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She broke eye contact with him to glance around, much like he had done moments earlier. “Somewhere between your world and mine would be my best guess.”
“You mean you don’t know for sure?”
“Some of this is still new to me,” she said, shrugging.
Stephen didn’t care about the specific location of their awaited meeting. He rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand. “It doesn’t matter. We’re here together. That’s what’s important.”
Liora withdrew from his grip to stroke his face. “I knew you would come to me.” Her fingers left his skin and traveled down to the metallic cuff on her wrist. “But we can’t stay here. This place is just like our dreams—it isn’t real. We can’t stay suspended between our realities forever.”
Her touch on his cheek felt plenty real to him, but then he remembered the clarity of the previous illusions. “So, what now?”
She spun the bracelet around. “I don’t know. I thought if I got this far, I would be able to escape for good. I was wrong.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
A sigh escaped from her mouth. “I come from a land called Marindal. Whether or not you’d call it my ‘home’ is open for debate. I don’t think it is, but I don’t remember anything prior to my arrival there.” She bit her lower lip and looked down, blushing. “Oh dear. I’m rambling on and on…”
“No, it’s okay.” Stephen attempted to reassure her. “I’ve been waiting for so long to meet you, to learn more about you.” Now that they were able to hold a two-sided conversation, some of his anxieties returned. He tried to remember all they had shared, and tentatively reached out to brush some of her hair off her shoulder. “Tell me everything.”
Her beautiful smile reappeared. “It would take more time than we have. I’ll try to focus on the important details.” The haze around them shifted as a light wind blew across the rocky plain. He stepped closer to listen. “Marindal is ruled by a man called Thirvar. He is immensely powerful and feared by all those who have had the displeasure of meeting him. Not only does he possess incredible physical strength, he is also a highly-skilled magician. He has conquered many other lands, taken many prisoners, and I have never heard of an occasion where he was unsuccessful in any of his pursuits.”
“Did he…” He struggled to find the right words for the difficult questions. “Did he…hurt you?”
“He has never laid a hand on me in violence. He needs me to work for him.”
“What does he make you do?”
“I protect the heart of his empire. I know some magic of my own, you know, as you’ve probably noticed by now.” A girlish giggle accompanied her teasing, though it was short-lived as she proceeded with her tale. “When he brought me to Marindal, he was able to erect an impenetrable barrier around the land. Our different forces are intertwined, and no one has ever been able to break through it.”
She held her hands out in front of her. “To ensure I could never leave, the shield would never falter, and his record of triumphs over the weak would remain unblemished, he has bound me to my duties.” She raised her right wrist so he could examine the ruby-encrusted bracelet adorning it. “I cannot physically set foot outside my assigned sector. He has blocked me off, almost isolating me completely, and I am tied to that area.”
Stephen remembered the matching jewelry on her other side. “And what about this? What does this mean?” he asked, picking up her left hand.
Liora paused and stared up at the dismal sky, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “There’s a mystical relic which is the source of much of our power. We simply refer to it as ‘the sphere.’ It’s housed in my cellar.”
He tried to process everything she said, despite not knowing magic existed mere hours earlier. “Okay.”
“I’m attached to the sphere as well. Although I was able to use it to reach out to you and to come here, even now, I can feel it pulling me back.” The wind whistled between them as it picked up speed. She reached up and laced her fingers around the back of his neck. “This is where you come in.”
“I don’t know if I understand…”
The intensity of her stare never wavered. “I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to escape on my own. I needed to find someone who could help me. Everyone in Marindal lives in fear, and I’m sometimes unsure as to who I can trust.” Her tender caress of his face resumed as she leaned against him. “Just when I was about to give up all hope, I saw you. And I went to you. And you made me believe in myself again.”
Stephen was flattered by her faith in him, yet he wasn’t convinced he would be able to offer the assistance she sought. Though baffled by everything she had told him, he was willing to try to comprehend and fulfill her requests. “What do you want me to do?”
Liora kissed him, the warmth of her silky lips enough to distract him from the gusts of wind swirling around them. “Come with me,” she whispered, her voice barely audible as her breath danced across his skin. “Come with me to Marindal. We can form a plan from there.”
He couldn’t deny the persuasive qualities of her argument, but he remembered the descriptor of her captor. “Won’t it be dangerous? It doesn’t sound like this Thirvar would think kindly of an outsider, especially if he’s protected your land as well as you’ve said.”
“Much of his time is spent traveling outside the kingdom, and he doesn’t check up on me as often as he used to.” She kept him in her embrace as her gaze locked onto his again. “You’ve shown me how strong you are. I know we can be successful if we work together.”
Her last word was almost drowned out by the howling torrents that penetrated his thin clothing. They sent a chill throughout his body and threatened to knock him down to the stony ground. As the wind whipped through his hair, his thoughts traveled back to the empty cottage in New York, the endless days spent in solitude, and his prior lack of accomplishments. While she couldn’t promise him what lay ahead, he realized there was nothing from his home holding him back. His entire life had been defined by a lack of risk and he had nothing to show for it.
While he contemplated his situation, the benevolent angel who had saved him from himself beamed at him, an affectionate glow filling her eyes. With his mind made up, he draped his arms around her shoulders, holding her tight, and kissed her forehead. “Anything for you.”
She leaned her head against his chest and hugged him with the same fervor. They stood together for a silent moment on the windswept rock in an indistinguishable tangle of limbs as the clouds overhead grew darker and darker. He knew she was right. They couldn’t stay there for much longer, and he released her so she could lead them onward.
She took his hand and raised it to her lips, squeezing it as she did so. “Let’s go,” she said.
