as Vhannor and Shry, Liris retrieved her hand.

"It all begins to make sense," the priest said, looking from Liris to Vhannor.

"About that," Liris said, raising her eyebrows at Vhannor, who broke his gaze with the priest to meet hers. "I haven't studied much corporeal spellcraft, but I believe since you just used your fancy magic sword, its magic will need to be replenished, correct?"

Vhannor closed his eyes; took a breath. Like preparing for a spell battle, he took the cue she fed him and said, "I would of course be happy to reinfuse the sword to its full capacity with magic if you would answer questions for us."

"Why, of course, Vhannor," the priest said in that mild voice again. "You know I'm always happy to help friends."

Vhannor closed his eyes again and then sighed. "My apologies. I should not have expected otherwise."

Liris was close enough to see Neroth's fingers twitch—although he inclined his head graciously, she didn't think, deep down, he took that as an apology rather than an accusation.

Shry made a sound of disgust and stalked across the temple when Vhannor stepped forward to see to the sword. Liris had trained with her enough to note she never prowled so far that she couldn't reach them with an attack in instants if necessary.

Oddly comforting.

"This buys you two questions," the priest warned.

Vhannor nodded, eyes on his work. Liris could ask him about the sword later, which, now that she was up-close and could read the copious intricate spellwork, was very obviously not an ordinary sword, even if she hadn't seen what it could do. But for now her role was clearly keeping these people working together.

A better showing for her training than their last outing.

Maybe she didn't need to catch up on spellcraft as fast as all that to matter.

"Why is Jadrhun working with demon servants?" Vhannor asked.

Shry was there in an instant, hissing, "We need to know what the demons have to do with this, not the servants."

Vhannor shook his head. "Jadrhun's our enemy now, much as I hate it. I know what demons want—I don't know what Jadrhun is doing, which means I'm always going to be a step behind him."

"But you know what he wants," Shry said. "You don't know what the demons are doing."

"Short of infiltrating black flame chapters and taking them apart, I don't have another way to learn that, and neither do you."

Liris cleared her throat.

Shry scowled.

"It's their organizational infrastructure," Neroth answered as if Shry hadn't interrupted the brief moment of civility. "Jadrhun's not making any friends there, nor is he interested in doing so. But it gives him resources who will do what he says."

Which meant the demons were backing him.

Not what Liris would have asked—Vhannor really was good at this, figuring out the right questions, now that the edge of his anger had burned off.

"If Jadrhun's not interested in making alliances, why the sudden interest in politics?" Vhannor asked. "What's he up to?"

"He isn't," Neroth answered. "He despises having to deal with people and politics, same as ever. All I know is he's been making deals and doing questionable favors for different realms and groups within them to get himself free access to Gates. So as for ‘what's he up to', which I'll take as rhetorical since that's a third question and I can only guess anyway: he's getting ready for something big, Vhannor. And since Jadrhun's a caster, he tries to solve every problem with—"

"A spell," Vhannor finished.

"What kind of spell could be that big?" Liris asked. What was the worst a person could do with spells? "Could he... I don't know, make a spell to defeat a neighboring realm in one shot? Sic demons on realms his allies don't like without it coming back to them like a mercenary would?"

"He could promise them anything—it doesn't mean he can deliver," Vhannor said. "But since Jadrhun was notorious for his interest in studying Gate magic, I'd guess he's convinced them he can do something more like sundering a neighboring realm."

Liris stared.

That was way, way worse.

"Are we done with the priest then?" Shry demanded.

Neroth grinned at her. "Perish the thought."

It was like everything he said was specifically designed to piss Shry off.

"Yes, we'll head back," Vhannor said. "You want to scout ahead?"

Gently done, but a dismissal nonetheless. By the flash of fury on Shry's face she knew it, but then again—

"Leave this place? With pleasure," she said. "As long as you remember to care about the people actually on your side."

Vhannor glared at her. Shry's long white hair whipped behind her as she turned on her heel and then vanished, the doors banging closed behind her.

"Well," Neroth said, taking his sword back to the altar, because apparently with Shry gone he no longer felt he needed it. "She's a delight."

Vhannor sighed. "She did have a point. I was unfair to you."

"I am confident that is not at all what she meant," the priest drawled.

Liris glanced away.

"I do mean it, though," Vhannor said seriously.

For the first time, when the priest returned his gaze, his expression was utterly serious. "Thank you for visiting."

He'd wanted to help, but the rules of his faith prevented him from doing so without an exchange. Liris liked the priest a lot better than she had when they'd started.

She was growing correspondingly angrier at Vhannor.

"You'll be okay?" Vhannor confirmed. "Jadrhun will know we talked."

He shrugged. "He won't sacrifice a resource if he doesn't have to." Neroth's smile twisted. "That's how you know I really don't know the crucial parts of his plan."

Because then Jadrhun would have killed him, neutrality or not? That put ‘big' on another level. If Jadrhun didn't think he'd need neutral parties...

He wasn't planning to leave anyone behind who could stop him.

Neroth came forward again, one hand raised like a knife in front of him. He bowed lightly to Vhannor, kissed the fingers on his other hand, and set them on the Lord of Embhullor's forehead.

"Blessings of the Forgotten on your quest, seeker," Neroth said. Vhannor inclined his head in response, and the priest came to Liris next.

This time he made a point of taking his time with the kiss—leaning in to deliver the benediction slowly, giving Liris time to back away if she was uncomfortable with the game, all the while holding her gaze and filling his with heat.

Liris shook with suppressed laughter. "I'll bring you some oil next time. Enough for your gleaming chest and your powerful... arms."

The priest grinned. "I'm delighted you noticed my natural glow. It's all worthwhile, now."

"Oh, it was my pleasure," Liris said as Neroth snickered. "My name is Liris, by the way."

"Liris." Neroth bowed. When he looked up, his eyes gleamed wickedly. "The pleasure is all mine."

When she'd shut the doors behind them, Liris followed Vhannor as far as the steps.

Then she sat down before she lost her nerve and waited for him to notice.

He turned back instantly, which meant he'd at least listened to Shry about that.

"You want to do this now?" Vhannor asked.

"At the doorway to a neutrality seems like as good a place as any," Liris said. "I thought it could wait before, since it's not like I'm actually excited for you to tell me I'm a moron, and I was clearly wrong. So yeah. Now."

Vhannor ran a hand over his head, then pulled up his spell pad again. "I'll show you this one later—it's for silence," he said as he sketched. "You're not trapped. If you choose to walk away from me, you'll be out of it without needing to dispel at all."

"I know that one already."

He nodded crisply, then squared his shoulders. Swallowed. "I could not have done that without you," he said quietly.

Of all the places she'd thought this would start, that wasn't it.

"I know," Liris said.

Vhannor let out a breath. "I can't believe how close Shry came in there to blowing everything."

"Excuse you?" Liris surged to her feet. "Shry is not the one who was the biggest liability in there."

His head jerked back up, her words hitting him like a slap.

Liris snapped, "The next time you want to yell at me, don't take your anger out on someone else."

"I don't want to yell at you."

"So you thought you'd deflect your anger onto the priest rather than deal with me? Neroth didn't deserve that."

"Neroth professionally doesn't take offense," Vhannor said.

"Pretty sure that's only true if he's getting something out of it," Liris said, "and he could tell as soon as we walked in that you were full of shit. You just thought you'd have an easier time winning a fight with him than trying not to throttle me or make me feel worse than I already do."

Vhannor sighed and sunk onto the steps himself. After a moment of awkwardly towering over him, Liris dropped down beside him.

"I'm not..." He blew out a frustrated breath. "Part of occupying the position that I do is you can't ever let people see weakness. Do you see? I represent not just Embhullor, but Special Operations."

"Other realms wouldn't trust you if they thought you were subject to flights of fancy, and the spellcasters you're in charge of need to see you modeling unwavering confidence too. I get it." Liris considered. "You're saying the mask of icy competence has become your reality."

He paused. "Icy?"

Liris nodded decisively. "Icy."

He blinked his frosted lavender eyes at her and then shrugged. "Yes. I've lost—no. I don't think I ever learned how to..."

Talk about his feelings. Liris waited for him to actually say it.

"...acknowledge outwardly that I am experiencing an emotion that might affect my behavior, let alone convey that verbally."

Of course that was how he put it.

But she took the point. Once you developed the knack for shoving all your emotions to the side, it was hard to process them in a healthy way.

Or so she'd read. She obviously did not have any experience interacting with people in a normal way—but then, because of his position, neither did Vhannor.

He'd told her that, when they first arrived in Embhullor. But even before that she'd noticed his difficulty being open with her despite claiming he was making an effort, noticed his icy fa?ade and celebrated every crack in it with a quirk of his lips or a flash of fire in his eyes. And still hadn't really understood the full extent of the problem.

That was on her.

But while maybe she could help make him more aware, doing something about it was on him.

"If I'm supposed to be your partner," Liris said tentatively, not sure that was at all where they were still at, "that will hinder our ability to work together effectively."

He nodded shortly, glaring out into the city without looking at her. "Yeah."

And that was it.

Nope. It was definitely still his turn.

Liris waited.

Finally, Vhannor unclenched his jaw and said, "You scared me, at the Gate."

She'd guessed that. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "Your natural ability with patterns combined with your facility with Thyrasel's innate power makes you able to turn any spell impossibly dangerous. And if it goes wrong, I can't help you."

"But you did," Liris said, surprised. "You talked me through dispelling, kept me anchored so I didn't get lost."

"And if you had fainted? Tripped and hit your head? I couldn't have saved you, when I'm the one who brought you into this to begin with."

"It's not your job to keep me safe."

"What do you think being partners means, Liris? Of course it is. If I don't have your back, who will?"

She did not want to answer that rhetorical question. "You weren't feeling especially protective when Jadrhun was trying to recruit me."

Vhannor let out a choked laugh. "Oh yes I was."

"Then why—"

"Liris, I'd just finished coming down on you harshly before we came through the Gate, telling you that I wouldn't allow you to even cast, even though I know how much—"

"Exactly, so—"

"I was trying not to trap you."

Liris blinked.

Vhannor looked right at her, their faces suddenly awfully close.

"Jadrhun was trying to recruit you, offering you all the possibilities in the world," Vhannor said quietly. "I was worried if I said anything you'd think I was taking away your choices."

Liris gaped. "You were worried I'd want to go with him?"

Jaw tight, he nodded.

"Vhannor, I'm not going to join someone who thinks unleashing demons is the answer to anything! I literally gave up everything I knew so I could fight him!"

"And so you could be free," Vhannor pointed out quietly.

"Yes!" Liris waved her hands. "I know I made a rash decision at the Gate, but I'm not actually stupid! Jadrhun could have the best intentions in the world and I am still not going to leave with him by choice!"

"Ah," Vhannor said vaguely.

"Wait." Liris narrowed her eyes and stabbed a finger into his chest. "Don't tell me this is part of your whole thing, where you help people and push them away lest they decide they like you? Like no one would choose to stay with you if they had other options?"

Vhannor frowned. "That's not exactly—"

"Oh wow, you're blushing, that totally is it. Vhannor."

He scowled across the street at the diagonal buildings and muttered, "If we're already at the stage where you can deploy my name with that tone of voice, you might as well call me Vhann."

Okay that was a dirty trick. Now she was blushing too.

Short names weren't a convention in Serenthuar, and in many places anyone might call another by one and have it mean nothing at all.

Isendhor was not one of those places.

She couldn't call him that out loud. It definitely would not come out scowly.

Without looking at him—or the distressing buildings; clear sunset-gradient sky it was—Liris carefully scooted closer on the step until their shoulders bumped. "I don't want to leave you."

He nodded; a quick jerk of the head. "Good."

She was going to strangle him. "And in the unlikely event that changes, I will tell you, like a person who can use words. Can you at least try to talk to me? In there, or at the Gate—"

"Sorry," he muttered. "That's just plain habit. I've been on my own so long, I'm not used to having a real partner I can actually trust—to think of things I wouldn't, to do things I can't—"

"Shry?"

Vhannor winced.

"Have you considered," Liris asked, "that maybe it's not your devotion to duty that burns people out of working with you, but that you're a shitty partner?"

"Yes."

That answer was too sure. She looked at him sidelong. "You're not going to be melodramatic about this, are you?"

"No, I'm going to apologize to my sister."

"Oh."

"Yeah." He reached over and gathered her hands in his.

Startled, Liris' gaze flew to his—and he was watching her again in that way he had that made her feel like she'd danced too close to the fire and was slowly burning the longer she looked.

She didn't look away.

"But," Vhannor said, "if you can't help me if you don't know what I'm thinking, the reverse is also true. Liris, I am one of the leading experts in spellcasting in all the Sundered Realms. If you're going to try something magical that you've never done before—"

"I'll tell you," she mumbled.

His hands tightened on hers. "—trust that I don't want to stop you, but to help you. Trust that I will be able to keep up with you, even if we're in the middle of a battle. I won't get distracted. I will be able to follow you. You don't have to take huge risks alone."

Oh.

Oh.

Liris, for all her talk, suddenly could not use words after all.

She ducked her head and fell forward until her forehead bumped his steady chest. Vhannor rested his chin on the top of her head.

Part of her understood, in that moment, that this declaration was in part about Vhannor feeling like he'd failed Jadrhun, who'd been so convinced no one understood what he was capable of that he'd turned to demons for help.

Part of her also understood that even if the timing was bad and she didn't have any experience to know how to deal with this, she was absolutely falling in love with this man.

"Vhann," she murmured against his chest.

There, at least he couldn't see her face when she said it.

"Hmm?" he rumbled.

"Those buildings aren't really all falling over and into each other, are they?"

A pause. "That's been bothering you for a while, hasn't it?"

Liris lifted her head and nodded seriously.

His eyes crinkled with laughter.

Vhannor leaned forward and kissed her forehead exactly over the Forgotten's blessing, and while Liris forgot how to breathe he pulled her up with him to their feet.

"Since I've promised you honesty," he said in his usual cool tone, like he hadn't just changed everything between them in an instant, "why don't I tell you once we're home?"