Her heart leapt when he smiled back.It really was a beautiful smile, and it too rarely graced his face.Iyana wanted to find reasons for Emmeric to be happy so she could see it more often.
Thenextmorning,TeamSave Arinem reconvened in the library after having gone their separate ways the night before.They had been too tired—and Talon and Kaz too drunk—to discuss what Altair had told them.
But now, after breakfast, they’d all agreed that they needed to figure out their next steps, and they proceeded to sit silently at the table.Nobody seemed to want to open the conversation.Either that, or nobody had any good ideas, and they were well and truly fucked.
“Could we ask Yrza?”Iyana finally asked Kaz.
“We could,” the shifter replied, then frowned.“But even if we left for Nyr now, we wouldn’t make it there by the next full moon.So we’d have to wait another moon cycle to talk to her.”
Well, that option was out then.As much as Iyana would have loved to simply exist in Nyr for an entire moon—learning more underneath the healers there and practicing her magic with Emmeric—that would leave the humans at risk.Many would die waiting for a savior who was languishing safely behind wards.
“So, what do we know about the gods?”Zane asked.
“They’re asleep,” Talon said, helpfully.The emperor rolled his eyes.
“But Yrza isn’t,” Iyana said.“And we saw Altea in the Everlands, so she can’t be sleeping either.”Talon winced, but waved away her apology.
Zane pulled a book closer towards him.“Maybe there are answers here about how we can find the gods.Like Yrza has the pool in Nyr, it’s possible the others have some way of communicating with them.”
Suddenly, a thought struck Iyana, and she sat up straighter.She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it before.
“The Forgotten Mountains.”
“What about them?”Talon asked.
Excitement bubbled within her as a plan began to fall into place.“The stories I grew up with all say that the gods are asleep underneath those mountains and any who wander off the Aula Pass will be dragged under.Legends say that those who disappear are slowly forgotten by their loved ones, hence the name of the mountain range.So all we need to do is get lost in the mountains and the gods will find us.”
Emmeric frowned, and his sour doubt cut through Iyana’s exuberance.“Those are only myths, though.”
“Many aspects of mythology are based in truth,” Zane said.“There’s a large population of people who believe the mereexistenceof gods is a myth, but we now know that they’re real because we’ve seen them.”He shrugged.“It’s worth a try.We don’t have any other options right now.”
“Then it’s decided.We should leave in the morning,” Iyana said.
Zane and Talon exchanged a glance, and her stomach dropped.She just knew they were about to say something she wouldn’t like.
“Yeah, Smalls.Zane and I were thinking we’d stay here.”
She, Emmeric, and Kaz all frowned at them.Iyana couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from her friends—especially Talon.After everything he’d been through, she wanted to be near him.She wanted to know they both were safe.But she had noticed the small touches and smiles the two men shared, the way they spoke in murmurs and whispers to each other.Tal was cracking jokes with Kaz again and laughing authentically.He was healing.
Zane was talking as Iyana made the realization that both she and Talon weren’t quite as broken anymore.
“We won’t be much help against gods,” the emperor was saying, “considering we have no magic, so we both thought it’d be best to stay in Istoria and continue researching here in the library.That way, if the gods are another dead end, maybe we can find something within books.Plus, I can try to talk to the queen more—sway her to our side.”
Begrudgingly, Iyana admitted that Zane’s argument was logical and valid.It would be helpful to have someone continue to persuade Camilia that war was coming to her nation, whether she wanted to fight or not.And Zane, as emperor, would be the best person to do so.He understood how to play the games within courts; he knew which words to say and how to say them.
They all reluctantly agreed that this was the best course of action, and, suddenly burrowing themselves in books didn’t seem as important.So for the rest of the day, they lounged in the living area in Zane and Talon’s room.Tal regaled them all with stories from his and Em’s childhood, while Emmeric argued that he was telling it wrong.Kaz would chime in with her own adventures and some of the things she’d done after she left Nyr before she had met them.Zane and Iyana simply sat and listened, laughing uproariously.
Iyana especially loved getting some insight into Em’s early years.She wondered if anything would have been different if her grandmother had allowed her to go to Athusia to study at the healer’s university.Maybe they would have bumped into each other in the marketplace and could have grown their relationship organically, instead of being thrust into a life-changing situation.Iyana wouldn’t have seen him as an enemy and wouldn’t have fought her feelings for so long.Many things could have been different, but there was no use wondering about what might have been when they were incapable of turning back time.
Dinner was served to them in the room, along with generous helpings of wine.They’d all be severely hungover the next day and traveling on a horse would not be fun, but it was worth it to feel a little lighter and see her friends happy.
Not long after midnight, Iyana and Emmeric stumbled back to his room and fell into bed completely clothed.They exchanged small, tender kisses until the wine finally lulled them into a deep slumber.
The next morning, they both woke with a splitting headache.Because they could feel the other’s pain through their bond, it only amplified the problem.Iyana wordlessly reached into her medical bag and gave Emmeric some willow bark, motioning for him to chew it.She did the same, and thankfully within a few minutes the pain-relief began to take effect.
Iyana felt obligated to say goodbye to Camilia and Halim—they were family now, after all—with promises to return once they found some answers.Then she and Emmeric slowly made their way to the stables, where their friends were waiting.Kaz was the only one who didn’t appear to be suffering from the amount of alcohol they’d consumed the night before.
While Talon and Emmeric embraced in a way only brothers could, Iyana gave Zane a fierce hug.
