“I cannot believe we are doing this,” Aphenglow said to Bombax at one point, standing close to him in the midst of the chaos surrounding their efforts to prepare for departure. There were tears in her eyes and her face was stricken. “How did we let this happen?”

The big man put his hands on her shoulders. “No one let this happen.”

“I think maybe I did. I think maybe I caused it when I brought that diary back.”

“You’ve had a rough time of it, Aphen. You’ve been forced to take on a lot. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

She hugged him to her, feeling his arms enfold her as she did. “You’ve been through a lot, too.”

“We’re Druids,” he said. “And these are extraordinary times.”

She shook her head. “No, these are terrible times.”

They were close again, at the beginning of a fresh start in their too-often strained relationship. Her life partner, her love; she wanted his support. She needed him to be with her when they were forced from their home and had everything they knew taken away from them.

That it was necessary to leave was difficult enough. That she should have to endure it without him would have been unbearable.

“We’ve been given no choice,” he told her. “If there had been another way, you would have been the first to recognize it.”

“There is no other way. I know that.”

“You didn’t want to be the one to do this,” he added.

“I didn’t want any part of it.”

His arms tightened about her. “Nor I. But here we are. And we can’t change things, no matter how much we might wish we could. Which reminds me.”

He picked her up without a word, hushing her when she started to object, and carried her down the hallway, cradling her in his arms. Knowing he had his mind made up about whatever it was he intended, she pressed her head into his shoulder and let him go.

When they reached her sleeping chamber, he set her on her feet and disappeared into her room. When he came out again, he was holding Aleia Omarosian’s diary. “You almost left this behind,” he said, handing it to her.

In truth, she had. In the rush to make preparations for leaving, she had forgotten it completely. She leaned forward and kissed him hard. “Thank you so much.”

He shrugged. “I don’t think we’re quite done with it. Do you?”

She smiled and hugged him. “Not quite.” She leaned away so she could look at him. “But you didn’t need to carry me all the way back here to retrieve it. You could have just brought it to me.”

“And missed having you all to myself, even if just for a few minutes? Do you think I’m crazy?”