Familiar voices, carrying undertones of concern and frustration and the particular tension of people who have been waiting too long for something to change.
My men.
My bond mates.
My... apparently six-sevenths of whatever configuration Gabriel was hinting at.
Consciousness drags me upward with the particular insistence of systems that refuse to remain offline. I can feel the crystalline chamber around me, the preservation fluid cradling my body, the magical monitors tracking vitals that are apparently changing in ways that warrant attention.
Almost there.
Almost back.
Almost ready to face whatever Year Four has in store.
But before I open my eyes, before I return to the chaos of existence and the complications of bond mates and the mystery of seventh presences and the threat of Elena's continued existence...
I make one final mental note.
Gabriel owes me.
He owes me in ways that transcend realms and academies and the fundamental laws of sibling relationships.
And I will collect.
Eventually.
When we both carry our crowns with pride and wickedness, I'm going to push HIM off something.
Something tall.
Something that will make him shriek the way I shrieked.
It's only fair.
The light of consciousness finally breaks through the last barriers of darkness.
I can feel myself approaching the surface, approaching wakefulness, approaching the moment when I'll have to face reality and all its complications.
But even as I prepare for that return, even as I steel myself for whatever awaits...
I'm smiling.
That bastard.
My bastard of a brother.
I love him, but I'm absolutely holding this against him.
Holding that grudge for at least one lifetime.
CHAPTER 8
The Seventh Invitation
~GWENIEVERE~
My eyes snap open.
