Yvan’s gaze slides back to me, rebellious emotion firing in it, but I can sense a shift in him.

“I’m not the helpless girl I was in Verpacia,” I assure him, patting my Ash’rion. “If Vogel comes after me, I’ll do what I did to his scorpios and kraken. I’ll decimate him.”

Yvan’s eyes burn into mine. “I’ll be back for you, Elloren,” he vows. “The moment you gain control of your power.” His fire gives a hot, pained flare. “And then I’ll portal west with you and help you free your fastmate.”

Yvan and I step out of a sloping tunnel and into a huge black-opal cavern that spirals up to impossible heights. Its faraway pinnacle reveals a tiny patch of starlit sky. A varg rune affixed to the wall casts soft green light over us, Yvan’s luminous eyes suffusing his face in a golden glow. He fans out his wings and meets my gaze, and it’s like a shock of pure flame, tension charging the air between us.

“It’s hard to leave you again,” he says, his voice coarse with feeling. “If something happens to you when they unbind your power...it’s dangerous.”

“And you can do nothing to prevent that,” I remind him, feeling equally engulfed by conflict over our impending separation. “They can.”

None of his rigidity softens. “The last time we were parted, nothing went as planned. You were almost killed by the Vu Trin. And then you were sent back to Gardneria. Two assassination attempts made on your life...and then...” He rakes his fingers through his crimson hair and gives me a scorching look.

Lukas. And then Lukas, I think, agony rising.

“Safety is never a permanent state of affairs,” I manage, a knot clenching hold of my throat. “I’m realizing that more and more.”

He gives me a frustrated look, his jaw tensing.

“You once told me,” I say, “that we had to put the safety of our loved ones above our own wants.”

A short, bitter laugh escapes him.

“Your mother’s here, yes?” I prod.

“She is,” he answers, voice tight.

“As is close to everyone we care about. And...all of the other people here—you know as well as I do what’s going to happen to them if Vogel successfully invades. He’ll bring a nightmare. That we might be able to stop.”

He pulls in a shuddering breath. “I know it, Elloren.”

And I can feel it, our shared, revolutionary spirit rising in our fire even as we both rail against fate.

“I will get Vang Troi to parley with you,” he bites out.

I nod, struggling to swallow back the unspoken. His fire is suddenly circling me more intensely and he steps nearer, the flow of his heat blazingly ardent.

“I can’t kiss you again, Yvan,” I say as opposing impulses crash through me.