Page 150 of The Sundered Realms

That was all.

Liris swallowed. “Believe in me?”

In an instant he’d followed her inside the spell, and he kissed her swiftly, fiercely. Vhannor drew back, and she saw the reflections of fire in his eyes.

“Always,” he said, his voice hard and sure. “Never doubt it.”

Liris opened her mouth but none of her own doubts had a chance to emerge before Vhannor covered her lips with his spell pad.

“Never doubt it,“ he said again. “Believing in you is the easiest thing in the world. But if you think I’m just going to stand here wringing my hands while you do something crazy, it’s you who isn’t believing in me.”

Well then.

Liris’ smile peeked around the spell pad, and Vhannor’s eyes glinted as he stepped back.

“Whatever I do, I’m going to make the demons mad,” Liris said. “Don’t let them get in my way.”

Vhannor shot her a wild grin that zinged straight to her heart. “Stymied demons, coming up. Do your worst, Liris.”

That was it exactly. She’d done her best already.

Back in Theiraos, Chaeheen had told her she needed to dream bigger, and all at once Liris agreed.

Jadrhun had wanted to accomplish something so big no one could deny him. She understood.

Liris was going bigger.

She’d always wanted to leave her mark on the world before she died, but that wasn’t enough for her. Not anymore. It was past time to dream bigger than anyone else could imagine and brighter besides.

She was going to mark the world so hard she wasn’t going at all.

The spell still held the magic Jadrhun had gathered from destroying the realms’ Gates. It just couldn’t do what he’d intended, and if she didn’t work fast, that magic would dissipate.

Liris couldn’t make the spell do what Jadrhun had intended—even he hadn’t managed it. But Liris had deciphered the spell, which meant she could dispel it.

Except.

Except dispelling meant the realms’ Gates would be lost. With demons there, the devastation from the sudden loss of magic in those realms Jadrhun had tried to reconnect Serenthuar to, the people Liris had met—they wouldn’t be able to recover. The realms would be lost, and the only way to save the rest of the realms that remained would be to sunder them, too. And the ones that remained would be even further weakened.

Sooner or later, they’d all fall anyway.

But if she couldn’t complete the spell, and dispelling it wasn’t going to be enough—that left changing the spell.

Changing spells had not gone so well for her, historically. And no one would be able to help her here—if she got overwhelmed, she was done.

Whatever she did, she was about to handle the fundamental magic that held the world together, and there was no space for error.

Liris hadn’t understood Jadrhun soon enough to help him. Even as she took in all the lines and letters of the spell in front of her, the shape of it and how each piece was oriented, she might still be missing something. She’d missed a critical spell connection earlier today—

No. No more holding herself back.

Vhannor believed in her, and she had to, too. Hadn’t she told Jadrhun?

Liris had a secret.

She knew she could save the world.

And she was going to.

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