She was trying to help him again, his beloved.
Saer wrestled his innate urges down, but refused to break Alus’s eye contact.That much, he could hold onto.“I used a spark of unmaking to push her, and her true name to order her.”
“So you could get what you wanted.”
“Yes, Alustar,” Saer growled.He had already spoken the worst of it.No sense in holding anything else back.“So I could have my revenge.”
A pause as long as centuries stretched between them.Any progress Saer had made towards regaining a bond with Errshek or, indeed, any of his siblings, crumbled under the admission.
He should have known better to have faith in Alus, the most reliable of theDaemoenica.
With the greatest of care, Alus guided Kalia’s shivering form to his side.He leaned over and whispered in her ear.The demoness shut her eyes tightly and took in a deep, trembling breath.When she opened her tear-steaming gaze, she focused on Pride’s face.
The same twinge hit Saer, the one he’d experienced when he last left her chambers.His anger frayed.
Alus must have seen the change in his expression, because his own ire softened, a drop of the twin’s welcome demeanor settling into his usually laughing eyes.With that same warmth, he spoke just loud enough for all to hear, though the words were for Pride alone.“I trust you.”
He trusted Saer to make this right.And he meant it.
Saer took in a ragged breath, then dropped his gaze back to Kalia.
She was so much smaller than him.
Saer leaned as though he meant to move forward.Kalia stiffened and Gluttony wrapped his arms around her shoulders, whispering further in her ear.Her reaction halted Saer’s movement.He waffled, at a loss.
An internal war waged but this time, Saer pushed past it.Without any grace to the stilted motion, he lowered himself to kneeling and whispered, “Kaliaspher, I’m s—”
Alus cleared his throat with enough volume to interrupt him.The twin peered around to the rest of the clearing suggestively, then returned to him.
Pride growled.“You’re pushing it, Alustar.”
A glowing smile met his threat.Just like that, the Gluttony he had always been shone through.“It’s for your own good, old man.”The smile softened, and he addended, “They all need to hear you say it.”
Saer loathed that he was right.
He dragged his fingers through his hair again, steeling himself.The tightening in his chest wouldn’t loosen, no matter how long he waited.
Hellsfire.
Saer raised his gaze once more to Kalia, who didn’t appear as frightened as she had a moment before.If she could be brave, so could he.
Help me, Neyu.
“Kaliaspher,” Saer said it loudly enough so the entire clearing could hear, but kept his tone gentle.“Kalia.Littlest Sister.”
He remembered how she held him when he grieved for Neyu.When they both did.Shared tears between the eldest and the youngest.
The memory painted his words with the guilt he’d carried since he’d left her sobbing and afraid.“You didn’t deserve—” The words stuck, and Saer had to clear his throat to restart.“I’m done hunting.When you, the Twins, Runeak…” Saer shook his head, a sorrowful growl in his voice.“All of you were right when you tried to tell me we’d lost enough.With you, I breached trust the greatest.I didn’t—”
Kalia took a step forward when Saer’s words caught in his gullet.
Saer took his turn to raise a hand in a silent gesture for her to stop.He used the time he needed to find the words, willing his voice to sound stronger.“Kaliaspher, Iamsorry I hurt you.I won’t tell you I didn’t mean it at the time.”The corners of his eyes flinched, and he almost lowered his gaze, though he managed to keep it.“But I can promise to be better.And I swear to you, so long as it is within my will, I will never use the power of unmaking on you again.”
Kalia waited just long enough to ascertain Saer had finished speaking.
It was all she gave before stepping forward again, and this time, no one stopped her.She extended a shuddering arm towards him in questioning.Saer turned his own hand, offering, allowing her to put her smaller fingers in his palm.The contact brought a familiar and uncomfortable squeezing of his throat, a pressure behind his eyes he didn’t want anyone to witness.
Pride.
