Page 185 of Ash and Feather

She nodded slowly.

Of course she did—she likely had entire books filled with hand-drawn maps of the area.

We spent the next several hours exploring it. She showed me the places where everything notable grew—berries for foraging, flowers for picking. She took me to the places where magic pooled, and explained the way she had always been able to sense that earthbound power, to find magic-infused herbs and roots that she used in healing recipes of her own creation.

Thunder soon rolled overhead, but she ignored it, focused as she was on bringing me to the places where she had wandered alone when she needed to think, then to all the nooks and crannies where she and her sister had built forts and castles and all other manner of make-believe things.

Finally, we stopped to rest beside a small stream.

She settled atop a large, flat boulder, her eyes on the stream as the first raindrops began to disrupt its clear water.

“Did you mean it,” she said, after a minute, “when you said you lovedwhoI was, and not what? You were half-asleep when you spoke those words the other night so I…I didn’t know if maybe…”

I turned to find her staring at me, holding her breath.

I couldn’t think of the right words to say.

Not at first.

So I focused on action instead, reaching into the inner pocket of my coat, pulling out that ring I’d been carrying with me since our visit to Altis.

“My brother gave me this when we were in the royal city,” I told her. “Traditionally, it goes to the youngest heir in my family. With my younger siblings gone, it’s now mine to give to whomever I wish.” I stepped closer, holding it out to her.

She plucked it gingerly from my grasp.

“An heirloom of my mortal life—but I’ve also been infusing it with my own divine power during these hours I’ve carried it, while we were apart and I was thinking of you.”

She summoned a bit of her own power, a small flame that floated beside the ring and allowed her to study its details more clearly. The silver band was molded in the shape of two wings that held the oval centerpiece. Three diamonds ran in a diagonal line across the center, signifying the three regions that my ancestors united to form the Kingdom of Galizur.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, slowly offering it back.

“Keep it.”

Her lips parted in surprise. “It’s beautiful, but I can’t take something so important, I…”

I knelt before her, taking it and slipping it onto her finger as I said, “You’re more important.”

Her eyes flashed to mine. Holding her breath again.

I twisted the ring around her finger, marveling at how perfectly it fit. Like it was meant to be there.

And I finally thought of an answer to her question.

“There is no limit to what I would give you,” I said, still kneeling before her. “What I would burn down to get to you. What I would build with you, forge for you. Wherever you go,whatever you become, I love you. And I will find my way back to you, no matter the chaos between us, and whatever the battles we face in the coming days.” I traced my thumb across the ring, igniting the magic I’d been pouring into it until the diamonds in its center flickered with firelight. “Please tell me you believe that.”

She traced the diamonds, her own fire stirring, warming the air as she said, “I do.”

I rose to meet her lips, pressing her back against the rock. We sank into a kiss just as the clouds opened up and unleashed the full deluge they’d been threatening.

We were soaked within moments.

Rainwater mingled with the taste of her fire. As our kiss deepened and our surroundings heated, the drops began to hiss as they hit, slowly enveloping us in a cloud of steam.

We stayed tangled together, soaking wet and steaming, until the sun came up and started to chase away some of the damp dreariness.

She was curled against me, her breathing slow and even, when she stirred, huddled more closely to me and said, “The battles we’ll face in the coming days…”

I steadied her as she sat up, rearranging herself in my lap so we were face-to-face.

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