Kian still hadn’t said anything. Every moment of silence broke my heart a little more. Would he forgive me? He’d shouldered the burden of her death even more than I had.
Suddenly, he blinked, swallowing hard. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
I let out a bitter laugh. “So much more. I can’t come home. My fate has been written in the stars by the Goddess herself,and I learned the lesson young that there’s no circumventing it. There are… prophecies. Histories filled with clues that our Line has always been on this path. I can’t come home until I overthrow the First Line, and Feodore Vylan is dead. Until the Second Line is restored. Until the Eleventh and Twelfth Lines don’t starve out of existence. Until it’s no longer us and them, and Ebrus is united once more.”
Bach snorted. “Well, that seems like a totally doable list. Should be done by Monday.” His smile fell. “I’m scared for you, Avalon. You’re my baby sister. That’s too much for one woman to do.”
“I’m scared too. But I’m not alone, Bach.” I looked over my shoulder. “The Goddess might have stolen something precious from me, but she gave me something just as beautiful in return.”
Kian let out a frustrated growl. “She stole from us all. What do we get in return?” he snapped, his voice rough. “She’sstillstealing from us. How am I meant to sleep in my bed up north, behind the fortress walls, when you’re out there trying to assassinate a psychopath? I raised you, Avalon.” He stepped forward, gently cradling my face between his hands. “I tried to protect you, even though I did a shit job of it most of the time. The Goddess stole my mother, my childhood, and now she wants to stealyoufrom us too?” He shook his head, his jaw so tense that I wondered if he’d break his back teeth. “She can’t have you. We’ve given enough. Let someone else do it.”
My heart broke for my older brother. “This is my destiny, Ki. There is no one else.” I hugged him close. “Your destiny is to care for the people of our Line, the way you cared for me. To be a better man, a better Baron, than our father ever was. You have power you don’t even know you possess, if you could just reach it.” I let out a frustrated huff. “I wish I had time to teach you, to show you the depth of your abilities, but Eugene fucking Rovan has ruined that too.”
Lierick placed a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Avie. I’ll have Father send someone to the Ninth Line to help your brothers find their foresight abilities.” He looked over the top of my head at my brother. “You don’t have to shoulder all the burden alone anymore, Halhed. The Second Line owes the Ninth Line a debt we can never repay. I’ll protect Avalon with my life, defend her until my very last breath.”
“Avalon means more to me than any other person in Ebrus. My life is hers,” Vox added, and I felt his air brush against my cheek.
“She is mine and I am hers,” Hayle added simply, his fingers brushing my spine, though he didn’t step any closer.
Kian looked between them all, then back at me. “Even as a baby, you were special. Mother called you her little gift from the stars, but I don’t think she could’ve known just how special you were.” He took a shuddering breath in. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
Viktor Taeme cleared his throat. “Excellent question.” He slapped Kian on the back. “I don’t know your sister, but she is my son’s Soul Tie. The Third Line takes that seriously. She will have the protection of the Third Line, always. As will you. If you call, the Third Line will also answer.”
Something buzzed across my skin, and the forest noises restarted. Deep in my chest, I knew this moment was important.
It was a beginning, and I just hoped it was the start of something good.
Two
Avalon
The end-of-tournament revelry was unhinged. People were drinking and eating in excess, and the spare Heirs were lording it up, like they were war heroes. I even saw Gerod Marlee from the Sixth Line having a threesome just outside the illumination of the fire.
I wasn’t one to judge, given my own relationship status, but that was a little too exhibitionist even for me.
I sat between Hayle and Vox, and Hayle glared at anyone who looked at us sideways. Lierick sat just to the other side of Hayle with Iker, and they spoke quietly to each other. Plotting and planning, probably.
They’d gotten word to Proxius, using the Baron of the Third Line’s eagle companion. I just hoped Boellium’s headmaster took us seriously and moved out the Lower Lines as soon as possible. Lierick had offered to bring them aboard his ships, which also had to disappear, but I didn’t know where they’d go; Proxius and the Baron could decide that.
I twined my fingers in Vox’s. Now that he could never return home, I didn’t need to hide my relationship with him. It felt… freeing. In the shitshow of the last day, this was an unexpected silver lining.
Giving in to the urge, I leaned over and kissed his cheek. He jolted, like he’d forgotten we could be openly affectionate, but the shock swiftly turned to softness as he looked down at me. “Are you okay?”
I shrugged. What evenwasokay anymore? The life I’d had planned was well and truly gone now. I was living day to day, enjoying whatever I could, and fighting my way through the turmoil to find the next moment of peace.
This moment here? This was more than okay.
“I love you, Vox Vylan. You know that, right?”
He inhaled sharply. “You’re the only person who has ever said those words to me and meant it.” Bending closer, he touched his forehead against mine. “I love you so much that I live in constant terror of losing you. It keeps me awake at night, plagues my dreams, torments my waking thoughts. Your health and happiness has somehow become my only priority in life, because I can’t lose your softness or your love.” He groaned. “It’s fucking annoying.”
I laughed, brushing my lips across his. “Lucky for you, my safety seems to be a group effort.”
He made a grumbling, annoyed sound in the back of his throat. “I both abhor and appreciate that fact in equal measures.”
I sipped at my drink, enjoying the warmth. It was another punch that seemed to be a specialty of Eaglehoth, lightly spiced and warm. I fed some of my pastry to Braxus, missing Epsy. I could only hope he’d go back to his family in the forest, now I wasn’t there.
A soldier appeared, blocking the light from the bonfire. The guy was basically a square, as wide as he was tall. “Avalon Halhed?” he asked gruffly.
