ThetightnessinAltair’schest loosened when Iyana finally took a deep breath.Her eyes opened only for a moment, enough for her to look at Sullane and sayhibefore she fell back to sleep.But she was breathing normally, and her heart was beating steadily.Sullane still refused to leave her, instead cradling her against his chest and falling asleep himself sitting against the cave wall.
Altair had forgotten about his claustrophobia while he was worrying about Iyana, but now that she was clearly going to make a full recovery, he felt the walls closing in on him again.He mumbled something to Okab about checking the perimeter and took the excuse to duck outside the cave again.
He sucked in a lungful of the crisp, winter air, and when he exhaled, he tried to let all his nerves go with that breath.It wasn’t very successful.Altair had thought for a few minutes that he was going to lose Iyana again.Without a doubt, he had lost her to Sullane, but he still couldn’t bear the thought of her not existing on this earth.He’d spent so long after the stars fell wondering if she was still alive, and drinking himself into a stupor—he couldn’t do it again.
A hand on his shoulder alerted Altair to his brother’s presence.
“Are you okay?”Okab asked softly.
“No, but I will be.”The words didn’t taste like a lie, which was surprising to Altair.
“I know it must be hard—watching your astalle dying and then forcing yourself to stay away from her.”
Altair ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands to ground himself.It was more than hard.It was the most difficult thing he’d done in his extremely long life, and that included betraying his astalle and almost killing her.Standing by and letting her die…it almost broke him.Not that long ago, she would have run tohimafter such a harrowing experience.But, mostly thanks to his brother, he was slowly letting her go.
It didn’t mean he’d ever stop loving her, though.No, he was hers until the day he died.
“What’s the plan now?”Altair asked, changing the topic.
Okab took the hint and didn’t pry.“Once Iyana awakens, we’ll start back for the Pass.I don’t want to press our luck by staying off the trail for so long.”
Altair nodded.Just because Iyana had been returned to them by Ciri didn’t mean another god would be as kind.The sooner they got back onto the Pass, the better.
Unfortunately, Iyana slept almost until sunset.They briefly debated staying in the cave another night, but decided not to risk it.Iyana had enough magic that she was able to create a floating ball of white-hot flame to light their way through the forest.Altair added his own to brighten the space even further.
Two hours of silence later, they found their way onto the Aula Pass and all collectively breathed a sigh of relief.Their minute of safety was quickly dashed, however, when Scuti stepped out from a cloud of shadows.
“Where the fuck have you all been?”his cousin demanded.“I’ve been searching for you for hours.”
“What’s wrong?”Altair asked, immediately on the defensive.Something bad must have happened for Scuti to lose his calm exterior.He’d never seen his cousin act this way before—scared and frantic.His deep maroon hair was sticking out at angles like he’d been running his hands through it often.Oh gods, what if something had happened to Tarazed?
“Okab, where is Tara?”He spun towards his brother, his heart pounding furiously.His twin’s eyes widened in understanding, then he closed them to focus.When he sighed, so did Altair.
“She’s safe.Alive and close to Nyr’s border.She’s by herself.”
So what was wrong with Scuti, then?Altair turned back to his cousin, demanding answers with a single glance.
“They—” Scuti started, then paused, his gaze darting towards where Iyana, Sullane, and Kaz were standing together.He cleared his throat.“Rigil took Zane and Talon.”
“No,” Iyana gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.She and Sullane shared an anguished glance.It lasted for a beat too long, and Altair realized they were communicating silently.
“Don’t,” Sullane said.
“We have to go get them, Em!We can’t just leave them with Rigil and Hadar.The Beta is a sadistic freak.”
Altair snorted.Iyana glared at him, but he only shrugged.She didn’t know the half of it.
“He’s using them as bait for you,” Scuti said.“Rigil knows you’ll want to charge in there and save your friends.It’s a trap.”
Iyana threw her hands in the air.“Of course it’s a fucking trap!We all know that, but it doesn’t mean we can leave them there.”She looked up at Sullane again, pleading now.“We can’t leave them there.”
“We’re not saying that, Mouse,” Sullane said, running his thumb across her cheek.Altair gritted his teeth.“We’re only saying that we need to think this through.Create a plan that won’t get us all killed within ten minutes.”
“Kaz,” Iyana said, suddenly.“You’re with me, right?You think we need to go now?”
The shifter grimaced and rubbed the back of her neck.“I don’t know, sweetcheeks.I kind of agree with them on this one.”
Iyana’s face crumpled like the words had physically hurt her.Tears sprang to her eyes, and Altair wished desperately that he could offer her some comfort.
