As soon as they were gone, Cyrus asked with a chuckle, “You wouldn’t happen to not want to tell Killian because you’ve realized he’s scary when pissed off, would you?”
“No! I am not a coward, but I also don’t have to tell him shit.”
He was not afraid of Killian! Ender winced as the Siren’s glowing jean-blue eyes flashed in his mind, them narroweddangerously as the man’s compelling voice called his name in clear warning.
Okay, Ender would admit, he found the Siren slightly intimidating. That voice of his…ugh. It was both wonderful, yet awful.
Cyrus obviously planned to respond to his bullshit, but whatever he was going to say was lost to the ether as the man’s necklace began to ring.
Frowning, the Fate pulled the dangling secret box phone from around his neck. Eyeing the screen once released, Cyrus hesitated before saying, “It’s Severo.”
He waved him on. “Answer it.”
Cyrus did, holding it up to his ear. “What’s up?” The Fate’s expression twisted in anger at whatever the Shadow Dweller had said, before cursing, “Fucking hell! I’m sorry, Severo.”
Ender’s brow pulled at that. They were obviously missing a hell of a conversation.
The Fate listened quietly, before nodding to himself and murmuring, “Yeah…yeah…I’ll tell him… Yeah…okay, see you soon. Bye.” Closing his phone, the Fate hung it around his neck again with a clearly exhausted sigh as it collapsed back into a square.
Soren tsked. “Judging by the ‘see you soon’ part, I'm assuming something has happened?”
Instead of answering the Harpy, Cyrus’ gaze flicked to him, and the man hesitated.
“What? What is it?” He blinked, his eyes widening when the Fate slowly reached out and grabbed one of his hands. “Uhh…?”
“My cousin, who they put in charge, tried to…Mind Rake Severo.”
Ender tensed at the words, as his mind made a valiant effort to drag him to places where he didn’t want to go. That was whenCyrus started to caress his hand. The gentle touch oddly worked, drawing his focus as he took one deep breath after another.
As he calmed, Ender would admit he felt a bit embarrassed. He usually wasn’t this sensitive to the damn topic, or anything really. But then, he supposed, his hormones weren’t exactly within normal range at the moment.
After a minute or so, while the other two men stayed as quiet as can be, Ender finally asked, “Did he succeed?”
“No. Severo knows the signs, so he slipped into the Shadow Realm at the first hint of something being wrong. The Dweller grabbed Seri, Skya, and Avery, before hitting the road. They’re coming here. He no longer trusts they are safe there, and I can’t say I disagree with that assessment, as Brom has clearly lost his fucking mind.”
Ender frowned. “Why isn’t Severo going to his parents?”
“Because the idiot still doesn’t realize how much more scary they are than you.”
“That boy has a damn blind spot a mile fucking wide when it comes to them,” he said with a chuckle.
“That he does,” Cyrus sighed.
Even though he felt a bit reluctant, Ender slowly pulled his hand free, to wrap his arms around his stomach.
It wasn’t like heneededto have his hand held. He was a grown ass man. It was just that Cyrus’ was warm, and bigger than his…and veiny. It was nice…real nice, especially when it—AH, nope, his mind could not gothereright now!
“Anyway, we should be getting ready to go.”
“Now?!” Cyrus gasped. “We are really going to meet that bastard today?! You know, I probably should call my parents and let them know what’s going on, and what my cousin tried to do. Not to mention, Severo’s, since who knows when the Dweller will have time, or get up the courage to.”
“It can wait until after we get back. We need to leave in the next thirty to forty minutes or we will be late to our meeting.”
“Seriously?! Ender, I?—”
“Cyrus, it will take them a full day to get here. I know you feel guilty, and like you have to do something about it right this very moment, but there isn’t time. Also, there really isn’t anything you can do for them right now. So, I’d say you have plenty of time to try and help.” Ender, for some reason, didn’t suppress the urge to comfort the man, and lightly gripped his shoulder in a way any…nice, platonic companions that sometimes fucked would. “Look, what happened isn’t your fault. It’s your family’s fault, and their need to control what they consider their assets. Your family doesn’t know where I’m at, right?”
Cyrus stared for a moment before saying, “Not as far as I am aware. Any inkling the agents at my branch had on your location, I kept to myself and out of reports.”
