What would I have done if he had died before I reached him with an antidote? “I almost lost you.”
“I never would have let that happen. I was about to rally and defeat the thieves.”
That made me smile. “I know you were.”
He put a finger under my chin to lift my face up to his. “Liar.”
“You started it.”
He leaned down to kiss me, and the sense of completion, of rightness, that I felt with his lips fused to mine ... it overwhelmed me.
Zalira cleared her throat and I stepped away from him.
I had completely forgotten that there were other people in the room.
“We should probably go, what with all the criminals waiting downstairs,” Ahyana said, her eyes dancing. She was going to tease me later.
And I would let her.
I might even enjoy it.
He held my hand as we left. Out of the room, down the hallway, taking the stairs, until we were in the main room with the thieves.
“Thank you for keeping him safe,” I said. I could afford to be benevolent now that I had him back.
Autolycus bowed. “It was our pleasure. Thank you for allowing me to keep my head.”
“You’re welcome,” I said.
“My queen, if you ever have need of me, please let me know.”
“If I ever thought I needed you for anything, I would hit my head against the wall until that feeling went away,” I said as sweetly as I could.
Autolycus laughed, as did his men.
Then I felt bad. He had kept Xander safe in his own way, so I added on, “There is a Carian army that will be marching through here soon. You might want to clear out.”
“You do realize that they were planning to ransom me to the council in Troas,” Xander said as we made our way through the great room. “You don’t have to be nice to him.”
“I know. I wanted to practice being magnanimous.”
He chuckled as we walked outside, and I saw that Haemon was about to dismount.
Xander took my sword and pointed it at my brother.
“Stop,” I said, pushing his arm down. “That’s Haemon. The Carians had him. I found him when I went looking for you.”
“Your dead brother?”
“Not dead,” Haemon said cheerfully. “Thanks to your sister, I might even fully recover.”
“Yes, Haemon can take a normal amount of medicine and heal. Unlike some people,” Io said pointedly.
I made the introductions, and my brother jokingly said, “It seems fairly pathetic to me that you got taken down by a bunch of thieves. Aren’t you supposed to be goddess-blessed?”
Xander grinned. “And how long did the Carians keep you captive for?”
My heart twinged as I watched two of the men I loved most in the whole world make each other laugh.
