Em turns toward Idris. He smiles at her, looking warm and reassuring. “I’ll come see you soon,” he whispers. “Right after we fix all of this. It’ll get done, Em. Trust me.”
Set observes the exchange, hands folded on his back, expression sobering.
Escorts appear right after. Damon acknowledges them, then turns to Kayla. “You’ll have staff at the estate while I’m away,” he says.
Kayla’s brows pull together. “Are you fucking kidding me, Dae?”
“You’re carrying our heir,” Damon says, voice deep and dangerous. “You’ll accept the help.”
Kayla pouts. “I hate you a little right now.”
Damon smirks. “But I love you a lot always, little bird.” He kisses her hair. “Miss one text and more staff appear.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Kayla groans but goes into his embrace anyway.
Beyond the glass, the Song-Smith’s private jet waits on the tarmac, stairs unfolding down.
Kayla guides Em forward. Idris shadows them until the last possible second, eyes tracking Em’s every move.
Stan pats him on the back. “Don’t worry, Prince Charming. We’ve got her from here.”
Idris gives him a small smile. “I’m holding you to that.”
I give Idris a short nod. He returns it. Damon nods too. Darius watches me with that same stoic focus. Set shoots me a smile that seems so practiced, it rivals the ones Clo always wore. Those two would make a damn pair.
I turn with the others and board. A few staff on the flight talk to Kayla, while she helps Em sit. Stan talks too while buckling her up.Em lets them help, but her shoulders are still tight, and her eyes are fixed on nothing. Kayla takes the seat beside her, warming her up with snacks and juice.
Stan drops into the seat to my left, across the aisle from Em and Kayla. He starts stealing some of their snacks, reaching out and smacking his lips unapologetically. Kayla slaps his hands away. He whines about it and tries stealing some more again, while he and Kayla bicker.
I catch Em’s lips lifting a little. Small wins, but they feel huge.
The plane lifts off. Cairo drops away in a tilt of high noon sunlight, the blue sky, and the Red Sea. I take in the sight of pyramids for a while.
My eyes take in the Nile too, becoming narrower and narrower as we cruise through the clouds.
Kayla looks over at me. “You excited to see your sister sometime soon?”
I stare out the window for a while. “Yeah,” I say with a smile I can’t fight. “I am.”
Stan pops a nut into his mouth. “He’s gonna cry. I’m gonna cry. Then I’ll ride him like we’re trying to outrun our trauma with orgasms.”
Kayla looks like she can’t hold back a chuckle. “Soromantic.”
“Yeah,it is,” Stan says. “Grief sex is a love language, and I happen to be fluent.”
I ignore him and glance at Em. Her eyes still look distant. Her fingers grip on the thin blanket Kayla puts around her. But her breathing’s even. She ate. She drank. She’s warm. She’s with us.
So I sit back and keep watch until Cairo becomes a distant memory and Darkhaven comes closer.
14
Nil
Time zones work weird too. We left Egypt around noon on the second of March, but we land in Darkhaven in the early evening on the same day, even though it was a thirteen-hour flight. It feels like we got back some hours we lost.
Early March on the East Coast feels nothing like Cairo. Docking there was sun, sand, and wind. Here, the air bites cold, and the sun’s down early this late into winter. The sky hangs low and gray, looking like it’s tempted to snow out of spite.
The Darkhaven airport’s buzzing at this hour. Security moves us through, and a black limo waits outside with the engine running, ready for us.
