Page 82 of The Sundered Realms

That answer was too sure. She looked at him sidelong. “You’re not going to be melodramatic about this, are you?”

“No, I’m going to apologize to my sister.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” He reached over and gathered her hands in his.

Startled, Liris’ gaze flew to his—and he was watching her again in that way he had that made her feel like she’d danced too close to the fire and was slowly burning the longer she looked.

She didn’t look away.

“But,” Vhannor said, “if you can’t help me if you don’t know what I’m thinking, the reverse is also true. Liris, I am one of the leading experts in spellcasting in all the Sundered Realms. If you’re going to try something magical that you’ve never done before—“

“I’ll tell you,” she mumbled.

His hands tightened on hers. ”—trust that I don’t want to stop you, but to help you. Trust that I will be able to keep up with you, even if we’re in the middle of a battle. I won’t get distracted. I will be able to follow you. You don’t have to take huge risks alone.”

Oh.

Oh.

Liris, for all her talk, suddenly could not use words after all.

She ducked her head and fell forward until her forehead bumped his steady chest. Vhannor rested his chin on the top of her head.

Part of her understood, in that moment, that this declaration was in part about Vhannor feeling like he’d failed Jadrhun, who’d been so convinced no one understood what he was capable of that he’d turned to demons for help.

Part of her also understood that even if the timing was bad and she didn’t have any experience to know how to deal with this, she was absolutely falling in love with this man.

“Vhann,” she murmured against his chest.

There, at least he couldn’t see her face when she said it.

“Hmm?” he rumbled.

“Those buildings aren’t really all falling over and into each other, are they?”

A pause. “That’s been bothering you for a while, hasn’t it?”

Liris lifted her head and nodded seriously.

His eyes crinkled with laughter.

Vhannor leaned forward and kissed her forehead exactly over the Forgotten’s blessing, and while Liris forgot how to breathe he pulled her up with him to their feet.

“Since I’ve promised you honesty,” he said in his usual cool tone, like he hadn’t just changed everything between them in an instant, “why don’t I tell you once we’re home?”

Chapter 12

Hinsheoress is a rare language isolate and has seven tones (but eight in the north). Fortunately they invest in education, and all their people speak a standardized form of Standard Senic too. They also have an extremely sophisticated tea culture, and I hope someday I can partake in a ceremony.

There’s an elaborate performance they do for strangers, but each local community has their own variations. I know that’s also part of the attraction for me—the feeling, however temporary, of being part of a family.

When Liris went into the kitchen the next morning, she was startled to find Vhannor there making a pot of tea.

He also startled, freezing as he saw her, and they both stared for a long moment.

Vhannor was dressed... differently. Still in clothes that looked flexible enough he could fight a demon in them, but today his midnight coat was more elaborate, and his pants tighter, which she certainly noticed. Hardly in full formalwear, but... nicer.

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