to give Heaven’s Glory a chance,” he warned her.
Yerin didn’t look at him, but she struggled with her response for a moment. “Some people, when they’re drowning, you don’t toss them a rope,” she said at last. “They’ll just pull you in with them.”
“We don’t need to take them with us,” Lindon suggested. “We can give them a warning and then leave them to find their own way. It’s no less than they deserve.”
Lindon didn’t actually expect resistance from Heaven’s Glory, or much from anyone. With their current powers, Lindon would be surprised if they weren’t worshiped in Sacred Valley.
But Yerin had her own reasons. If Heaven’s Glory had cost him someone who had raised him like a father, he wouldn’t feel particularly generous toward them either.
After hearing from Charity about the suppression field around the valley, he and Dross had done some research overnight.
He had to admit, he was a little bitter that the reason Sacred Valley had remained so weak was because of an external force. He had assumed it was a matter of isolation and poor education. Now that he knew there was a ceiling keeping his people from growing beyond Jade, he had to fight back some anger.
Partly at whoever had built the field in the first place, and partly at the Akura clan.
Was it their responsibility to relocate this one group of people in a distant corner of their empire? Not necessarily, but he still blamed them for not trying.
Then again, at least they were helping now.
The reports he and Dross had found disagreed about how intense the effects of the suppression were, but from Lindon’s own experience, he suspected it would lower them down to Jade. Whether that process took hours, days, or even weeks was a matter he supposed they’d learn later.
But even if they were pushed down to Jade the second they stepped across the boundary, they would still fight like monsters compared to the natives.
Yerin watched his thoughts cross his face, radiating obvious concern. “I don’t want to…” She trailed off and started again. “I’m not one to…”
She threw up her free hand in frustration. “Bleed me dry, I’m just going to say it. Don’t kill a bunch of Jades.”
Little Blue, curled up sleeping on the console, lifted her head and gave Yerin a wide-eyed stare.
Lindon felt much the same.
He leaned back so he could study her face more clearly. “Apologies, but I thought that was a talk I’d have to have with you.”
She avoided his gaze. “Can’t imagine what you mean,” she muttered.
Little Blue let out the ringing of a bell, and through their newfound bond, Lindon felt her astonishment.
“You don’t use a Monarch sword to swat flies,” Yerin continued. “Not even when they bite you.”
She stared off into the distance, and her hand gripped his so tight that he could feel the weight of her strength warping reality ever so subtly.
He matched it, mentally thanking Crusher for the donation.
“Are you sure?” he asked quietly.
“I hate them,” Yerin whispered, and there were tears in her eyes. “He never touched them. Never cut them with so much as a word, but they hated him so much. They threw their own bodies at him. Didn’t care if they lived, so long as he died. And there wasn’t…I couldn’t…”
She breathed deeply and wiped her eyes with a thumb. “But they’re not worth half a glance from me, and I’ll be dead and buried before I give them more than they deserve.”
He had thought much the same about killing Jades, but it warmed him to hear that coming from Yerin. She had been thinking ahead, and had decided to treat the weak with compassion. Even considering what they’d done to her.
Lindon wasn’t sure he’d be able to do the same.
It wasn’t as though he had any attachment to the Heaven’s Glory School himself, but he still put his free hand around her, pulling her close. “Thank you,” he whispered into the top of her head.
She tilted her head up to him, cheeks tinged pink.
“He’s watching,” Lindon said.
“We’ll be old and gray before he stops.”
Lindon kissed her.
From the corner of the room, where they had both sensed him, Eithan sighed. “It was more fun when I could sneak up on you. I’ll have to step up my veils.”
Lindon separated from Yerin, focusing on his breathing technique to slow his heartbeat. “Have you heard from Ziel?”
Ziel owned the cloud fortress next to theirs, a blocky castle sitting on a plain blue cloud. He was supposedly traveling