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"What are you going to do after you find Talon?" she asked, switching tactics

He relaxed over the rail again "I’ll get him home, then form my own tribe"

"How?"

"It’s aor forced to follow your lead Then another and so on Until you have a group big enough to stake out soht for it, if need be"

"How are they forced?"

"In a challenge Winner either spares the loser’s life and earns fealty that way, orwhat you’d iine"

"I see," Aria said Fealty Allies Oaths taken at the point of death They were ordinary concepts in his life

"Maybe I’ll head north," he continued "See if I can find et her to the Horns Maybe I can fix that ruffle before it’s too late And I want to see what I can find about the Still Blue"

Aria wondered where that would leave him and Roar It didn’t seem fair to keep two people who loved each other apart

"What about you?" he asked "When we find your o back to those virtual places? The Realms?"

She liked the way he’d said Realms Slow and resonant She liked even better the way he’d said e find your mother Like it would happen Like it was inevitable

"I think I’ll get back to singing It was always so myNow I have the urge to do it Songs are stories" She sotabout it"

"You’ve been thinking about ed to seeht"

Aria had to rein in a ridiculously proud smile "That was fro was for a h to get it into her range, but still kept its lost, mournful quality "It’s about aabout the woain It’s my mother’s favorite aria" She ss around and sat against the rail, an expectant shed "Seriously? Here?"

"Seriously"

"All rightI have to stand It’s better if I stand"

"Then stand"

Perry rose to his feet with her, leaning his hip against the rail His sazed up at the Aether for a few s as anticipation stirred inside of her She’d ing straight from her heart Words full of drama and wild abandon that had always e themselves at raw emotion like that?

She did it now

She let the words fly across the roof and past the trees She lost herself in the aria, letting it carry her off But even as she sang, she knew thehad stopped barking Even the trees hushed to hear her sing When she was done, she had tears in her eyes She wished her mother could’ve heard her She’d never sounded better

Perry closed his eyes when she was finished "You have a voice as sweet as your scent," he said, his words deep and quiet "Sweet as violets"

Her heart stopped in her chest He thought she had a scent like violets? "Perrydo you want to know the words?"

His eyes flew open "Yes"

She took a h the lyrics, and then toaway

"How the stars shone Hoeet the earth sate creaked, and a footstep pressed on the sand And she entered, fragrant as a flower, and fell intocaresses Slowly, treazed upon her beauty Now my dream of true love is lost forever My last hour has flown, and I die, hopeless, and never have I loved life more"

They reached for each other then like soether Aria looked at their fingers as they laced together, bringing her the sensation of his touch Of warether She absorbed the terror and beauty of him and his world Of everyher up like the first breath she’d ever taken And never had she loved life more

Chapter 27

ARIA