Epilogue

Home.

Eventually, they had to rejoin their comrades. Vhannor assured Liris this was temporary.

In a way, she hoped it wasn't, because she'd never seen him so open among other people. She thought that might be good for him, though it was clearly unnerving the Special Operations casters.

Cleanup protocols were underway, injuries treated. Liris knew that if she sat down again everything would catch up to her all at once, but there wasn't much at this stage she could help with. She hadn't trained on what to do after a demon incursion.

Fortunately, the casters present didn't seem to hold that against her—if Liris had stopped to think about it, she'd have assumed her display of power would get their backs up, but instead many of them nodded acknowledgement, called easygoing demands she demonstrate parts later.

What a wonder, for people to know what she could do and be able to appreciate it and not want her to stop doing it.

Liris made her way over to Shry, lingering on the edges like she was. "Your timing is amazing."

Shry grinned faintly. "I know."

"How do you not look more tired?" Liris demanded.

She shrugged. "Killing demons is a rush. Eventually my body will realize the fun is over and I'll fall over. Wanted to run something by Vhannor first, but on second thought telling you is better."

That got Liris' attention, along with amazement she still had attention span left to get. "Oh?"

"You were a little busy, but did you notice what the demon said?"

Liris thought back, frowned. "It said, ‘Even a sundered realm that gathers its magic can only hold out so long'," she murmured. Glanced sharply back Shry, eyes widening. "You think—"

Shry nodded grimly. "Jadrhun was wrong about a lot, but what if he was right about part of it? What if the lost realms aren't just gone?"

What if Serenthuar could still be saved?

Liris squeezed her eyes shut. "Gods. I just today learned how to use ley magic and how anchors work and restored Gates and tethered realms, and how do I still not know enough?"

"You can't actually know everything," Shry said.

She sighed. "Generally I find that comforting and inspiring, but it's been a long day. Are you sure the demon wasn't just trying to mislead us? It evidently misled Jadrhun pretty voiding effectively."

"Pretty sure. It didn't act like it was saying something we didn't know."

"You would be better equipped than most of us to tell." Liris raised her eyebrows. "Oh, I see. This is why you're talking to me and not Vhann?"

"It's annoying that you can just guess that but occasionally useful," Shry said. "Yeah. He's not going to want me to be involved, but I need to be."

"I think he will be less opposed now than you have reason to expect," Liris said, "but duly noted."

This time Shry's gaze fastened on her. "Oh? Something you want to tell me?"

Liris opened her mouth, shut it. "Quite a lot, actually, but I should probably warn him first. He sometimes gets jumpy when I don't warn him about things like this."

"I didn't see him so much as bat an eye when you decided to play god with the forces of the universe."

"Right. Different things."

"I see. Good job on that, by the way."

Liris' heart swelled. "Thanks. Good job on occupying a distressing number of demons simultaneously so I could."

"My absolute pleasure."

They grinned at each other.

Nearby leaves crunching alerted her to Princess Nysia's approach. Liris gazed at the princess' literally gleaming splendor even after a demonic battle, back at her own functional but windblown aesthetic, and bowed in genuine admiration.

Princess Nysia cracked a smile.

"So," Liris risked, "excited to deal with the politics of realms that now have new Gates?"

The princess' smile widened, and not in a nice way.

She was really growing on Liris.

"Destroying the status quo like that is possibly the best thing you could have done to help me shove the Coalition down the Sundered Realms' throats, even more than bringing all this corruption to light," Princess Nysia said. "Want a job?"

Liris startled. "In the Coalition?"

The princess rolled her eyes. "No, as my court jester."

Once upon a time, an offer like that would have been everything Liris wanted. So she was surprised she didn't have to think about her answer.

"I appreciate the offer more than I have words to say," Liris said, "but I have to decline. I'm not giving up magic."

Princess Nysia's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't asking you to."

"The distrust of a Serenthuar ambassador who openly uses magic, let alone as much power as I can easily muster, runs too deep," Liris explained. "You might want to recruit from other Serenthuar ambassadors, though. There have to be some who are in their positions because they couldn't see another way out, not because they're in agreement with all the elders' choices." Ambassador Rhuil certainly didn't, though she wouldn't speak to his character.

The princess said, "What the Coalition needs is people who see ways out."

"The Serenthuar ambassadors are all people who have learned how to work the system they have, one stacked against them, for their own ends. Just make sure their ends are in alignment with yours, and they may surprise you."

"You think I can trust them?"

Interested, but skeptical. Liris couldn't fault her for that. "I think I am literally the worst person to judge who from Serenthuar you can trust. Treat them as individual people and not replaceable sigils in a spell, and judge for yourself how they react."

"Hmm." The princess turned that over. "Do you have something in mind for what you're going to do now, then? I certainly have ideas if you don't. No one will object if you don't want to stay with Special Operations now that Jadrhun is gone."

Shry interrupted, "After that display? Oh yes they will."

Nysia shook her head. "Without Jadrhun actively setting his plan into motion, the urgent need for a field operative who can work with Thyrasel is gone too. The linguistics experts will be able to handle that soon enough."

Liris could do whatever she wanted, go wherever she wanted.

She glanced over her shoulder, saw that Vhannor had come up quietly behind her. He raised his eyebrow, waiting for her response—not in doubt, but in challenge.

Well, if he was going to dare her, she didn't see any reason to warn him after all.

Liris turned back. "First, Vhannor and I are getting married."

Shry choked.

"And no one can stop me," Liris added. "Except him, but he wouldn't, and that's why I'm marrying him."

Princess Nysia's face twitched, but she was a politician and got herself under control quickly. She glanced at the Lord of Embhullor as if to make certain this wasn't news to him, and Vhannor finished joining them and took Liris' hand in his.

"Does that mean you'll be keeping on as field spellcasting partners, then?" Nysia clarified.

"It does," Vhannor confirmed in a low rumble.

"Ha!" Shry smacked him on the shoulder with a grin. "I knew it."

Vhannor rolled his eyes. "You did not."

"Did too."

"Fantastic," Princess Nysia cut them off firmly.

Liris nodded. "You see why I won't be available as an ambassador."

"Yes, but the next time I need something blown up in a new and dramatic way, I know just who to call," Princess Nysia said dryly.

"I don't believe for a second you need my help for that."

Vhannor snorted. "I'm glad we're all getting along now."

Liris smiled up at him, and his eyes softened.

Shry cleared her throat.

"Anyway," Liris said, "once that's taken care of, I think we should get on figuring out why the demons felt so confident today even after I reconnected the realms."

Vhannor nodded. "That starts with looking into the spells Jadrhun activated remotely, and setting up defenses, since the demons may be able to teach other casters the anchors he used. Reports are coming in that demon servants separately activated other spells in those realms at the same time, so we'll need to compare them to Jadrhun's and see what we can learn."

"And when new portals appear, Vhannor and I should be the first team on site whenever possible to see what we can learn from the patterns, and change them as needed," Liris finished.

Princess Nysia asked, "You're not going to balk at that much travel once you're newlyweds, are you?"

Vhannor smiled, squeezed Liris' hand. "I'm confident we won't. But that won't leave time to look into what the demon said about lost realms, and I don't doubt we're going to need that information."

Liris said, "Shry can take the lead on that."

Vhannor's eyes narrowed, and he regarded Shry thoughtfully. "We need to know what the demons know, and you can't very well go undercover among demon servants."

"I have an idea about that," Shry said. "If it works, you'll be happier with it than I am."

Vhannor's eyebrows lifted at that, but he nodded. "Let me know how it goes and if you need anything from me."

Shry nodded in return. "I'll talk to Inealu about the mission paperwork once we're back, then."

She waved and sauntered away, and Liris hid a grin. Shry hadn't expected that easy acquiescence and was leaving before Vhannor could change his mind.

"We'll talk more about coordination too," Princess Nysia said, "later." She too waved and strode away.

Liris faced Vhannor. "Everyone seems to think we need a minute."

"Mhmm." He bent forward and kissed her.

She was barely standing and conscious anyway, so when her knees buckled and Vhannor physically held her up but didn't try to tell her they should stop, Liris didn't even once have to think before letting herself melt into him, trusting him to support her.

When the catcalls started a minute later, they pulled apart with Liris grinning and Vhannor faintly pink. He took her hand and led her back toward the battlefield.

"There's a place we should go once we're married," Vhannor said, eyes forward. "I haven't been, so it'll be new to both of us. There's supposed to be a pool on the edge of a cliff that they heat with spells. It's in the mountains, so you have a clear view of the night sky, and during the day, you can look over the edge and see the whole world before you."

"I think I've heard of that one," Liris said. "Isn't there an old legend of lovers jumping off the edge and being able to fly? I always wondered if there was a hidden spell there. Do you know what the activating conditions would be?"

"I was thinking you might like to go find out."

Liris looked up at him. "You know, when you said there was more after marriage, I thought you were promising me increasingly great sex."

"That too." Vhannor looked down at her then. "But also adventure together forever. If you want it."

Liris gazed up at Vhannor, the Lord of Embhullor and her partner. At the expanse of sky beyond him, all the while hearing the murmur of people who supported her, and them, working around her.

She leapt toward him, and he caught her as she kissed him.

Liris leaned back in his arms, feeling the thrum of excitement in her as they spun together. Supported and free and with a purpose, always in flight.

"Always," she answered, and kissed him again.

Then they led each other into their next adventure.