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RIKA

When Gar agreed that she could go, could work, could help her heart leaped—and immediately plummeted. She prayed Gar wasn\'t paying enough attention, that he was distracted with the conversations with his sister and the intimidating Captain to notice her fear until she could get it under control.Â

She cursed her own cowardice—then blinked. Because for once, she realized, it wasn\'t herself that she was terrified for.Â

She had nerves, certainly. And there was no doubt she didn\'t want to leave Gar and the Anima and put herself back in the hands of her colleagues. She knew how ruthless their outlook was on this land and these people. But at least she knew them. She understood how they thought and how their world worked.Â

No, the thing that made her teeth want to chatter now wasn\'t her own ability to navigate her own people, it was what might happen to Gar.

Standing next to him, she\'d taken his arm when she was pleading her case. With most people she was happy to keep space, and for those she trusted enough to touch, she was always relieved when the contact would stop. Yet here, next to Gar…

Something had changed. His hand held hers tightly and she hugged his arm, pressed against her side because she leaned into it a little. She looked like one of those women she\'d always called pathetic—the ones who hung off their boyfriend and husbands like they\'d float away if they didn\'t.Â

But that was almost how she felt. His warmth, the solidness of him, the way his thumb kept tracing her hand…

She felt better when she was touching him. Which seemed impossible. But she couldn\'t deny it. She didn\'t want to let go, and she didn\'t want him to walk away. And now she was sitting here arguing for the chance to walk away from him… and to watch him go to war with the very people she was convinced would kill him.Â

Because Gar, she knew, would never give over. Even though they\'d want him because he was such an impeccable specimen, Gar would never surrender. He would fight until he forced them to kill him.Â

As Elreth became distracted by Gahrye and their discussion of the second portal, Gar turned to look at her, his forehead lined with worry.Â

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she whispered.

He nodded and pulled her through the Great Room, through the dining room and through a door into a big underground cavern that, at first was too dark for her to make out what was there. But as they spoke her eyes kept going back to the gorgeous waterfall and figure-eight pool in the place.Â

"What is it?" he asked her quietly, searching her eyes.

Forcing herself to focus, Rika still held his hand. "I want… thank you, for listening to me. And letting me help."

His face went dark. "I don\'t want to, Rika. I want to tie you up in the Tree House and leave you there so they never find you. But I know I can\'t. I know the Creator has a plan for you and I can\'t… I can\'t take you away from that."

Rika took a deep breath. "I know what you mean. I just got really shaky back there thinking about you walking into this yourself. I want… I want to ask you to promise me something."

Gar frowned. "What?"

"If you ever get captured, stop fighting."

"What?!" he hissed.

"No, no, hear me out: The way they think, Gar, I know they\'ll be trying to take you alive if they can. If you\'re free, keep fighting. But if they ever manage to capture you, stop fighting and wait for your moment. Don\'t force them to kill you, please?"

Gar glared down at her. "You\'re asking me to promise you that I\'ll give over to my enemies?"

"Only for a time. Only until they drop their guard. Just, please… don\'t give them an excuse to kill you. Please, for me?"

He eyed her warily. "I\'ll promise to do that, if you promise to run."

"I… what?"

"If they come for us, if we\'ve tried to stop them and haven\'t been able to. Run. Run from them and hide. They\'ll be distracted and consumed with us, with fighting. Use that. Get away and don\'t come back. No matter what happens."

"If they capture you I\'m helping you get loose."

"I\'m not going to let them take me if you don\'t promise to keep yourself safe first."

"Gar! That\'s not fair!"

"Was it fair when you went to my sister get her convinced to let you fight a war that should be mine? So I have to… to risk you?"

His brows pinched together over his nose and he stepped into her, his eyes clouded and fierce. She backed away, but not out of fear, just because of the sheer force of him.

"Gar, I—"

"You\'re mine!" he growled. "Mine to love, mine to protect. And now I have to watch you walk into danger and… fuck, Rika. I turn into a coward just thinking about it!"Â

He lifted his big, broad hand between them, holding it flat so she could see it tremble.Â

She hadn\'t realized she was still backing away until she came up against the side of the cave and her shoulders thudded against it. Gar didn\'t stop until they were toe-to-toe and he loomed over her.

"You\'ve turned me into a weak male… and I don\'t even care," he said hoarsely. "Except when you\'re willing to walk into danger that I\'d do anything to save you from."

"Oh, Gar," she whispered. "That\'s not the danger I need saving from." Grieving for them both, she took that hand in both of hers and turned it palm up, laying a kiss right at its center.

Gar\'s breath whooshed out of him, like she\'d punched him.

Then she pulled him down into a kiss. He made a strange noise in his throat, but leaned into the wall and took her mouth, his tongue sliding against hers in a way that made her wish they were back in the Tree House instead of this cold cave.Â

Maybe if the water was warm…

But then Gar growled and his hand fisted in her hair, and Rika\'s heart shot into her throat.