Page 103 of Guardian of Exile

The relief hit this time, but it was tinged with anger. “Really? Because when I asked you to stay, you basically told me I was a backstabbing liar for even suggesting it.”

The vines rustled around her.

“Thank you so much for bringing up my private emotional trauma,” she gritted out, “but no. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that you hurt my feelings, because I care about you and the thought of you being gone makes me sad. Because I will miss you.”

The rustling of the vines around her grew more energetic.

“That’s it?” Nyx didn’t think that was it. That had better not be it after how shitty she’d felt at the thought of losing them.

“Yes. That, and ‘We’re sorry’.”

The vines whispered together like a sigh.

She finally smiled a little, the tangles around her heart loosening. “Okay then. What did you confirm with Tristen?”

The vines around her slithered away, once again letting her see Tristen. Kaliaris demanded.

Tristen wiped his palms on his jeans. “So I can alter your connections like you wanted—cut all of your bonds without killing any of you. But I could also change them, instead. Separate you and Griff from each other entirely, but leave the two of you independently connected to Kaliaris. It would allow each of you to survive the deaths of the others, but you’d still be connected—the Station would still have a Guardian and an Avatar, so as far as the Council will be aware, nothing will have changed. But you won’t be vulnerable anymore.”

“What about the Council? Would they still have control over Kaliaris?”

Tristen hesitated. “Yes and no. I can’t alter or break their ties without them noticing. But I can make a kill switch for them, essentially. I can isolate the area of their connections and give Kaliaris the ability to excise it at will, in an emergency. But once it’s excised, it’s done. They’ll know and there will be no going back.”

The selfish part of her wanted to say yes and not ask any more questions. To ignore that “kill switch” basically meant only that Kaliaris had the ability to cut off a limb if they needed to do so in order to survive.

“Will you have autonomy?” Nyx asked Kaliaris. “Will you have full control of yourself without me or Griff here?”

“I can’t give them that without severing all of the controls,” Tristen explained. “Yours, Griff’s, and the councilors’. The best I can do is that they’ll still have the minimal autonomy they explained they’ve managed so far through you and Griff.”

“And you're okay with that?” Nyx asked Kaliaris. “With not being free?” Having felt the weight of Kaliaris’s dislike in the past, it wasn’t something she was eager to experience again, should they come to resent her for this choice. After how they’d reacted when she’d initially asked them to wait, she wanted them to be abundantly certain of this choice.

“Okay.” Nyx blew out a breath. “Then…are we ready to do this?” Upstairs, she could feel Jevryn practically wearing a groove in the floor with his pacing.

Tristen nodded. “Can you bring them both here?”

“I can. Are you going to need to be in every Station’s Heart to separate their Avatar and Guardian bonds?” Seeing the look on his face, she preempted his response. “If you agree to do so, will you need access to each of the Station’s Hearts?” That was a possibility she hadn’t counted on, and a difficulty she wasn’t sure could be solved.

He shook his head. “Just you, because of those.” He pointed at the chaos thorns. “Untangling those from your life force is going to be difficult enough, and then there’s the one you’ve shoved in there”—he pointed at the pedestal in the center of the Heart—“and the one in Griff’s paw. They have to get removed and put back into the Station and then I can untangle the three of you from each other.”

That made sense. Nyx moved through Kaliaris’s senses and nudged Griff. A few minutes later, he and a tightly strung Jevryn arrived in the Station’s Heart. The four of them stood in a circle, Griff at Nyx’s left, Jevryn at his left, and Tristen on her right, between her and Jevryn.

Tristen flexed his fingers and suddenly the magic rolling off him was like an atmospheric punch. “I’ll start with Nyx.”

“If you harm her,” Jevryn warned, “I⁠—”

“—will make me suffer until the end of my few remaining days, etcetera, etcetera,” Tristen finished for him. “I got that warning the last time you told me to fix her, remember?”

Jevryn’s eyes narrowed.

“Ignore him,” Nyx told Tristen. “He’s stressed.”