I squeeze my eyes shut hard. “The way I have it planned, Dark Earth will be fine. You’ll still have access to magic, and Evram won’t have any reason to go after you—“
“I assumed that. That isn’t why.”
Gently, his thumbs brush my cheeks, where tears have started falling despite my best efforts.
I open my eyes and catch my breath at what I see there.
God, he has so much faith in me, unreasonably so, even though I’ve already failed my sister.
I’ve made the best choice I can. It isn’t enough, but it’s what I have. Even having him by my side won’t change that. It just makes it harder—and easier.
How can I lose this?
But how can I not?
I squeeze my eyes shut again, and Nariel gathers me to him and leans my head against his shoulder and neither of us say anything more as I just cry into his shoulder.
Chapter 12
From Hiroshima Station, we take the ferry to Miyajima, which means “shrine island” in Japanese. The famous shrine is what we’re here for, but given the time of day I can’t do my work yet.
Instead, we take the cable car up the mountain.
Nariel and I sit opposite each other. I’m aware he’s just watching me quietly, but I’m busy taking in the view out the window as we start rising up the ropeway. Still, I can practically feel the weight of his regard, and I can’t help wondering what he’s thinking.
Before I decide whether to ask, when we’re far enough away from the base that a ropeway attendant can’t easily see us, he switches to my side of the car.
“We’re supposed to sit opposite for balance,” I remind him.
Nariel leans back. “It’s too bad no one here has magic that can lift the weight of the cable car to be even.”
I frown at him. “Is that a minor task for you? With that much weight load, it’d take more magic from me.”
He shrugs. “I’m an angel, and the wind is calm. This isn’t so heavy I’ll strain myself for this short a trip.”
I narrow my eyes. “That’s not an answer.”
He rolls his eyes. “It is not so meaningful an impact that you should worry about it.”
That’s more like an answer, anyway. I wonder why he’s suddenly being evasive with me—does he not want me to know how angel magic works?
I let it go and focus back on my work. From up here, I have a clear view of Itsukushima Shrine, which is the first reason I’m doing this: reminding myself what the lay of the land looks like. I cast a quick spell for far-seeing as we continue to rise so I can get a sense of how much space I’ll have to work with, the shape I can lay out my spells given the shrine gate in the water, and where I’ll need to allow for entrances. Probably Evram will come straight on, since he’s not familiar with the area, but I can’t be sure of that.
This also gives me a chance to confirm that there are no spells laid yet, which means that Ayaka hasn’t yet told Evram where I’ll be. Good.
Eventually we pass out of sight of the shrine, and only then does Nariel ask, “Why are we here? There are plenty of power spots closer to Kyoto. Or Tokyo, for that matter.”
“Japan is a civilized country with high-speed rail, so Japanese wizards can still get here easily if they need direct access to the anchor,” I justify. And then admit, “But mainly for a power spot that isn’t in the mountains.”
Nariel looks at me, then gestures broadly around at all the trees in our view.
I smile faintly. “We’re not staying here.”
“The mountain here is more powerful than the shrine below. There will be fewer people to disguise ourselves from, too.”
“It is more powerful, but it’s also distributed. But that’s part of why I’m up here—I’m going to gather that power and link it down below for an extra boost. I’m also learning from Costa Rica. Not only will there not be places for mages to hide behind down below, I won’t have to fight them on cliffs. Warrior monks may have been trained for mountain warfare, but I’m not.”
“What, the grand magus never sent you into the woods to do battle for him?”
