“We will never help you,” Sebastian snarled. “If you want me to betray my queen, then you might as well kill me now.”
Ydros chuckled softly. “An expected response. I would never ask you to willingly betray her, Armature. But just by being here, by being my prisoners, you can achieve so much for me.” He turned on his heel.
“Enjoy the Vathan cells, Onitans. A new dawn is approaching. I am looking forward to seeing it rise.”
Chapter 71
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Andrian gritted his teeth with each rap of his knuckles on the simple wooden door. The house was tucked down the mountainside near the lake on the outskirts of Eyarfell. It was quaint and quiet, birds trilling in the thick foliage overhead.
The peacefulness didn’t calm the nervousness swirling beneath his ribs.
“Hey.” A warm, familiar hand rested on his forearm. Mariah gave him a soft smile. “Are you all right?”
Andrian winced. “I should be the one asking you.” His gaze slid to the softly glowing tattoos wrapping around her hands, crawling up her arms. They still hadn’t talked about it; all that had happened to her in thestaor. Why she had those Marks. What she might’ve awakened in the gods’ plane.
Why the Oracle had collapsed at the sight of them, that cursed prophecy on her lips.
He was willing to wait until Mariah was ready. But he also worried about what they might be up against.
The man he’d been a year ago would’ve scoffed at how much he cared. The man he was now couldn’t imagine caring any less.
“I,” Mariah said, tugging back his wandering attention, “am fine. I’m also not the one about to meet a family member who up until a few weeks ago I didn’t know existed.” She lightly squeezed his arm, the touch reassuring and grounding and perfect. Down their bond, he felt her quiet strength, her unwavering energy.
He’d nearly forgotten what it was like to share that connection with her. How it felt to be linked to her. How much he’d come to value and crave that level of closeness.
Their new ability to share words down it was also a new development. One he couldn’t deny gave him a bit of a thrill.
Hopefully there wasn’t another secret hidden with that new gift, as well.
Andrian swallowed, staring back at the plain door. The handle twisted and it opened, revealing a pretty young woman with strawberry-blonde hair, freckled cheeks, and round brown eyes.
On her hip bounced a baby boy, blond curls falling across his red cheeks, soft gray eyes wide and watching.
Mariah’s hand dropped from his arm, turning her warm smile on the woman and her son. Andrian shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, palms suddenly damp.
“Hi.” He swallowed another wince. “You don’t know me. But I’m?—”
“Andrian?” the young woman interrupted, tears springing into her eyes. Andrian could hardly steady his feet before she lurched forward, her and her infant son crashing into his chest. Her small arms flung around him, the scent of honey and freshly baked bread and the soft sweetness of her son following her.
“I knew you would come,” she murmured, voice muffled and thick with tears. “Gabriel said there was no way, that you were with the queen and you wouldn’t come north. But I was right.” She hiccupped, squeezing him tighter. “I was right.”
“I…” Andrian didn’t know what to say. Was it panic swimming through his chest, beating his heart faster? He shot a glance at Mariah over the woman’s—over hissister-in-law’s—head, finding her gaze soft and lined with tears.
She must’ve seen that panic in his expression. The corners of her mouth tugged into a smile, and she opened her arms, gesturing a hug.
Right. Return the hug.
Carefully, slowly, he wrapped his arms around his brother’s wife, careful not to jostle his nephew. The babe's wide gray eyes still watched him, open and curious.
“I wasn’t supposed to come north,” Andrian heard himself saying. “But…plans changed. Gabriel told me to find you. I’m sorry it’s taken us so long to do so.”
His sister-in-law sniffled. She wiped her eyes hastily, color flushing into her cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” she said, laughing softly to herself. “How unladylike of me to assail you like that. I haven’t even properly introduced myself!”
Mariah rested a hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “It’s quite all right,” she said. “I can’t imagine how isolating it’s been, being in a strange country all alone.”
She turned slowly to Mariah, her already-wide eyes growing comically wider. “Oh, my gods,” she breathed out. “You are?—”
