Page 80 of Homeward for a Spell

Araphi wrings her hands together. “I…I gave it to Wren.”

“You gave our immeasurably powerful artifact and only bargaining chip to Wren?” Sage repeats, wondering whether she’s heard right.

“I’m sorry. I should have asked. And I certainly should have told you. I meant to! Then we fought, and then we were sad, and then we weren’t speaking, and then there wasn’t a good moment to bring it up until now. But it just felt right. The tooth should stay with a Northlander who understands its cost as well as its worth. Besides, Wren’s family spent generations watching over the dragon’s gravesite. Wren gave up…well, everything. Years of her youth, and her sweetheart. I thought…the dragon ought to look after her, in a way, since she always looked after the dragon. Was that wrong?”

“No,” Sage replies in little more than a whisper. Her chest is once more too full up with feeling, and she presses a hand to her breastbone where it aches like a wound. “It wasn’t wrong. It was kind.”

“I won’t ever tell my family. You needn’t worry about that,” Araphi insists, lifting her chin and setting her jaw with determination. “And their men won’t hurt me, artifact or no. But I can’t promise the same for you. The Claunecks will tear through anybody who stands between them and what they want most. So you should go back north.”

“Araphi, that’s—”

“Please, Sage?” Despite Araphi’s best efforts and her bravery, her chin begins to waver. “You don’t belong in a cell in Ashaway.”

“And you don’t belong in a locked tower, which is where they’re likely to keep you until your wedding to Denby Oreborn!” It seems to Sage that Araphi has miscalculated the odds of slipping seamlessly back into the Clauneck family; surely they won’t be breaking off the engagement at her behest now.

“No, I don’t. But you’re a ranger. You can survive perfectly well in the Northlands, especially with winter’s end, and especially on your own, without any anchor to weigh you down. And I’m…I’m not even a bard. I’m a Clauneck. And as long as the family holds power, they will never let me go.” Pressing a hand to her own mouth to hide its trembling, Araphi takes a step backward toward the edge of the grove and then another, prepared to turn away.

It’s as far as Sage lets her get.

Reaching out to cup a hand behind Araphi’s travel-ragged braids, Sage pulls her in for a kiss, pouring everything she cannot hold alone into it—all of her wanting, and her regret for a lifetime of leaving, and her hope, and her lostness, and her love.

Sage loves Araphi, Clauneck or not.

“You are not an anchor,” she murmurs against Araphi’s lips. “You are the port. You’re what I left the Rookery looking for. And I’m not going anywhere.”

“Sage, I told you, I can’t ask—”

“You’re not. You’re not asking for any part of me that I can’t give. You never have. I’m offering,” she insists. “Araphi, we can come up with a plan if we try. We can fight our way through this mess, make it to Bloomfield, and put our heads together with Yael and Margot. Perhaps between their knowledge and yours, we have enough to…to do something to stop Menorath! Or we can find more enemies of the Claunecks to persuade in our favor. You must have a number of highly placed friends in the kingdom. We’ll find a way to dismantle the Clauneck Company without you having to remake yourself. And I…well, I can do what a ranger does. Travel alongside you, keep you safe. It’s no use protesting. Now that I’ve found you, no matter where you go—whether a tower or a dungeon or the bottom of the Swallow—I’ll never belong anywhere else.”

30

Araphi

I’ll never belong anywhere else.

Gods, it’s the most beautiful sentence anyone has ever uttered to Araphi in her life. A mess of emotion rises in her throat, but she swallows it down. She’s overwhelmed, grateful, and hungry for more of Sage, always.

All she wants to do is say yes.

Before she can give voice to the fears and doubts stopping her, Sage’s mouth is against hers, and Araphi tangles her hands in the ranger’s short hair. “I love you,” she murmurs against Sage’s lips. “I love you, I love you.”

She can’t give her more than that at this moment, but she can give her honesty at least.

Sage smiles, and Araphi pulls back from the kiss to trace her favorite dimple, the line of Sage’s jaw, the scar above her eyebrow.

“You love me?” Sage whispers, her voice awed and tender.

“I love you,” Araphi murmurs again, the secret flowing out of her like meltwater from the mountains, rushing into streams after being frozen for months. “I’ve loved you nearly this entire adventure, Ranger, but I’ve always thought I shouldn’t tell you because we were destined to part.”

Sage hitches in a breath. “I love you as well, Bard. Now, here, and wherever we go.”

“I’m still not sure how this will work, though. With my family, this army of mercenaries…”

“We’ll figure something out,” Sage says firmly. “Together.”

Together. Araphi likes the sound of that so much. Maybe they don’t have to figure it out now. Maybe there’s a third option or a fourth or a fifth she’s not seeing. Maybe all she has to do is know that she and Sage will be together, no matter what else happens.

“Shall we go and face Remy’s fighters, then?” Araphi puts as much courage into the words as she can muster.