“You spoke to an ancient artifact of the gods? And it spoke back?” Maybe Vorik shouldn’t have been surprised since she’d just been visited by the gods.
“Something like that. I wonder if there’s any way we could get permission for Agrevlari to come and go.”
“He’s not bonded to you in any way, and I’m… I doubt your shielder thinks much of me. If it’s met your weapons platform, itdefinitelydoesn’t think much of me.”
He’d meant the words as a joke, but Syla turned her thoughtful expression toward him. “I’m not sure about that.”
“I tried to blow it up.”
“Well, I doubt it approved ofthat, but, a couple of times while interacting with it, I’ve received visions that had you in them.”
“Were they like the time you visited me in my cave, and I thought it was a dream, but it was…” Vorik spread his hand, not sure what ithadbeen exactly. “Something else.”
“Yes. Then another time it showed me your face. It knows who you are.”
“Comforting.”
Syla twitched a shoulder. “Let’s see if the shielder wants to chat.”
“Chat,” Vorik mouthed as she rested her moon-marked hand on the wall to open the door.
“The shielder artifacts have a sentience too. They may all be linked. Who knows?”
Vorik did not, but he followed her into the tunnel and eventually the catacomb that held numerous ancient sarcophagi as well as the giant silver-glowing orb that was the shielder. It touched him that Syla would walk in here now with only him, trusting that he didn’t have anything nefarious planned. Of course, if he lost his mind—or was possessed by a god—and tried to destroy the shielder, she wasn’t without the power to thwart him. And if the gods themselves were keeping an eye on her, that would make her even more difficult for enemies to defeat.
The thought made him look back to make sure Jhiton wasn’t lurking in the tunnel. Since Vorik hadn’t been awake to hear the deal they’d struck, he didn’t yet know if his brother wastrulydone attacking the Kingdom. Later, he would get the details from Jhiton.
The magical door had already swung shut, leaving them alone with only the silver glow of the artifact to illuminate the way. When Syla stopped in front of the shielder, that glow bathed her face like moonlight, making her appear like a goddess herself, though it also reflected off the lenses of her spectacles, and Vorik smiled at the humanness they lent her.
As he walked closer, he admired her form, her curves, and the cute slant of her nose. It crossed his mind that they now had the privacy he’d suggested earlier.
But they’d done battle in this chamber, both against others and against each other. People had died where they now stood. Syla’s own sister had been killed in this chamber, assassinated by one of his people, and she’d been the one to find the body. This place wasn’t going to put her in the mood for romance.
When he joined her beside the shielder, she clasped his hand and leaned against him. It was support she needed. He strokedthe back of her hand with his thumb and kissed the side of her head.
Having her warm body pressed against hisdidmake him hope that they could spend time together—romantictime—before he needed to leave to go back to his people and explain… He didn’t knowhowhe would explain what had happened. Maybe if Jhiton went with him and helped, Vorik could do what he’d suggested before his duel with Shi. Find a peaceful way forward for their peoples and a less perilous future for the stormers.
Of course, in order to return to his camp and propose that to everyone, Vorik would have to figure out how to get Agrevlari out from under the barrier. Otherwise, he would have to swim out with Jhiton and get a ride back on Ozlemar’s back, and, after he and his brother had battled in the harbor, Vorik did not want to be in that close proximity to the black dragon. Evenbeforehis fights with Jhiton, Ozlemar had been old and crotchety and best avoided. At the first opportunity, the dragon might snap his jaws and bite Vorik in half.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” Vorik said, the grim thoughts doubling his desire to help her find a way to free Agrevlari.
Syla, who was already gazing at the artifact—and trying to communicate with it?—nodded to him, then touched her moon-marked hand to the glowing surface. She closed her eyes.
Expecting it to respond to her and ignore him, Vorik was surprised when a vision popped into his mind. It was aluridvision of him entwined with Syla and writhing naked against the stone wall in between two sarcophagi as they?—
Syla cleared her throat. “Thatcan’tbe how we free Agrevlari.”
“Did it also show you, er…”
“Yes.”
“Why would the artifact want us to have sex?Here? Or at all?”
“I doubt it’s particular about the location. As to the rest, I’m not sure, other than… well, like I said, I’ve had the notion that you—we—mean something to the artifacts. Or even the gods, though it seems arrogant to believe that. But I’ve gotten the gist that someone—” Syla lifted her gaze heavenward, “—wants us to work together.”
“That was more than working together.” His body flushed with heat at the vivid memory, and his awareness of Syla leaning against him intensified.
“I know.” She glanced at him and bit her lip.
