Page 36 of The Demon Tide

“Get your hands off her, Roach!” Ulluwyn’s growl cuts through the air as she’s suddenly there, shouldering Thierren aside, her blue eyes condemning.

Thierren moves back as he looks from Ulluwyn to Sparrow, then away, seeming dazed.

“What just happened, Crow?” Ulluwyn barks.

Thierren’s head snaps to Ulluwyn as he eyes her in confusion.

She swipes her thumb toward the nearest storm spider. “The shielding only your magery could take down? The gray Crow runesall over them? What are you in league with?”

Thierren gapes at her. “You think I’m in league with thosethings?”

“I don’t know what to think,Mage,” Ulluwyn bites out before making quick work of the rest of the webbing with a runic blade, freeing Sparrow’s limbs.

Sparrow’s heart gives a hard twist at Thierren’s look of devastation. Sitting up, she cranes her head to view the other Vu Trin and Raz’zor untangling Aislinn as Thierren strides to Effrey, who has broken into great, shuddering sobs, his gaze pinned with terror on Sparrow.

Thierren kneels before Effrey and brings his hand to the child’s shoulder, his voice low and calm when it comes, belying none of the anguish Sparrow knows he’s feeling. “She’s all right. Effrey, she’s all right.”

Ulluwyn hands Sparrow her cloak, murmuring to her soothingly in Uriskal as she helps Sparrow to her feet. Then Ulluwyn ushers Sparrow back into the cave, her arm tight around her shoulder. She turns once to shoot Thierren an acid glare that hollows Sparrow out with frustrated rebellion.

Deeply unsettled, Sparrow seeks out Thierren that eve, her body covered in a clean, indigo Noi tunic and pants, her violet hair damp and tied back, her form washed free of the ichor and sand and web remnants.

Sparrow finds him sitting outside the cave, his gaze to the desert’s crimson splash of stars.

She quietly takes a seat beside him and peers across the night-dark landscape, softly lit by a ruddy moon, this evening’s events a weight bearing down on them both.

For a long while, they remain silent, but Sparrow can sense the tension brewing.

“I love you,” Thierren finally says without looking at her. There’s an impassioned finality to the words that steals Sparrow’s breath clear away. “I know it’s impossible for us to be together,” he adds, gaze pinned on the storm-banded horizon, puffs of lightning flashing through it. “But I love you and always will.”

Sparrow grips the edge of the stone ledge so hard that her skin strains against her bones.

I love you too, she longs to say, but can’t. The words won’t loosen from her throat. Not here. Not yet. Not on the edge of the Western Realm, where she’s been treated as subhuman. But still, she yearns to say them. Aislinn’s words light in her mind, piercing through her storm of emotion like a bright beacon.

Don’teverlet other people tell you who you can and can’t love.

The storm inside Sparrow intensifies, rivaling the churning storm band along the horizon.

Sparrow gets up and walks away from Thierren, her heart in her throat. She strides back into the dark cave lit only by a single blue-glowing rune stone. Then she curls up on her bedroll facing the cavern’s wall and quietly sobs, half noticing when Aislinn gently places a hand on her shoulder and keeps it there deep into the night.

Don’teverlet other people tell you who you can and can’t love.

The words reverberate in Sparrow’s mind, gaining strength as the night stretches on and Aislinn falls asleep beside her. Effrey is curled up on Sparrow’s other side with Raz’zor, who is asleep as well, the edge of the dragon’s ivory wing resting around Effrey’s shoulder.

Sparrow sits up and turns to find Thierren, across the cavern, fast asleep. Only their sole sentinel, the young soldier Twyne Ko, is awake, standing guard near the cavern’s entrance and surveying the night, her back to them all.

Sparrow gets up and pads over to where Thierren is sleeping. She lies down on the hard stone facing him, her eyes drinking in his beloved face as she watches him breathe.

I love you, she mouths before the dark of sleep claims her, as well.

Sparrow has a beautiful dream.

She’s lying next to Thierren in a cave with shimmering saffron walls lit by candlelight, his forest eyes intent on her. She reaches up to caress his cheek, and his eyes widen with surprise as she slides under his blanket then wraps her arms around him. He lets out a hard exhale, then enfolds her in a loving embrace.

Sparrow sighs and sinks into him, into the gorgeous dream, his heartbeat strong against hers, their bodies pressed against each other. It feels right.Soright.

Like finding her true home—not the East at all, buthim.

She presses her lips to the warm nape of his neck, a thrill singing through her as Thierren shivers against her. She strokes his back, his side, his shoulder, his body responding to her brazen touch, her own body warming.

---