“Me too…but my place is at his side.”
Cyrene stepped back and wiped the tears from Elea’s cheeks. “Good luck.”
Then she retreated from her sister and allowed Vera to open the portal to a tiny remote island off of the southeastern coast of Bienco.
Kael took one more look at her. They didn’t need words between them. The bond was long broken, yet there was something still there. A connection that had endured for two millennia. And, though it was gone, she knew that he was still her mirror in so many ways.
So, she watched with her heart in her throat as he took her sister’s hand and guided her through the portal. They surveyed the small island that was now their home. He glanced back once at Cyrene and smiled. A farewell.
Then the portal snapped closed behind them.
Avoca and Ahlvie left next, promising to pop in and out as regularly as they could. Avoca was still on the Doma court, and thanks to the newly opened portals, she could be there for any major discussions that were needed when she wasn’t leading Eldora.
But still, as soon as the portal closed behind them, Cyrene felt utterly silent and empty.
Ahlvie and Avoca had been her constants. And now, they were gone. Just a portal ride away. But, still…gone.
Dean took her hand and kissed it. “We’ll visit all the time.”
“Of course.”
“You can be there for dinner and back for bed every night.”
“I know.”
“This isn’t the end of it all.”
She nodded. “Logically, yes, that all is true.”
He touched her cheek. “You saved the world, Cyrene. No one is going to fault you for wanting to still have adventure.”
She laughed softly. “Maybe.”
“I know it’s all you’ve ever wanted, but just think about what you get by staying here. Hot baths, clean clothes, a fresh bed,” he said with a confident grin. “No more ratty clothes you live in for a week at a time. No more sleeping on the forest ground. No more searching out your food or stealing.”
“Hey, we didn’t steal!”
He raised an eyebrow.
“All the time,” she amended.
“You can help so many people here.”
“I know. I know. I’ll just have to adjust. Just like everyone else,” she said. “You’ll help me?”
“Every day.”
Vera cleared her throat. Cyrene broke away from Dean. This close to pressing her lips to his right then and there.
“Thank you so much for your help, Vera,” Cyrene said. “You were right to anticipate a portal coin for Elea. I hope she uses it.”
“As do I. But I actually have another matter to discuss with you.”
Cyrene looked over her friend and tutor and mentor’s face. She knew that look. This was bad news.
“What happened?”
“It’s nothing,” Vera said evenly. “Nothing has happened exactly.”
“Okay. What do you need to discuss?”
Vera took a deep breath. Preparing herself. “I want to go home.”
Cyrene’s eyebrows rose sharply. “Home? I’m guessing you don’t mean to Eleysia?”
Vera shook her head.
“Domara,” Dean whispered in agonized horror.
“Yes. I’ve been gone long enough, and there is nothing left for me here. I think it’s time for the gods of Domara to be done with Emporia.”
“Oh,” Cyrene whispered. “But…how? Do you want us to show you the bridge?” She uncertainly glanced at Dean. “Only Dean knows how it works.”
“You do not want to take the bridge,” Dean abruptly told her. “I don’t know if it’s different for a god. But it is not the way you want to go if you can avoid it.”
“No, not the bridge. I truly believed that was a fairy tale,” Vera said. “I don’t know who put it there or how. Perhaps it predates Malysa and me. I was thinking…the diamond.”
Cyrene touched the Domina diamond at her throat. “But I thought that it didn’t work to take you home. You tried with Malysa before.”
“I suspect that Malysa purposely sabotaged it so that we could not get back. And I never had anyone powerful enough again that I would risk trying it with. When I had Selma, I didn’t want to leave. And, when Serafina was around, she did not know me as a god. Just as a Master Doma. I think you and I can do it.”
“I’ll do it,” she whispered, even as her heart broke. “But I don’t want to see you go.”
“I know,” Vera said. “I don’t want to leave you either. But I think my time is over here. You can do it all on your own. You don’t need me anymore. And I think it’s about time that I started living again.”
“And you can’t live here?”
Vera smiled sadly. “No, I’m afraid not.”
Cyrene bit her lip and nodded. “I understand. Are you…ready to go?”
“I am. But I’m bringing someone with me and Ameerath, if you don’t mind.”
“Who?” she asked in disbelief.
Vera turned around and gestured toward someone in the distance. Cyrene’s eyes widened as she realized she knew this man.
“That’s my cue, I suppose,” Basille Selby said with a smile.
“Basille, you’re going to go to Domara?” she gasped.
He grinned devilishly. “I told you I needed a new adventure.”
“But a whole new world?”
“Sounds like my kind of adventure, girl.” He gallantly took her hand and kissed it. “I hope that you can get out of trouble without me.”
She laughed. “Domara will have no clue what to do with you.”
Vera smiled at Basille. “It’s time to go home.”
Basille shot back a charming expression. His eyes were eager. This was his next great adventure, and already, he was anticipating seeing and doing things he had never done before. Cyrene just hoped he stayed out of trouble. But, knowing him…it seemed unlikely.
“The diamond, if you will, Cyrene,” Vera said.
Cyrene gently unclasped the chain around her neck and held the diamond out in her palm. It felt warm against her skin. As if it was just waiting for the opportunity to perform this little bit of magic.
Vera put her hand over top of Cyrene’s, completely covering the diamond. “I just want you to channel your energy into the diamond. But let me do the work. I think that, this time, I can open a real portal with it into Domara without it just depositing the both of us onto a random hillside.”
Cyrene chuckled. “Let’s hope so.”
Dean froze at her shoulder. “If that happens, you come right back. You do not want to stay there.”
Cyrene glanced into his eyes. “I won’t stay.”
“I would never leave her there,” Vera said truthfully.
He nodded in understanding and then took a step back.
“Begin,” Vera said.
Cyrene concentrated, channeling all of her magic into the little diamond instead of how it normally channeled into her. Then she felt Vera’s magic at the same time. For a second, she thought it hadn’t worked. That they were both pushing magic into a hunk of stone that could no more open a portal to another world than any other diamond in the Byern royal treasury.