Page 76 of The Sundered Realms

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.”

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