Page 126 of The Sundered Realms

“I’m willing to be stopped for kisses,” Liris said, “especially such... clarifying ones. Though maybe less implication of imminent attack next time?”

She picked up speed again, not really sure what was going on between them anymore, and moments later Vhannor was flying alongside her.

“We haven’t talked about what either of us would want in a ceremony, let alone a marriage, but you deserve more than a wedding on the side of the road,” Vhannor told her. “You deserve a public wedding where it is clear to everyone—and especially you—that you deserve more than being hidden away, that I am honored and awed to be seen to stand with you.”

Oh. “Also romantic,” Liris allowed, “but I don’t need that from you. Or—well, I got that at the ball in Tellianghu, didn’t I?”

“Where we were there under false pretenses, letting everyone wonder what our relationship was? No, no you did not.”

“You were willing to present me as your partner,” Liris said. “That was enough. And it’s sweet of you to want wonders for me, but that’s not what I care about here.”

“It’s not just that,” Vhannor said. “I don’t want you to feel pressured—“

“Oh gods, not this again, Vhann—“

”—by time. There’s so much happening now. You don’t want a ball, fine, but you should get to have a wedding whichever way you want it, with your choices unconstrained.”

Hmm. “And if what I want is quickly on the side of the road?”

Vhannor reddened again, but his voice was firm. “Then we’ll find another rebel priest.”

“Not like that one.”

“Later,“ he growled, “once we’ve talked about what we both want, because marriage should not be a surprise.”

Liris narrowed her eyes. “Just because I’m inexperienced doesn’t mean I don’t know what I want.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“There are few other ways to take it,” Liris said. “Because if it’s not that I don’t know what I want, then if you’re not sure about me and need more time—“

“That’s not it.”

”—to accept that I am sure about you, that really truly is fine, Vhannor. I don’t want to push you into something you’re not sure of any more than you’d want that for me. But let’s be clear: any delay isn’t for my sake.”

She watched him search for words. “It’s... not just the wedding. It’s marriage. It’s what life you want for yourself, and what I want, and what it would mean for us. My duty has always been my whole life, and I am trying to make space for more, but it will never not be important to me.”

“I know that, Vhannor,” Liris said. “From the first day we met, I’ve known that. And I told you then I wanted more, and that hasn’t changed. Love and adventure, together forever? That sounds perfect.”

He sucked in a breath, swallowed. Managed: “Liris, I don’t want to trap you in my duty.”

Liris smiled and reached out a hand. She loved this man to pieces, even if he was particularly dense on this point. “It’s not a trap if I choose it for myself, Vhann. And I could only ever choose a course for my life that matters to me. That’s who I am.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opened them, and matched her speed exactly, placing his hand on hers. Perfectly in sync.

“Yes,” he said, and now his eyes were shining with tears. “Yes, it is.”

Void it, if she kept looking at him she was going to cry again, or injure them both by yanking him into a kiss, but she couldn’t look away.

“I don’t know what you thought I meant when I told you I would stay with you,” Liris said. “Did this really never occur to you?”

Vhannor winced. “If you think I haven’t been overanalyzing that for weeks, you don’t know me as well as I think you do. I just... you’re sure. You would really give me this. I believe you, and yet—“

Okay, she could look away long enough to roll her eyes. “I’m not a gift, or an asset, any more than you are. I’m a person.”

“Your love is a gift.”

“Well, you already have that, marriage or no marriage,” Liris said, then turned back to him fiercely. “I can’t promise to not die. But I can promise if there is any way in the universe to live and stay by your side, I will do everything in my power to find it, and I won’t give up. So. Will you marry me?”

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