"Sanria, I don't think this is a joking matter," Gilean said.
For the first time in a while, both men looked to be in agreement. It motivated Sanria even more to keep up the ruse. The deflation of tension was a blessed relief. "There is no other way out of this without one of you harming the other more than has already been done with your words and actions. So, you want to force my hand, you've done it. This is what we will do. I've tried it the way both of you have begged me to, and it's not working."
"You are serious?" Gilean asked in a halting voice.
"This... will work. You two will have to become friends once more and learn to trust one another again." She walked to the fountain in the foyer and sat on its edge. "Please, by all means, if you know of another way that the two of you can live with and not slay one another, offer it up. Either that, or someone backs down and lets go of their own will, not by force."
Honestly, Sanria sat with all intention of this being the breaking point. This would be what solved the problem because one of them would certainly back down and let go. The men seemed perplexed, questioning her, trying to push her from the absolute center in which she'd placed herself. She wasn't about to budge. She'd tried choosing, no one listened. Now, the choice was theirs. And if they didn't choose, she'd leave them both.
Then, Gilean spoke. "I'll accept this... proposition of us all living together." Sanria barely caught her mouth from falling open. That was not the answer she'd anticipated. Not at all. Then Colin's quiet: "I can't lose you... if this is what it takes..."
"Are you - listen to the two of you! Neither will back down and you're willing to... to agree to..." She couldn't even bring herself to say the words. She'd never been a Sunite, but this was everything she'd heard stories of from Kaliadra and seen in the temple of Sune by the Holy Grove.
"I can't lose you, Sanria," Colin said.
"I won't let him tear our family apart," Gilean said.
She tried backing out of what she'd proposed, after all, Sanria reasoned, this wasn't what she'd truly meant for them to choose. No man in his right mind would choose such a thing. But when she saw just how serious each was, just how hurt they were by the thought of being alone, Sanria closed her eyes and shook her head. How Kaliadra's goddess had crept into her life, Sanria didn't know. But polyamory sat there, grinning at Sanria with a wink. The bottom line was... she'd never actually officially left EITHER of them. A minor oversight that now left her realizing that the druids never bothered to ask when she married Gilean. This... was going to be a whole new experience for...Mrs. Stone-Eosos. Sanria shook her head and sighed. What the hell, Why not?
