‘Can we stop here?’ asked Yara as they passed an inn by the side of the road, ‘I need to change out of these clothes.’

  She was covered in muck after they’d fought a basilisk that was fiercely guarding a highly trafficked bridge, and all Yara wanted now was to exchange her dirty clothing for something a little more clean. Laras agreed and they brought their horses to the small stable out front before entering.

  The innkeep watched his two new guests enter through the front door. He immediately told them both to take off their boots before they could track mud all over his floor. They booked a room and entered it after being given the key.

  ‘I forgot my bags,’ said Yara, she turned around to look at Laras, ‘could you get them for me?’

  ‘Sure, I’ll be right back,’ he left the room and walked back to the horses, where he took Yara’s saddlebags with him. The innkeep tried to get his attention.

  ‘We have a bath if you need to use it, it’ll cost you extra though.’

  ‘That’s alright, I appreciate the offer,’ Laras nodded in thanks and continued onward to his and Yara’s room. When he opened the door he saw her stand with her naked back to him. She’d taken her shirt off while he was out. The first thing Laras’ eyes were drawn to were the three long, nearly connecting scars on her back. They were scars he hadn’t seen before.

  ‘Saints…’ he said as he dropped the bags on the ground. Yara jumped a little, startled that she hadn’t heard him enter the room.

  ‘Don’t look, please,’ said Yara as she realised that what she said was a little too late. Embarrassment made her go red. Laras stepped closer to her.

  ‘How did you get these?’

  ‘Eleyna helped me after I was injured,’ Yara looked back at Laras, ‘I don’t know what they look like.’

  ‘Can I..?’

  ‘Touch them?’

  Laras nodded.

  ‘You can.’

  His hands gently caressed the three scars, letting go every time Yara indicated she felt uncomfortable.

  ‘How do they look?’ she asked, ‘You don’t think they’re-.’

  ‘They’re beautiful,’ said Laras, ‘like you.’

  ‘You’re too sweet,’ she smiled as she turned around. Laras pulled her close and embraced her. She felt comfortable and relaxed in his arms, a feeling she didn’t expect nor previously associated with touch. She took his face in one of her hands and stood up on her toes to kiss him. He kissed back for a moment before he let go.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Yara cocked her head to the side, ‘did I do something wrong?’

  ‘No, no you’re fine,’ he said, for a second he smiled, ‘I just don’t want to do something you might not want.’

  ‘I’ll tell you,’ she replied, ‘I’ll always let you know.’

  They both let go and Yara walked towards her bags. She pulled out a shirt and put it on as she sat down on the bed, ‘What happened in Mirelue, that night after we killed the Hexwing?’

  Laras sat down next to her, ‘what about it?’

  ‘You’d be okay if we didn’t do that too often, right?’

  ‘Do you regret it?’

  ‘No, no I don’t I just… I’m not sure how to feel about it,’ answered Yara, ‘It was fun, and you were great,’ she laid her head on his shoulder, ‘but I’m not sure if I’d want to do it a lot.’

  ‘I’d be fine with that,’ Laras answered, ‘we can go at whatever pace you’re comfortable with.’

  Yara raised up her head again, took his face into her hand and kissed him a second time, ‘thank you,’ she said when they stopped, ‘it means the world to me that you care so much,’ she let herself fall backwards onto the soft bed.

  ‘This bed is great,’ she yawned mid-sentence and made herself comfortable, ‘lay down with me.’

  ‘I’ll join you in a bit,’ said Laras, ‘I need to take a bath.’

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  ‘Don’t use all the water, I’ll need some in the morning.’

  Yara left the bathing room the very next morning, fully dressed and ready to leave. She saw Laras stand next to a man about the same height as him. He wore a tabard decorated in gold and purple, with a gryphon in a triumphant pose embroidered on the front. Slung around his shoulder was a dark brown leather bag. Laras noticed his partner had entered the room and waved at her.

  ‘What’s going on?’ asked Yara once she was close enough.

  ‘This is a courier, here on the king’s decree.’

  Yara raised an eyebrow, ‘really? What does he want?’

  ‘I’m not sure, but he said he had a letter to deliver to you personally.’

  The courier nodded, then opened his bag to fumble around in it. Eventually he managed to pull out a letter, kept in a fancy beige envelope with a seal of purple wax that bore the same emblem as the courier’s tabard. Yara read her full name aloud before she broke the seal and opened the envelope. The letter addressed her directly. It was written in elegant cursive yet it was barely legible.

  ‘What’s it about?’ asked Laras, he now stood next to her trying his best not to read over her shoulder.

  ‘It’s from his majesty the king, Emil Vroul of Yilgra,’ Yara answered, ‘he’s granted me an audience to make a request.’

  ‘Are you going to do it?’

  Yara looked around, ‘of course I will, I can hardly refuse a royal’s summon now can I?’

  ‘Valid point,’ Laras looked at the courier.

  ‘Am I dismissed?’ he asked.

  ‘Do we have to say it?’

  ‘Not you of course, the girl.’

  Yara nodded, ‘you can go,’ she said it with a level of confidence Laras hadn’t expected from her. They walked back to their room and Yara sat down on the bed. Still she was focused on the letter.

  ‘Does it say anything about me?’

  ‘No, it doesn’t.’

  ‘So he just wants you?’

  ‘That’s what it looks like,’ she looked at him.

  ‘I was planning on asking if you’d like to come home again, but seeing as this isn’t something you can walk away from…’

  ‘I don’t want you to leave,’ said Yara, ‘but also I don’t want to make you wait for me.’

  ‘I wouldn’t mind.’

  ‘I know you wouldn’t, but I can’t ask you to do all these things for me, I don’t own you, and it’d be unfair of me to expect so much.’

  ‘Do you think you owe me anything?’

  ‘Well, don’t I?’

  ‘What would you owe me?’ asked Laras, his head tilted as he looked down at her. Yara looked away.

  ‘I don’t know I just-,’ she interrupted herself and looked down, ‘I don’t want to make this feel so one-sided.’

  ‘Look at me, Em,’ the nickname he used was a shortened version of her second name, and one she normally hated. Instead of refusing she did what he asked,

  ‘There’s not a thing you owe me,’ he said, ‘nothing except the love and appreciation you’ve already given me, now if you feel it wouldn’t be right to ask me to stay, then you don’t have to.’

  ‘But I don’t want to just tell you to leave.’

  ‘You won’t have to, I promise you it wouldn’t hurt me,’ Laras got down on eye level with her and put a hand on her face, ‘I’ll be okay.’

  ‘Well, alright,’ she looked away from his face, ‘but I don’t want you to go yet.’

  ‘That’s okay, what do you want?’

  ‘Lay down for me?’ asked Yara, Laras obliged and laid down next to her on the bed. Both of them were on their sides, looking at each other, ‘please stay a little longer,’ she said as she put an arm around him and pulled him closer, ‘I don’t ever want to let go again.’