Page 123 of Earthbound

‘The Jani dynasty endures still,’ she whispered.

Yeeran held her tighter.

‘You don’t just endure, Furi, you thrive.’

With her legs dangling lamely over Yeeran’s grip, Furi didn’t exactly feel like she was thriving.

She patted the baobab tree as they passed and felt the thrumming of its life within the bark.

‘Do you remember when I said that it’s murder that binds our love?’ Furi asked.

‘ “No matter how hard we try, all we do is murder the people we love,” ‘Yeeran recited, as though she had repeated the phrase in her mind daily.

‘I was wrong. We are so much more than death and violence. We are like the Tree of Souls; each death grows into a leaf, making us stronger than before. Our grief need not be a thing that tears us apart but something that grows us together.’

Yeeran pressed a kiss to her brow and Furi could feel her cheeks were wet with tears.

‘I love you, Yeeran.’ She would never be tired of saying it. ‘I love you, and I’m going to meet your terms on the training ground, then I’ll show you exactly how much I love you too.’

Furi didn’t regret the deal Yeeran had suggested. Not entirely, anyway. It’s hard to not regret living when you’re attempting a push-up on sand.

‘There you go, you’ve nearly got it…’ Yeeran was trying to be encouraging, but her cheering only reminded Furi that she was still only nearly there.

Her knees were tucked together and her ankles crossed–not even a full push-up. Going down was easy, but now her arms quivered in stasis, unable to make the full upwards motion. She was glad they were on Conch Shore, where none of her subordinates in the faeguard could see her.

‘You can do it.’

‘Shut up,’ she spat out.

Yeeran ignored her. ‘One last push, come on.’

‘I said, shut up, you’re not helping.’

‘A tiny bit more, you got it…’

Furi pushed herself up and turned to Yeeran with a growl, her fangs slipping out from her top lip.

‘You are so annoying.’

Yeeran gave her a lopsided grin. ‘Worked, though, didn’t it?’

‘Only to spite you.’

‘Anger has always been like fuel to you.’

Furi lunged at her. Yeeran fell beneath her charge, though Furi knew it hadn’t been her strength that did it–Yeeran was letting Furi dominate her.

Furi straddled her and placed her trembling hands against her shoulders, pushing Yeeran into the sand. Then she lowered her mouth to Yeeran’s neck, trailing her tongue until she reached her ear.

‘Twenty-one,’ she whispered.

‘What?’

‘Today marks twenty-one days.’

‘Ah.’

‘Three weeks, Yeeran. You’re mine.’