Page 125 of The Sundered Realms

That stopped him in his tracks. Vhannor turned to stare at her, jaw actually dropped. He tried to speak and just sputtered.

Liris pointed. “We have a priest right here.”

The priest stared at her, very nearly as agog as Vhannor, but with increasing amusement.

“We can’t just get married,” Vhannor said, his voice sounding strangled.

“You could,” the priest put in, their eyes twinkling, “though it would have to be very quick.”

“Do you not want to marry me?” Liris asked. “Just to clarify.”

His face turned very red.

She murmured to the priest, “That’s an encouraging color, right?”

“On the Lord of Embhullor, after being proposed to? Oh, certainly.”

Vhannor threw up his hands, bowed to the priest, and then grabbed Liris’ hand. “We are not talking about this here. Let’s go.”

“Blessings on your journey together,” the priest called lightly. Vhannor made a rude gesture over his shoulder, and Liris heard them snickering before she and Vhannor had cast their augment spells and flown out of earshot.

However, days of drilling Liris on magic lore meant she could now easily navigate the skimmer and press him on a conversation at the same time.

“Are you mad at me?” she asked, beginning to worry slightly that she’d misstepped in a different way.

Vhannor looked at her, rubbed his eyes, looked at her again. “You’d think by now I’d be used to you never thinking in a way I think you will,” Vhannor managed.

“Not what I asked. Not an answer to any of what I asked.”

“No, I’m not mad. I do wish you had... brought this up privately.”

“Oh,” Liris said, waving the love token in his face, “like you gave me this privately?”

His jaw set. “That wasn’t intended to obligate you.”

“I don’t know how many more ways I can find to tell you,” Liris growled, “that I am in favor of being obligated. Do you want to marry me or don’t you?”

“That’s not the point.”

“It’s a lot of the point! If you don’t want to, you could at least say so—“

“Stop.”

Liris took him at his word and slowed immediately, casting around for a threat.

She turned back to Vhannor just in time for him to catch her and kiss her so fiercely Liris felt like her entire being was spell-augmented.

Soaring in more ways than one.

When they finally separated, Vhannor still held her face in his hands, looking deep into her eyes with all that intensity she loved and said hoarsely, “I want to marry you, Liris. More than almost anything. You never need to doubt that.”

Liris took a deep, shaky breath. “Okay, then—“

“But haphazardly? No.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Not even married by a rebel while we’re on a secret mission? I thought that was romantic.”

“No,“ Vhannor growled. He leaned back, putting space between them. “I’m sorry. We have to keep moving. I just—“

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