It had been two days since Veyr's Hollow.
Two days since the glowing lake, the ridiculous hike, the vows whispered over ancient water, and Sarisa looking at Lara as if the whole demon realm had opened inside her chest and given her something she had never been allowed to want.
Now they were in the mountains.
Here, the world was quiet.
The mountain plateau stretched beneath the night like a dark, open palm. Short silver grass grew between flat black stones still warm from the day's sun.
Far below, the demon capital shimmered in the distance, a constellation made by hands and fire and stubbornness.
Above them, the real stars burned thick across the sky, more numerous than Lara had ever bothered to count.
Sarisa had wanted this.
"Can we sleep outside?" she had asked earlier, with the sort of calm voice that meant she had already imagined it and would be very disappointed if Lara said no.
"Somewhere high. Somewhere we can see the stars."
So Lara had packed as if preparing for a siege disguised as a picnic.
Blankets. Furs. Pillows. A warming charm. A basket of food. Two bottles of juice. One bottle of wine Sarisa had raised an eyebrow at and then accepted with no moral resistance.
A small barrier stone to keep insects away. Another to keep predators away.
And, because Lara was not a monster, a folded mattress charm that expanded into something soft enough that Sarisa would not wake up declaring war on the ground.
Now Sarisa lay beside her under a heap of blankets, hair loose against the pillows, cloak folded beneath her head despite Lara's protests that she had brought actual pillows.
"I like this better," Sarisa had said.
Lara had accused her of being dramatic.
Sarisa had smiled and said, "Yes."
The stars reflected faintly in Sarisa's eyes every time she looked upward. The mating mark at her throat was visible above the blanket, dark gold and delicate in the moonlight.
Sometimes it pulsed softly, answering Lara's presence. Sometimes Lara caught herself staring at it instead of the sky.
She had very little shame about that.
Sarisa noticed, of course.
"You are not watching the stars," she said.
Lara, lying on her side with one elbow under her head, let her gaze travel slowly back to Sarisa's face. "I've seen stars."
Sarisa turned her head toward her. "And you haven't seen me?"
"Not like this."
That made Sarisa quiet for a second.
Lara liked when she could still do that. Make Sarisa, who could cut nobles apart with one sentence and survive royal pressure with her spine straight, go soft around the edges from something honest.
The night wind moved over them, cool but unable to pass through the warming charm's gentle field.
Sarisa shifted closer until their shoulders touched. "It's strange."
"What is?"
"How peaceful I feel here." Her voice was low, thoughtful. "Not everywhere. Not all the time. But in moments like this."
Lara looked up at the stars then, because Sarisa's face had become too much. "You sound surprised."
"I am." Sarisa exhaled slowly. "The demon realm was supposed to be frightening."
Lara snorted. "I mean, it can be."
"Yes, but not like the stories." Sarisa's fingers found Lara's beneath the blanket. "The stories made it sound like nothing but darkness, blood, war, monsters. But the capital is alive. The markets are warm. The people laugh loudly. Children run everywhere. Humans live there. Celestians live there."
Lara threaded their fingers together. "Your mother probably leaves that part out."
"My mother leaves out many things."
A cold edge entered her voice.
Lara felt it through the bond, that old pain returning. Not sharp like it had been at first, but deep. Rooted.
The wound of a daughter realizing the person who raised her had built cages and called them protection.
Lara lifted Sarisa's hand and kissed her knuckles.
Sarisa turned toward her fully.
"I want to come here more often," she said. "After everything. When it is safe. Even if I have duties. Even if things are complicated. I don't want this place to become something I only remember like a dream."
"It won't," Lara said immediately.
Sarisa smiled faintly. "You sound certain."
"I am certain."
"That is your favorite vice."
"One of them."
"And the others?"
Lara's gaze dropped to Sarisa's mouth. "You."
Sarisa laughed softly, but she let Lara lean in and kiss her.
It was slow. Sweet. Not the desperate kind from the first nights when both of them had seemed afraid the world would burst through the door and separate them before they finished breathing. This kiss was warmer, steadier.
Sarisa's hand slid to Lara's jaw, thumb brushing the faint place where bruises had already healed. Lara shifted closer until their foreheads touched.
For a while, they simply stayed like that.
Then Sarisa whispered, "When I become Celestian queen…"
Lara went still.
Not with fear. With attention.
Sarisa opened her eyes, looking past Lara toward the stars again. "Eventually. Not now. Not soon, maybe. But one day, if I still have the right to it after all this."
"You will," Lara said.
Sarisa's mouth curved. "There you go again. Certainty."
"Yes."
"I think I would change the laws." Sarisa's voice grew stronger as she spoke, not loud, but steadier.
"The Celestian realm should not belong only to Celestians. That has always felt… wrong. Even before I had words for it. We call ourselves pure and sacred and superior, but all we have done is make our realm smaller and more frightened."
Lara watched her in the dark, heart tightening.
Sarisa continued, eyes shining under the stars.
"I would open it. Slowly, maybe, because people panic when their world changes too fast. But open it all the same. Demons. Humans. Dragons. Elves. Semi-humans. Anyone who wants to live there, work there, build there. Not as guests tolerated by noble permission. As people."
Lara was quiet for a long moment.
The image rose in her mind: Celestian white towers filled with different voices, different scents, different kinds of magic. Demon merchants beneath silver arches.
Human inventors building public mirror lines. Children with horns and wings and ordinary scraped knees running through those cold courtyards Sarisa hated.
It felt impossible.
It felt exactly like something Sarisa would do.
"And the technology?" Lara asked.
Sarisa's eyes warmed, pleased that Lara had understood where her thoughts were going.
"Yes. That too. The demon realm is ahead in so many ways. Public transport, communication, wards, medical magic, street lighting. The Celestian realm has elegance, but elegance does not help old women walk safely at night."
Lara smiled. "That sounds like something Malvoria would say before insulting an entire council."
"I have learned from very bad influences."
"Me?"
"Mostly."
Lara looked deeply proud.
Sarisa squeezed her hand. "For now, they are only ideas. Suggestions. I don't even know what my realm will look like after my mother falls."
"She will fall."
Sarisa met her eyes. "Do you know something I don't?"
Lara hesitated.
She did know that Malvoria, Veylira, Elysia, and Raveth were digging. She knew enough to understand the walls were closing in. But not the exact shape. Not yet.
So Lara said, "I know my family. If they're quiet, it means they're being terrifying."
Sarisa laughed softly. "That is reassuring and horrifying."
"Family tradition."
The wind moved again, carrying the scent of cold stone and night flowers. Sarisa turned into Lara, tucking herself against her side.
Lara wrapped an arm around her automatically, pulling the blankets higher over both of them.
"I want that future," Sarisa whispered. "A realm that is not afraid. A place where Aliyah can grow without being told half of herself is a problem. Where Neris…" She paused, swallowing.
"Where Neris can exist without being treated like evidence of someone else's mistake."
Lara closed her eyes briefly.
Neris.
Gods.
"Yes," Lara said. "We'll make room for him too."
"For all of them."
"For all of them," Lara echoed.
Sarisa rested her cheek against Lara's shoulder. "And you?"
"What about me?"
"Will you come with me sometimes? To the Celestian realm. If I change it. If I make it better."
Lara looked down at her. "Sarisa."
"What?"
"I will go wherever you need me."
Sarisa's eyes softened.
Lara brushed a strand of hair from her face.
"If you need me beside you in a throne room, I'll stand there. If you need me in some freezing council hall listening to old men complain about trams, I'll suffer nobly."
"Nobly?"
"Almost nobly."
Sarisa smiled.
"If you need me to help protect Aliyah, Neris, your people, your ridiculous future reforms, I'll do it," Lara said. "And if you need me to drag you out of another terrible ceremony, I'm very experienced now."
Sarisa laughed, but her eyes shone.
Lara leaned down and kissed her again, softer this time.
When the kiss ended, the stars seemed brighter.
Sarisa's fingers curled in Lara's shirt. "I love you."
The words still hit Lara like the first time. Every time.
Lara pressed her forehead to Sarisa's. "I love you."
Sarisa breathed in, shaky and warm. "And I'll be there if you need me."
Lara's throat tightened.
She was supposed to be the protector. The one who carried, fought, saved, burned paths open with her hands.
But Sarisa said it like a vow, and Lara believed her.
She believed Sarisa would stand beside her, not behind her. Would catch her when she cracked. Would hold the pieces without looking away.
Lara kissed her temple.
"I'll be there if you need me too," she whispered.