Aerén blinked, then a smile started.She will be with me forever.While he longed for a soul-joining, he’d take this.
He shot to his feet, strode around the bed, and hugged Aethan. “You’ve given me a gift I can never repay,” he croaked. “But I ask your forgiveness for never seeking you out when we were younger. I did try when I was older, but didn’t find you until that night in the alley.”
Aethan’s arms came around him in an equally hard hug. “I guess it all worked out when it was meant to be.”
“Indeed.” Aerén stepped back, unable to stop his grin. “I have questions. A fucking load of them. Give me a minute.”
His brother nodded, slid his hands in his pockets and strolled to the window to stare outside.
Aerén got hot water and towels from the bathroom, set them aside, then carefully removed the remains of Leya’s top, and cut off her bra with the dagger on the side table. Swiftly, he cleaned the gore from her chest, not liking the reminder of just how close he came to losing her—
Hell, he did lose her, didn’t he? But Aethan gave her back to him.
With her skin smooth, clean, and blemish-free, he gently stroked the spot when she’d been hit. Exhaling deeply, he crossed to the dressing room, got one of his t-shirts, and put it on her.
With a wave of his hand, he removed the blood from the sheets as Hana walked in, looking like a ghost, her face pale, her eyes swollen and red.
“Is she okay now?” Tears flowed as she stopped at the bedside opposite him. “Drav’n and Taegér wouldn’t let me come up, those pains in my a-ass,” she hiccupped. “Leya ismysister.”
“I think they didn’t want you getting sick from worry. We needed quiet for her healing to take place.”
Her gaze on Leya, she nodded. “She…shesaved me when I was younger. I thought I would die, and I was terrified… Then she gave me her blood and said I would be as good as new and that she’d always look out for me. I’m so sorry…” Her watery gaze met Aerén’s, remorse darkening them. “For what I said earlier.”
“You were hurting. It’s understandable.”
She bit her lip then her expression hardened. “Some of the people here didn’t want my sister around. I heard about what happened at the river.”
Anger stirred, just remembering that horror. “No one will dare try that again,” he promised. “I will kill them.”
“I know. I’m glad she found you.”
His gaze slipped back to Leya, his ire subsiding. “I’m just glad she accepted me. Gave us a chance again,” he said with a tender smile.
Aerén drew the covers to Leya’s chest, pressed a kiss to her brow, and left her in the care of her sister. Then he walked out with his brother to the living room.
They stopped near the tall windows. Rain fell, splattering on the balcony, empty of the patio furniture, put away for the storm season. He recalled when he first made love to Leya against the balustrade with the deep blue vines.
He had her back now. Forever.
She would be immortal, like him.
Gratitude flooded him once more for what Aethan had done.
Lightning flashed, highlighting the rigid contours of his brother’s face. Aethan looked so different, harder, and older, too. Millennia older.
But then they all were with the tragedies, not only of his sister’s death but of so many more that shaped their lives.
“I don’t recall the weather being this severe on Cidéra,” Aethan murmured.
“A lot’s changed after the Stone of Light went missing,” Aerén said. “The weather is one of them. Kalasder grew hotter, and Dregarus colder. Syrosii is an icy tundra. Élendium bears the brunt of impossible humidity and heat, with destructive storms during the dark months. This is just the start of it. We lost an island and denizens a year ago during this weather.”
More lightning flashed into the room. The orb lights set in decorative glass against the walls flickered a little, then steadied.
Aerén faced Aethan, leaning a shoulder against the window frame. “I’ll be eternally in your debt for what you did for Leya,” he said. “But how? I don’t recall you having this ability.”
“It was always within me, I think. It only came to be recently…” His attention remained on the creeping vines torn free from the railing by the heavy winds, and a smile flickered. “I was born in the flames of Heaven’s wrath after all.”
“What?”
