Page 7 of The Demon Tide

“I won’t go without you,” Clive snarled back. “Not without you, Freyja.”

“Withme, then?” Freyja rejoined, incredulous. “Youcan’tbe with me. I’m on this side of this runic dome, andthisis where I will remain.”Forever separated from you so I can protect my people. But, damn you, Clive, at least go East. Let me feel like you have a chance against the Mages when they come.

The hard fact rose up with outstretched claws—

My people don’t stand a chance against the power of the Mages.

“Get the Amaz out of here,” Clive insisted. He stepped toward the shield as if it were no match for him, even though they both knew full well that the second he moved through its surface, he would burst into runic flames, the fire igniting his very core.

“And gowhere?” Freyja harshly threw back.

Clive’s jaw tightened, his glare intensifying, as if he were holding back a million expletives.“East,”he bit out. “You’re an island in the middle of a strengthening monster. Get your peopleEast!”

Freyja advanced toward the dome, now only a handspan from him. “How?” she challenged, teeth gritted. “How do we go East?”

“You’ve Noi portal sorcerers amongst you—”

“And if we went East, how would we live there? Amongst the men? Our religion and every aspect of our culture forbids mixing with men.”

Clive’s expression softened with an edge of longing. “And yet, here you are. With me.”

Freyja’s heart twisted as she held Clive’s impassioned stare and remembered the last time they were together, over a month ago. Sneaking off into the woods to the southwest. Falling into each other’s arms the second they were far enough away from Amazakaraan and taking each other with an intensity that stole Freyja’s breath and ignited that familiar, piercing yearning to be with Clive always. To fight the Mages with him. To never let him go.

“I’ve chosen my people, you know that,” she told him, her tone rough with frustration. Over the impossible choice she’d been forced to make. “Clive,” she said, her voice splintering around his name, “the Noi have denied us entry. As have the Ishkart.”

“Then the Noi and the Ishkart can go to hell,” Clive growled, drawing closer. Almost touching the dome-shield. “They’ve closed the door to my people, as well. So, the hell with them all. Go East anyway. Freyja, the Gardnerians are coming, with the Alfsigr on their heels. And theywillbreak through this dome.”

“Theycan’t. Or they’d be here already.”

“They took the Lupines down in a single night. Theywill come, Freyja.”

Conflict whipped through her. “Queen Alkaia wants a homeland without men. Even if the Noi open their gates to us, we’re not interested in being a part of Noilaan. We are Free People.”

“You’re not free,” Clive shot back. “You’re prisoners of your rigidity. Hold on to it and you’ll be massacred. The Mages will kill the children, Freyja.Allof you. They view both your people and mine as soulless heathens. They willkill you all.”

“I have urged Queen Alkaia to bend and go East,” Freyja admitted, as the urge to leap through the shield and embrace him gained ground. “I have urged the Council.” A frustrated tear streaked down her face, and she swiped it away, her lips trembling up in a slight, bitter smile. “But they see me as compromised.” She motioned between them. “Corrupted by this thing I never speak of.”

Clive’s brow furrowed, passion firing in his eyes. “Come through the shield, Freyja,” he offered, his voice newly gentle, the fierce love in his expression sending a warm, stinging rush straight through her.

“No,” she rasped with an emphatic shake of her head. “I stayhere—” she pointed firmly at the ground “—on this side.Thisis where I need to be. Theyneedme, Clive.”

Clive’s expression turned mournful as they held each other’s gazes. “I know they do.”

“There’s a chance we’ll portal to the East,” she told him. “Queen Alkaia has gathered all the Amaz under this dome, and she’s having her Circle of Sorcerers construct a series of emergency portals. So...give me this one hope. That if we do portal East, I might find you there.”

Clive’s jaw went rigid, his fierce eyes glazing over with tears as he briefly looked away, then set his blazing brown eyes back on her. “I’ll find you. There is no shield or runic wall or religion or culture that could keep me from you. Iloveyou, Freyja.”

Freyja pulled in a shaky breath, Clive’s beloved form wavy through a veil of tears she could no longer hold back. “I love you as well, Clive Soren.”

“Iwillfind you,” Clive vowed as he stepped back from the dome, ignoring the tears streaking down his own face. “Iwillfind you in the East.”

And then he turned, strode into the woods, and was gone.

“I do love a man,” Freyja admits to Wynter, the words feeling explosive on the air. It feels both frightening and like a revelation to state it plainly. Honestly.

On this side of the dome.

“I know,” Wynter rejoins, compassion in her eyes.

---