"I can't accept it. In every respect, other than the actual ceremony, you are my wife, Anna."
"You shouldn't call me that," Brianna mumbled, trying to ignore the fact that her heart was singing at his declaration. "It's not..."
"Don't tell me I don't have the right," Lyall said roughly. He took a deep breath. "There's something I didn't tell you Brianna, something I should have. But I was afraid you wouldn't sleep with me if I told you."
Foreboding chilled Brianna. "What?"
"For a mage, it's different. That's why I was still a virgin. The first person you sleep with, well, you bond with, magically. So you don't want to make a mistake and be stuck with someone you can't stand."
Brianna stared at him. "Bond with?" she said faintly. "What does that mean?"
"It means we are magically linked. Forever. More solid than even 'till death do us part', because even death doesn't part bonded mages. If one dies, they usually both do."
Brianna stared at him. He had to be making it up. But his expression was completely serious. "But Mia isn't... bonded... to you. She's bonded, uh, to Terion? You can't change that, can you?" She looked at him for confirmation.
Lyall sighed. "No, a bonding is permanent. I thought, when she first mentioned him, that he might not be a mage. Sleeping with someone who isn't a mage doesn't trigger the bond. But he is."
Brianna stared at him. "Terion is a mage?"
Lyall nodded. He gave an amused smile, reminding her achingly of how he used to be. "That's why I took him outside the wall. It was the only way to find out. I'm beginning to suspect there are quite a few mages in your village. Want to tell me why?"
"Me? How would I know? I didn't even know I was one until you told me!" she said indignantly.
Lyall raised an eyebrow. "Come on, Anna." He looked at her challengingly when he said the name. She let it pass, so he continued, "I was standing in my father's office overlooking the harbour when you left. For someone who didn't know she was a mage, and who couldn't even manage basic magic exercise, how did you summon a wind like that? Why did you lie to me?"
"I didn't lie," Brianna said hotly. "I didn't know I was a mage. I don't know how I made that wind. I just … I thought about my village, and Mianna. I had to get home. And it just happened."
Lyall stared at her with narrowed eyes. Then he relaxed, and nodded. "The twin bond. Stranger things have happened."
"Twin bond? Is that another fancy mage term?"
Lyall shrugged. "It's essentially the same thing, only twins are born with it. It's the only occurrence of people bonding twice." He looked at her intently. "That is the reason for the law. A set of twins bonded to the same person... Well, there's nothing more powerful."
"That's what this is about? You want to be more powerful?"
"Brianna! Will you stop misunderstanding everything I say?" He grabbed her arm and turned her towards him. "I love you, I told you that. I couldn't care less about your sister, or the power. I was already the most powerful mage on Isla de Magi, bonding with you only cemented it. I don't want Mianna. It's you I want."
"Well I'm not going to stand by and see Mianna and Terion torn apart." Brianna put her hands on her hips, challenging him to object.
Lyall frowned. "Then what do we do? Because I'm not willing to lose you again."
Brianna tried to imagine him staying here, living in her village, sharing a house with her and Mianna and Terion, or even living next door. But it wouldn't work. It couldn't. Nor could she imagine leaving. What would it do to Mianna, if she left? The village would always see her marriage as incomplete, and Brianna as an outlaw. She couldn't do that to her sister.
And what about Lylis? She glanced at Lyall. She had wanted to tell him about his daughter from the moment she'd found out she was pregnant. She'd even considered writing him a letter just so he knew, but she was too afraid he'd use it to find them. And she couldn't tell him now, no matter how much she wanted to confess all. It would only make him more determined.
Lylis thought of Terion as her father, and Mianna as a second mother. And even though she fought frequently with her cousin, Brianna could also see a bond developing between them, similar to the one she and Mianna had shared as babies.
She had thought, after all this time, that Lyall would never return. But here he was. And the reunion was nothing like she had imagined. "Why did you invade my village?" she demanded.
Lyall frowned. "If you're so ignorant of magic, explain how there is a very powerful barrier around your small country village?"
"Is that why you attacked us? Because of the barrier? I have no idea why it's there. It has nothing to do with us, and even though I've searched all the village records, I can't find any mention of it."
Lyall looked at her in disbelief. And Brianna couldn't say she blamed him. It seemed too impossible to be true.
"And yet, you know about it," Lyall said flatly.
"I realised it was there when I came home, after I knew about magic. How could I have known about it before then?"
This was silly, the fact that they were arguing. Besides her twin, Lyall was the one person she felt closest to. But he had changed so much. Or had he? They hadn't had enough time to really discover each other's true self.
Lyall must have been thinking the same thing. "I wish I could believe you, Brianna, but it all seems a little too convenient. You work out how to use your magic and rush away to a village protected by a magical barrier, just as a huge magic spike is detected from the other mages. How can you blame me for thinking that you are somehow involved with them?"
Brianna's heart froze at his words. "The other mages," she asked. "You mean the ones you were talking about, that destroyed cities?" Suddenly she was very glad of a barrier that prevented magic. "Are they coming here?"
Lyall ran a hand through his hair, frustration lining his face. "I don't know where they are! We've searched every village between here and the coast. This is pretty much the only one left."
Brianna's heart slowed back to its normal rhythm. "Well, they're not here, so you can leave."
"It's not that simple, Anna. Not now. You know that. " Lyall's voice was soft, and sent a shiver right down to Brianna's belly.
"No, you're right. It's not. It never was. I tried to tell you that from the beginning, Lyall. You knew I couldn't marry you. Now you know why." Sadness threatened to overwhelm her. It had been easier to pretend that it didn't matter when Lyall hadn't been here. Easier to be satisfied with Lylis, and the quiet life they shared.
Now, with Lyall achingly close, settling seemed impossible. And so was the alternative.
"It's not just that, Brianna," Lyall said with regret. "I wish I could forget all the rest and just focus on sorting this out, but the truth is, I need to find out what is happening here. I've spent two years searching for those mages, and this barrier is the only magic I've found on the entire mainland. I can't leave until I know what caused it, and whether it has anything to do with the other mages."
So it wasn't about her. Brianna felt relieved and disappointed at the same time. "I will help you if I can, but that is all I can offer you."
"So what we had together, what you said at home about staying, all that meant nothing?" Lyall demanded.
She couldn't blame him for being angry. How could he understand? "I pretended to be dead when I left here, Lyall. When no one thought I was alive, I could ignore my responsibilities and the law. But now that I'm back, I can't just disappear again. I'm sorry."
"No." Lyall strode across the tent and stopped right in front of her. "I won't accept it. The law is on my side, our side, in this case. No one can object to our relationship."
She refused to let his nearness intimidate her, or weaken her resolve. "And what about Mianna and Terion?"
Lyall shrugged. He actually shrugged as though it weren't important. "I told you, I don't care about your sister. The same situation you have here can stand. She can pretend to be married to me and still sleep with that other man on the side for all I care."
"Do you think the village is going to accept that? It's not that simple," Brianna said furiously. "I will not allow it."
"It's not up to you." Lyall's words were quiet, but they shocked her nonetheless. "The law is clear."
"Your law. Not ours," Brianna retaliated.
"I have control of your village right now," Lyall reminded her.
"Only because my people are scared of your magic. If I tell them the truth, that your magic won't work inside the village walls, then we're on even footing again." Brianna shook with anger, half hoping he would push her so she could show him.