Supposedly Secretly Sapphic

>thread is from 13 years ago

“I don’t want your magic, your blood, or any of that. I want you. Is that really so hard to believe?”

My eyes misted.

“What’s there to even want?” I sank against the wall. “I’ve been nothing but cold to you. I took your magic away and almost killed you. Now it’s my fault the Sickness can hit you at any moment…”

“And you still care enough to give me your blood and keep me here with you.” Jessie placed her hand on my chest. “Just be honest, Lara. Do you want me here, or not?”

“I…” I pressed my hand over hers, sensing my heartbeat through her fingers. Words failed, so I wrapped my arms around her. Jessie stumbled, but swiftly she returned my embrace, and my tears spilled into her shoulder.

“Don’t leave,” I whispered. “Please don’t leave."

-Lahara and Jessie finally reconcile in The Sorceror's Mercy

This is hands down my favourite scene in the series, Lahara finally admits what she truly wants and what terrifies her, and Jessie promises to be there for her, agghhh so adorable!

I rolled aside on the bed, meeting Wist's dark eyes. Her hair was tousled from sleep, her T-shirt crinkled under her ribs.

"Go ahead."

Wist remained silent for a while. Her gaze locked onto the bond thread on her wrist. As if having second thoughts.

"Are you happy?"

I arched a brow. "What brought this on?"

"Just answer, please."

I hitched myself onto my elbow, facing her. She'd been in a thoughtful mood these last few nights, I supposed this was the culmination.

"You sent me to prison for seven years," I said. "Since then, I've had my eye stabbed out, an unknown entity take up residence that periodically wants to chomp you from the inside out, felt our bond snap like a brittle twig, amongst other things."

"So not really, then."

I held her jaw.

"I wasn't finished. Through all of that I've learned more about myself, about you, about us. I've come up with healer tricks no-one in Osmanthus could dream of. I've know terror and heartache and betrayal, and freedom and joy and laughter. There's still so much out there in the world I want to discover, pick apart, understand, and I get to go on that path with you. You're asking if I'm happy?" I brushed my thumb over her cheekbone. "I'm ecstatic."

Wist gave no outward response, but a tingle ran through our bond.

I know it's a dream. Wist wouldn't dare start playing with taboos again, but every detail is frighteningly accurate, down to the insubstantial rails of the water tower a few feet in front of my nose. The wind tousles my hair, turning my ears cold, and when I peer down, my eyes revolt and I spring back against the wall, my hand against my chest. As if it would do anything to help my heart rattling against the cage of my ribs.

It's a long way down, so long I can't really see the bottom, but I don't need to see to know what's waiting.

I raise a shaking hand to my right eye, the prosthesis absent. When I catch sight of the back of my knuckles, inky streaks match the pattern of my veins.

A blink, and they start to spread. I don't sense any pain, but an intense chill runs up my arm, seeping straight to the back of my right eye. The Void's cavernous maw opens up, and I feel myself slipping. The world shimmers around me like a mirage, as if it will disappear along with me.

There's nothing to hold onto, and I sink to my knees. I try to find something, anything to grasp- the distant caw of crows, the scent of the distant river, the most hurtful memories that stick inside me like unpruned thorns...

My bond.

Wist!

I scream her name, a resonant echo, and then a hand comes to my shoulder. Fingertips graze my neck, lightly scritching behind my left ear, but I don't have the strength to look up.

And then I jerk awake.

I'm sprawled in a strange bed, water-lights glistening above me. My breathing and blanket's all tangled, and Wist lies at my side. Her fingers keep stroking behind my ear, her shoulder pressed close to my cheek. Her hair's gone long again, returned to black, and it coils around my wrist, trying to soothe.

It's alright. I heard you.

I want to weep, but there's no tears to shed. Like a bucket tossed into a dry well, there's only dust and emptiness. The Void at the back of my eye, engorged from Ashtereth, feels like it's engulfed my emotions too. I feel so...numb.

I try to speak, but my voice fails.

"You were calling for me," Wist murmurs. She still hasn't let up on her touches, and I crumple against her.

Wist...

What's happening to me?

Wist doesn't answer straight away. Either she truly doesn't know, or she's trying to find a way to let me down gently.

"It'll pass," she says at last. "You still need rest."

The drop from the Bittercress tower surges to the forefront of my mind, and my stomach recoils.

I don't want to.

Wist drapes her arm over me, pressing her lips to my forehead.

I'm not going anywhere.

A sudden wave of tiredness washes over, and I curl into the crook of her neck. It feels like pieces of myself are breaking and reforming not quite right, like the Void is gnawing and then hacking up bits of me that aren't to its taste.

"Where's your partner?" she asked.

"She'll be down shortly," Wist said, ordering a drink of her own.

"Isn't she always," Lear chortled, taking a sip. Danver, seated behind her, made a face as if she'd eaten a raw lemon. "Aren't you meant to escort her everywhere?"

"So long as she doesn't leave the hotel premises, she's allowed to walk freely," Wist explained.

Danver grumbled under her breath, fingering the condensation on her tumbler of water and looking like she'd rather be anywhere else.

I watched the three of them from the other side of the bar. I hadn't approached just yet; despite this being my idea, my legs weren't as steady as I'd have liked, and even the walk from the elevator to the restaurant had drained me. Wist of course couldn't keep her worry trickling through our bond, but she knew better than to offer an arm of support. There was nothing I hated more than being coddled, and the Void had left me much too antsy to swallow my pride this time.

Eventually, after Wist was half-way through her second drink, I managed to casually join them. Lear tried not too peer too closely, but I knew I still carried that haggard look since returning from Ashtereth. Danver remained indifferent.

"Sorry I'm late." I perched straight onto Wist's lap, stealing a sip of her drink. "Ugh, you asked for doubles, didn't you?"

Wist responded by gripping my sides and gently plonking me onto the stool in front of her. In return I deliberately leant my elbow on her thigh, and Lear chuckled.

"So professional," Danver muttered, adjusting her glasses.

"I'm the epitome of competence." I folded my arms, slouching against Wist. "I just don't feel the need to show it all the time."

"You never show it." Danver wiped the corner of her mouth with a paper napkin.

"Now, now, we're supposed to be taking it easy." Lear traced a finger around her empty cocktail glass. "It's just like old times. Minus some vorpal mishaps."

"I'm glad you could make it," I said. "I expected you'd have been snapped up for another errand already."

"Well, you know what it is to have your reputation proceed you, Magebre..."

"Hey!" I clamped my hand over her mouth before she could finish. "Are you trying to get me in trouble?"

"Like you need any help in that department," Danver snorted.

I retorted in quiet Jacian, and Danver almost fell off her stool. Her face had blossomed red, and Lear held a hand to her mouth, struggling to contain her giggling. Poor Wist could only arch a brow in confusion. I gave a hurried translation through our bond, and her amused hum rang back in answer.

"You got me there, Agent BB," Lear said at last, managing to breathe somewhat normally. "Then again, I suppose even the great Kraken finds it a challenge, eh?"

"Oh please." I waved my hand, dismissive. "Wist's very experienced. Of course she always know where to find her Clematis."

Danver choked into her glass, spewing water, and Lear let out an uncontrollable guffaw. Even Wist cracked the tiniest hint of a smile, and I grinned in triumph. Another one to add to the tally.

"You're too much, Clem." Wist draped her arm around me.

"And you wouldn't have me any other way, hmm?" I fluttered my eyelashes up at her.

I'll have you any way I want.

Now it was my turn to blush. Wist played with the ends of my hair, completely straight-faced. She was in a playful mood.

"What?" Lear glanced between us. "In polite company, too? Don't they teach you bond etiquette on the continent?"

"I'll have you know Wist always carries the utmost respect for her bondmate and would never stoop to such lewdness," I answered.

"Mm-hmm." Lear replaced her cocktail with a fresh one. She raised it up. "Then here's to our benevolent Kraken, this patronless artist, and the pair of delightful operators somehow stuck with us."

Danver rolled her eyes, refusing to lift her glass, but Wist and I clinked ours together.

"They've let you off the hook tomorrow, right?" Lear faced Wist, who gave a curt nod. "'Cause there's something I want to show you. You too, BB."

"Oh?" I asked.

"Think of it as a double date," Lear smirked. "A scenic monorail ride, a romantic cruise..."

"Something tells me there's more to it than that."

Her lips were soft, warm, and more than a welcome surprise. I didn't open my eye, but she knew I awake.

It's not even my birthday, I thought at her tiredly.

Wist's fingertips curled around my jaw, and she pulled away onto her pillow. Her bone-deep weariness seeped through our bond, practically unchanged from when we'd gone to bed. Seemed I hadn't been the one struck with nightmares last night.

She stroked the side of my cheek, until I caught her hand.

Something on your mind? Not that I'm complaining about all the attention, of course.

Wist sighed. "Just a bad dream."

"Unusual for you." Now I did open my eye, playing with a loose thread on her pyjama top. It was still dark outside, though I had no idea what time.

Wist curled closer, as if afraid I would disappear there and then.

We were in the church again. Your face was covered in blood. I held you and tried to wake you, but you'd stopped breathing.

You would too, the way you hug.

Wist didn't appreciate my jab. She lay half-frozen, almost a statue herself, until I nipped her earlobe. She blinked, and I rolled away from her, exposing my back. I tugged her arm, so it covered me like a blanket, pressing her palm over my chest, her cheek lolling between my shoulder-blades.

Feel that? That's me, alive, right here. Nothing to worry about.

"Nothing to worry about," Wist whispered.

She nuzzled close, and I could hear her quietly counting my breaths through our bond. When she got to seventy-four, exhaution caught up with her, and I ran my thumb over the back of her hand. I knew Wist carried each and every one of our near misses to heart, but this was the first time it had snuck up in her dreams.

"So where's this one from?"

Wist and I were lying on a blanket in her planterium. She had her hands behind her head, watching the constellations above, whereas I was on my belly, my left arm pillowing my head. I'd gotten bored and unbuttoned her flannel shirt, and now I was tracing the numerous scars on her abdomen with my finger.

The one that held my current fascination was on her lower right, above the crest of her hip, shaped like a tiny cross. She didn't show any reaction, but I felt a slight ticklish sensation through our bond.

"I had an ovarian torsion while you were in prison," she said. "They had to remove it. But after..." She trailed off, referring to the night she'd gone berserk and turned half her organs into leeching tendrils. "...after that, they replaced it anyway."

"Lucky you." I moved onto the jagged white line just beneath her ribs. "And this?"

"Your gift from Bittercress, with that knife."

"Ah, memories." I planted a soft kiss there, and Wist couldn't hide her shiver. I traced my fingertips down again, this time coming across the blueish tinted mark above her naval. "This one's from Datura Gray, right?"

"Mmhmm."

Another mark crested the top of her right hip, just visible about the waistband of her jeans, and I prodded it.

"What about this?"

"Vorpal beast clawed me when I was in our old world," Wist explained. "It bit me, too."

She offered her right forearm, and though it was extremely faint, I could just about see a symmetrical crescent of teeth marks.

Having run out of scars to comment on, I flopped against her bare stomach, her hand coming to rest in my hair. We remained silent for a while, and I pouted.

"What, not going to ask me about mine?" I playfully whined.

Wist stilled. "I already know who made the worst one."

I rolled my eye. "Oh come on, you're not still beating yourself up over my eye? It wasn't you, it was Larkspur."

"It was my magic."

"And her tacky hairpins." I flicked her belly. "Besides, it's worked out well, hasn't it? I've got an eldrich abomination taken up residence, and you've given me a portable protection device with more complicated magic than anyone could dream of."

"When you don't decide to rip them out."

I knew from the get-go this dinner would be awkward, given the guest list. Danver, Ginko, Lear, the Shien brothers, Wist, and of course me, plus the doctor and Tempus, but those two had dropped out due to other commitments. The residual tension sapped away what appetite I still had, and even the Void felt twitchy behind my eye. It had been easy enough to cope during my first visit to the estate, since you could bank I'd be the only target, but now three of us were fair game, and I couldn't handle the uncertainty.

Nerium made idle chit chat with Wist. She responded in clipped sentences, as if anything she said would be used against her in a court of law. Lear arched her chair back to talk with Ficus, while Danver and Ginko huddled together, picking at their food. Rabbits trapped in a fox's den.

Wist, as expected, had left her plate empty, and I forced myself to chew on a piece of fish. I couldn't stop watching that knife. I still didn't like it when objects came too close to my eye, and I wouldn't put it past Ficus to suddenly fling it in my face. Wist would never let it come near me, if it came to that, but that presumed I was the target of his amusement.

I glanced to Ginko. She looked like a frightened vole, never lifting her head to make eye contact, taking a leaf out of Wist's book to slouch and make herself look smaller. Though it must have been a weight off her mind after Miyu's death, I felt incredibly bad for her.

I also felt a little guilty. In my effort to get atonement for her predecessor by turning Miyu berserk, I'd given the late Shien more leeway to take it out on her healer. I hadn't even learned her name at the time, despite showing her how to neutralize her bondmate. On top of that, I'd exposed her as a liar. Healer solidarity was hard enough to come by as it was, but I might as well have dug her grave and hit her with the shovel on the way down.

There had to be some way I could make it up to her.

"I'll take her."

Ficus still hadn't stopped fidgeting with that damn knife, and his words made my skin rankle.

"At least wait until the funeral," Nerium said.

"Hard to hold one without a body."

"Tempus means to conduct his investigation thoroughly, I'm sure he'll leave no stone unturned."

I stopped listening, swallowing back a brittle, rising anger. Wist touched my leg, and I clamped down on the bond, the way you'd bite down on a piece of leather when undergoing a painful procedure in the dark ages. I'd thought I could handle talk like this, given my failure to champion a single healer's right, but my guilt over Ginko and all that old hatred towards the Shien brothers was a toxic brew. I didn't care what they might do to me (Wist's protections aside), but Ginko didn't deserve any of it.

"Asa." Nerium addressed me, and I reluctantly turned to him. "Tell me more about your excursion to Manglesea."

"That's the country with no mages, right?" Lear perked up, righting her chair and leaning her elbows on the table.

"Yup." I swirled the water in my glass. "No magical tech whatsoever, they use beast-drawn carriages and everything. You could say it feels like stepping back in time."

Wist's amusement trickled through our bond, but nothing cracked over her face.

"Fascinating," Lear said. "Are mages still born there?"

"Far less than before, or so we were told. Most of them move out on scholarships."

"And healers?"

"We didn't come across any," I shrugged.

As Lear continued to ask question after question, Wist leaned back in her chair. All trace of humour from earlier vanished, replaced with a heightened wariness. Similar to when we'd first encountered the Void's cavern.

Ficus. I can't sense him.

The moment she spoke her brother's name, I realised he'd vanished. Not excused himself to attend the bathroom, but actually vanished under our noses.

I also noticed Nerium's cane had also disappeared with him. That didn't bode well.

I tried falling back on magic perception, but nothing stood out. His five branch core was missing, nor were there any telltale signs of porting.

Nerium groped for his cane, seemingly surprised to find it missing. The tint in his glasses made it hard for me to know where he was looking, but the glare from the lights altered just enough I could discern he was looking behind me, close to Ginko.

Here's hoping I wasn't about to make a fool of myself.

Blindly, I groped for a magic branch, and when it briefly flared to life, I hijacked it, deactivating the skill that had been imprinted onto it.

At once Ficus re-appeared, poised with the cane to hit Ginko in the face. He startled, and I quickly hobbled him before he decided to use that trick again. His lip curled in silent fury, and then without decorum he smashed the cane into Ginko's side.

Except Wist intervened.

The cane became a bunch of tulips, and petals fell harmlessly about Ginko's lap.

Make him thirsty, I suggested. Moreso than he's ever been in his life.

Wist obliged, and Ficus grasped his throat. He seized Ginko's glass, downing it, then grabbed Danver's, then Lear's, then mine. Eventually he snatched the ceramic jug, guzzling the whole thing straight down. When that didn't slake him, he skulked out of the dining room, though not without shooting me a strange look.

I wasn't sure if we'd averted disaster or made headway for a much worse one later.

"Very impressive, Asa." Nerium suddenly addressed me, and I tensed. "I'd heard the rumours, but to exert such influence without even physical touch…"

"Sounds to me like someone can't hold their liquor like they used to," I said, deflective. "Not my fault Ficus doesn't have a handle on his new skill."

"It seems you really did earn your nickname," Nerium went on.

"What nickname?" Lear asked, though something in her tone told me she already knew.

"I'll let her regale you. I must say I'm getting too old for all this excitement." Nerium stood up. "Any chance you could restore my cane, Wisteria?"

Wist rolled her eyes, and the tulip stems reformed into their original form. Danver passed it over, and Nerium bade his goodnights, limping out of the dining room.

"Magebreaker," Ginko whispered.

I stiffened, and Wist draped a protective arm over me. Of all people, she was probably the last I'd have thought to have heard of my prison title.

"I'm flattered, but that's not me," I said. "I hear she's still serving a life sentence."

"You undid his skill." Danver was speaking now, caught between awe and anger. "If that doesn't make you her…"

"Now you're just trying to inflate my ego," I said, though I was slightly worried she'd seen as much. Hijacking was not a skill I wanted to make public. "No healer can control another mage's magic. I'm not even his bondmate."

Danver wasn't even remotely buying it, but before she could go on, Lear cut in.

"Don't give her ideas, Danny," she said. "We'll all be in trouble if she learns to puppet the Kraken."

Danver grumbled something. It was probably just as well I didn't catch it.

"Steer clear of Ficus," Wist warned. I wasn't sure if it was to me or Ginko.

We decided to leave dinner at that and went our separate ways. Wist ported us to the corridor outside our room, and she tilted her head at me.

"You shouldn't have done that," she said.

"They'll forget about it soon enough," I shrugged. "I put Ginko in enough of a bind. I owed her."

"You've given Ficus time to plot something worse."

I poked her chest. "Think you could come up with a skill to counter his little invisible act, then?"

"Not without knowing how it works first."

tempestuous flyer

I hated how he sounded so calm about this. The cut on my cheek burned, embers feeding a growing anger. Nerium had left me to the whims of his mercurial brother, knowing I had no way to defend myself. For all I knew, he'd been the one to summon the Extinguishers in the first place.

I hadn't asked for any of this.

I didn't deserve any of this.

Anger finally displaced my paralysing fear, and as Ficus straightened, I seized my chance.

I grabbed his magic imperceptibility skill and got the lead out.

Ficus squeezed the trigger on his gun, but missed wildly. I didn't look back to check, stumbling through rooms and galleries, knocking over paintings and kicking aside chairs. I ran like a woman possessed, but at the fourth room I had to stop. I was too far to hold onto Ficus's magic now, but now he had the Extinguishers to occupy him.

Banging and that weird magic pop of his gun echoed, and then it all came to a standstill.

Ficus had lost.

"Where is it?" demanded a male voice.

I imagined a shit-eating grin spreading across Ficus's face.

"The Kraken's bondmate has it," he stated.

Oh, you bastard.

The Extinguisher gave a command, and I ran to the nearest bench, cowering beneath. My breathing was coming too fast, my head was close to bursting, I could barely keep my thoughts in order. The Void, which had stirred a little when I'd hijacked Ficus, was now dead and dormant. It didn't care for a measly snack. It wanted the feast, and she was far, far out of reach.

Shit, shit, shit.

Doors thwacked open. Furniture was tossed aside. This room had no other exits, I had no-where to run. I wanted to grope for the Void, siccing it on them all like a loyal hound, but even if I could get a grasp on it, I had no control. What would stop it tearing through the entire Shien estate, devouring everything in its path? Wist had had to freeze time to prevent it escaping Bittercress, I had no way near that power. I could destroy half of Osmanthus without meaning to.

No, I had to…

The door to the gallery fell to the floor, torn off its hinges. Four men and two women burst through, all mages. None of them held physical weapons, but a glance at their cores proved why they hadn't bothered. At least four of them must have had a military background.

I expected panic to overwhelm me, but instead, something snapped inside. I wasn't sure if I was finally losing grip on reality, or the thought that Wist's breaking of the taboo to bring me back would all have been in vain, and she'd have to suffer the consequences without me. Or maybe it was the Void's own self preservation instincts bleeding through.

Whatever it was, I suddenly revealed myself from my hiding place.

"There she is, the Kraken's whore!" roared a woman.

They jumped for me.

I skitted back, hobbling five of them in quick succession. Shock crossed their faces, when I hijacked the last mage, the one with the most branch skills.

What had Ficus used? Incinerator?

At least I had a good idea of how it worked.

I ignited the skill, and a torrent of flame shot out from the mage's mouth. Like a dragon guarding its hoard, he torched his companions, and they screamed, unable to defend themselves without magic. One ran out of the blaze straight for me, and I reached for another skill. A barrier flung itself around me, and the woman crashed straight into it, bouncing off like a ping-pong ball. I remembered how Fanren defeated the vorpal beast during his duelist match, and I twisted it around her, squeezing until blood was pouring from her mouth and nose.

Only two Extinguishers remained standing now, covered in ashes, choking on unseen smoke. Adrenaline fuelled my every movement, and I grasped another skill of my captive mage. Ah, an oldie but a goldie.

Telekinesis.

I sent all three of them careening into the wall with such force none of them would have escaped without broken bones. The sickening crunch was music to my ears, and I made them hit the wall again, and again, and again, like a child bashing a toy to see how much it would take for it to break.

Then the spell evaporated from my grasp, and all six cores fell silent.

I started laughing. Harder and harder, until tears were streaming down my face.

"Kraken's whore, huh?!" I shrieked. "I'm the motherfucking Magebreaker!"

The bodies didn't answer. I stared at them, breathing hard, sweat in my eyelashes, the taste of blood rank in the air. All six dead, and I'd done it all on my own.

My laughter redoubled, I almost didn't notice how hard I was shaking. Nausea caught in my throat, but I kept cackling, hysterical.

What the hell had I done?

"Clematis?"

I spun around, reaching for the tangle of magic branches that had suddenly appeared behind me.

"You want some too?!" I rumbled.

But when I tried to seize a skill, all of them jerked out of reach. Come to think of it, that was a lot more branches than there should be for any ordinary mage.

Plus, only one mage could pull that manoeuvre on me. I'd helped teach her.

A hand came to my shoulder- just the hand, mind.

Wist's left hand, to be precise.

She was standing at the other end of the gallery, surveying my mess. I couldn't read her expression, and without the bond, I could only assume she thought the worst. I was no stranger to taking a life, nor she, but this?

She walked over, unrushed. No judgement in her face. How would I even know anymore? The bond had always provided reassurance, one I never thought I needed, but it was gone.

The silence stretched on and on, until I couldn't take it anymore.

"When'd you get back?" Questions helped numb the frantic energy still coursing through me. "What's with your hand? The bond-"

The rush plummeted like a stone, and I collapsed to my knees, unable to keep myself up anymore.

"Clem." Wist was there in an instant. "I came back ten minutes ago through the hole in the garden."

"Why?" My voice was chipped. "Why?"

I wasn't making sense, but Wist knew what I was trying to say.

"The thread." Wist's left hand shot back to her wrist, and she clasped it tight. "When it vanished…I've never felt anger like that. Not in this lifetime. I'd have slaughtered everyone on the estate, except you. It would have been so easy. I had to redirect myself. Ended up tunneling through the hole." She was speaking faster, almost babbling. "I felt the bond tear the moment I entered the passage, but it was too late. Tried to look for the thread, but it was gone. I couldn't save it. I sacrificed our actual bond for-"

I threw myself at her. I didn't want apologies. I didn't want excuses.

But fate didn't care what I wanted.

Wist caught me, but within a split second, bone-splitting agony sheared me from head to toe. I couldn't hold her for more than a few seconds before scrambling away.

I gawked at her. She hadn't visibly flinched, but her eyes told me everything.

When it came to the Void, we still had a long time before the consequences would catch up to us.

I could say the same to you, I told her.

And then Wist did something I never thought I'd see with my own eyes.

She pulled away, cupping my cheeks with both her hands. She tilted my head up slightly, then kissed me fully.

No hesitation. No asking permission (but not in a bad way), or letting me take the decision. It was the first time I'd ever seen her give in to herself like this. After two lifetimes being taught she could never want, when everything that brought her joy was always taken from her, when she deeply, deeply feared her limitless power could become corrupted and so resisted any and every temptation, now she'd broken, reaching out to grasp the only thing her heart desired.

Me.

The very moment our lips touched, it felt like a fracturing point again. All my resentment and bitterness for the last seven years was still there, and while it would hurt for a while to come yet, some of its bite had blunted. I'd lost count of the nights in prison I fell asleep cursing her, wishing for even an ounce of my own grief to reach her, torment her. I'd always wanted to break her, but now I wanted to see her completely shatter.

Yet as usual, no-one could torture Wist worse than she tortured herself. Re-living that awful childhood, with full awareness of the intentions behind every cruel act. Meeting me again, taking the utmost pains to keep things the way they'd been the first time, while I remained utterly oblivious. Letting me get lost in my ambitions, then seeing me punished for it. Seeing our old world crumble, her efforts to save it leaving her helpless and alone. Fate's way of once again reminding her she couldn't ever have a nice thing.

And now I knew there was only one person who had the power to break her, if only for a moment.

Maybe I needed to upgrade my title to Kraken-breaker.

I grazed my teeth over her lower lip, knotting my fingers behind her neck. The warmth of her breath mixing with mine awoke so many old memories, like our first kiss beneath the pier at Guralta. It had been so clumsy and awkward, but from then we learned each other well, and this was like slipping into an old sweater, comfortable and familiar.

You taste the same, Wist whispered through our bond.

Is that a good or a bad thing? I asked.

Wist responded by hooking her hands under my thighs and lifting me into her chest. She parted my lips, and in three strides we were on her bed. My lungs kept trying to remind me I needed air, but I refused to break contact, pulling her on top of me.

Whether I'd wanted it or not, Wist had given me a second chance.