The battle at Loxley Academy as a result.
Sylas being murdered by Ruxnoth.
Winter being abducted and taken to Sanctus.
When we were done, Zayn stared for several moments.
Then his lip wobbled.
Tears welled in his eyes.
He tried to blink them away.
But it became too late, and it all crashed into him, a violent wave of emotion and grief.
He let out an agonized cry that cut at Evira and me both.
Then he collapsed to his knees, sobbing his heart out.
We sank down beside him and wrapped ourselves around him in comfort, holding him as he broke down.
“I love you. I love you. I love you.”
“I’ll be here. I’ll always be here with you. You have my solemn vow, little death. I love you dearly also.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as my exchange with Winter played on my mind and threatened to shatter me also.
“W-what is this place?”Zayn asked shakily as Evira and I held him between us, her arm over his shoulders, mine securing his waist.
“A quiet little retreat I fashioned,” I told him.
We’d informed Zayn that Loxley Academy had been the site of that awful battle and as such us returning there currently wasn’t advisable.
There would be so many questions abounding. Questions we couldn’t—and shouldn’t—answer. About where Winter was. About Sylas. About Ruxnoth, Temperance… all of it. Too much of it.
I’d been instructed by Remnant and Cassius to remain tight-lipped about it all and to ensure Evira and Zayn did the same. Of course I hadn’t needed thatinstruction, because the need for that was undoubtedly obvious to me. It had been to Evira as well, she was politically astute like me. And in complex situations, I certainly appreciated that about her.
I appreciated a great deal about all of them.
No. So much more than that—I relished and adored a great deal about my three loves.
Zayn and Evira both frowned as they took in the two-story log home with the wraparound balcony before us situated in lesser-known former farmland.
Our little Ifrit looked up at me. “This is your place? Really?”
“Indeed.”
“It doesn’t exactly mesh with your… princely ways.” He gestured at my luxurious leather blazer and tailored dress pants, even my ornate ebony crown.
“It’s a refuge away from all of that. The expectations, the loftiness, the—”
“Duties of a life forced on you?” Evira cut in.
“Yes.”
A forced life that I had been working well, though, to make my own.
Soon.
