Page 51 of Invocation

“The two of you could come with us,” Kadaki said uncertainly. “If you wanted.”

Neiryn, standing behind Kadaki, frowned and gave them a firm shake of his head.

“The feeling is mutual,” Aruna said to him.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page,” Neiryn replied.

“We’ll meet again someday,” Novikke said. “I promise.”

Kadaki nodded. “Let’s hope the next season brings us better luck than this one has.”

“It could only go up from here,” Novikke said.

She watched them start down the road toward Valtos, then turned to Aruna. He wasn’t smiling.

“What’s wrong?”

“We don’t have an answer, do we? Where are we going to go? What do we do now?”

“Now? We do whatever we want. With nobody chasing us and no god-forests to save.”

“And what do you want? With no one chasing us and no one to save?”

Novikke blinked at him. He was looking at her warily, like he wasn’t certain how she was going to answer.

He’d told her he loved her. She realized that she’d never said it back.

And maybe it wasn’t so crazy that he still questioned it. Despite everything they’d been through, they had only met a few weeks ago. And for most of the time they’d been together, they’d been at odds.

Really, they were practically still strangers.

But it didn’t feel like that. It felt like she’d known him all her life. She could not say that she’d ever shed so much blood for another person—nor had someone else done the same for her.

She swallowed as she took a step toward him. “Now that I’m finally free to do what I want, I thought I’d like to spend some of my time with... someone I care about. If he would have me.”

He was quiet for a long moment. “Care about?”

“Someone I love,” she said.

“I hope you’re talking about me. Otherwise this will be awkward.”

She looked down, smirking. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew.”

His hands absently played with the threads on the front of her vest. Kashava’s vest, she suddenly remembered. Didn’t look like she’d get the chance to return it anytime soon.

“I did,” Aruna said. “I wanted to hear you say it.”

She had a sudden urge to smother him with kisses. She leaned forward. “I’ll say it as many times as you want.”

“I’d like that,” he said, then covered her mouth with his.

“But,” he said, breaking away, “that doesn’t answer my question.”

“What question?”

“Where are we going to go?”

She rested her hands on her hips. “I don’t know about you, but like I said, I’m accustomed to living out of doors most of the time. All we need is some supplies. I can get some things in the next town. And now that you have that ring, you can even come with me. I can show you what Ardanian cities are like.” She grinned, excited. The idea was more appealing to her than she’d expected.

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