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Godsdamnit.

She did not want this. Not in the slightest. A bond like this meant building a life together. She didn’t want to give that much control of her life over to anyone. Not only that, bonds like this tended to lead to building a family, and she couldn’t give him that. She couldn’t give him children. She couldn’t give him all of her. It wasn’t fair to him. It wasn’t fair to her, even if she did want this.

Which she didn’t.

So she’d resolved to stop thinking about it. If he wasn’t going to bring it up anymore, she certainly didn’t need to waste precious time worrying about how she was going to respond to him about what they were and what they weren’t. He’d obviously figured it out, and that was good. Great even.

Razik could only Travel to places he’d been to before, which left them pretty limited for options on the continent. Actually, it had left their only options the Necropolis or Anahita’s Springs, both of which were not acceptable options at all. They’d spent a few days planning how they were going to enter Solembra and the Fiera Palace. She didn’t want Bastien to know she was there until she was walking into that godsdamn throne room with her fire wrapping around his throat and dragging him to his knees.

In the end, they’d had to wait on Azrael. She had tried Ashtine first, but Talwyn had sent a pointed message telling her the princess was not doing well and to figure something else out. She had used more colorful language, but that had been the general gist. Azrael had sent an earth message letting her know he could come and get them a portal, but not right away. Not until they got a few things under control in the mortal lands. But he’d finally sent a message last night that he’d be here mid-morning.

The Earth Prince met them outside the front gates. He hardly said anything, creating them a portal and all but shoving them through as he muttered something about needing to get back to Windonelle. Eliza didn’t even have a chance to ask him for an update on what was happening with Callan and the rebels. At least they’d said their goodbyes to the Shifters while they’d been waiting for Azrael, and as the portal snapped shut behind them, she wondered if she would see them all again on this side of the Veil.

The portal had spit them out exactly where she’d wanted it too— a few miles outside of Lightmere along the Tana River. It was a trading town nestled in the Fiera Mountains, but more importantly, it ran ferries to and from Solembra. That was how they were planning to get into the capital city unnoticed. They would catch a ride on the next ferry, get a feel for how things were being handled in Solembra, and make their final plans from there.

Eliza took in a deep breath of mountain air. So much better than the arid heat of Siofra. It wasn’t just the mountains either. It washome. It was the Fiera Mountains, and soon she’d step foot in Solembra.

Razik was looking around keenly, his eyes shifted to vertical slits allowing him to see even farther than she could. She took the opportunity to take her cloak from her pack. Slipping it on, she quickly clasped it before raising the hood and tucking her hair back. Razik would have to do all the talking and interacting. She was too recognizable, and word would surely reach Bastien if she was spotted in the territory.

“Are you ready?” she asked, crouching to close up her pack once more. When she stood, Razik was reaching for it. “I can carry my own pack,” she muttered.

“I know you can,” he said, taking it from her hand anyway. Then he reached for her once more, tucking back hair that she had missed. She ignored the way her skin burned when his fingers brushed along her neck as he pulled them back from beneath her hood.

Slipping his own cloak on and pulling up his hood, he picked up both packs and gestured for her to lead the way. They had gone perhaps a half mile when he said, “With arriving in Lightmere well into the day, do you still think we will get a ferry today?”

She held in her sigh because no, they wouldn’t be able to catch a ferry today. “They leave every hour, beginning at dawn until mid-morning. The trip upstream takes most of the daylight hours. Around dusk, they will return with people from Solembra and goods from the businesses. Tomorrow they do it all over again.”

“We will board the first ferry then?”

She nodded. “We can buy passage today to ensure our place on the boat.”

Razik made a sound of acknowledgement, then asked, “What are we to do for the rest of the day?”

“If the town is busy enough that we will easily blend in, I’d like to see if we can pick up any interesting information. We can get rooms at an inn for the night.”

He glanced at her momentarily. “We have shared a room for a week, and now you feel the need to have separate ones?”

She kicked a rock on the path, watching it skitter and bounce along, trying to decide how to answer him. “Perhaps it would be a good idea,” she finally said. “To make sure we are not…”

When she didn’t finish, he said in a low rumble, “Are not what?”

She didn’t hold back her sigh this time. “To make sure we are not getting too used to something that will not continue when this war is over.”

Razik didn’t say anything else for quite some time. The only sound was their boots on the stone road, small pebbles and debris crunching. But the smell of the mountains and the gentle rushing of the Tana River had Eliza not minding the silence. She’d never minded silence or being alone.

“Do you have family in Solembra? Blood relatives, I mean. That you are looking forward to seeing again?” Razik asked after a time.

The question had her drawing up short. It had been so long since she’d been asked about her blooded family. She wasn’t prepared for the grief and pain of losing her mother, or the fury and hatred of the man who’d thought himself her father.

“No, I do not have blooded relatives in Solembra, nor any other part of the Fire Court,” she replied curtly. “My mother died when I was in my second decade of life. I do not know of my father.”

She had stepped from the path and stood facing the Tana now, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. They were perhaps a mile from Lightmere. Soon they’d be able to hear and see the bustling of the trade town.

Razik still stood on the path. She could feel his eyes on her again, studying, watching.

She hesitated before she said, “Obviously your parents are not…”

How did a person phrase this and not sound like an insensitive ass?