The Point of No Return

[Natalie Grey]

She’d never felt relief like it when he stirred. Everything she had been afraid of had existed in that moment; the choice between duty and heart; the one threatened loss that would erode the fortifications of an ironclad soul, and leave it ruined. The serpent ring on her finger was heavy with the weight of her own betrayal, but all she felt was the tangled warmth of his hands anchored in her own. Jai’s eyes were raw and terrible to behold, but she did not look away. This time it really was him that looked back. The breathing quieted in her lungs. Her forehead pressed light against his in answer to his words. Heat stung her eyes when she closed them.

It was the weight of Jai’s climb that pulled her up to her feet too. Her world was freshly shattered, the ramifications of Talin’s machinations still yet to be fully realised, but the piece in her hand now was the only one which mattered. Everything else she could manage; would manage, whatever the costs. The remaining strength she drew on was brittle, but none would know it to look at her. By now Nythadri was ice and control. Jai’s attention had already turned in concern to the door, but saidar was fluid in her grasp. It burned a little as the gate spun open to the fort’s library.

She did not look at Arikan, though she was not unaware of his presence. She’d hold the portal open until he followed.