He only hoped Mariah wouldn’t come for him. Yet those last words she’d roared at him still burned in the back of his mind.
Iwillcome back for you.
“Andrian,” Gabriel snapped. “Are you ready?”
“Sorry. Yes.” He cleared his throat, straightening his shoulders. Gabriel gave him a tight nod and leaned forward, taking a step toward the stairwell.
“Wait.” Andrian grabbed his brother’s arm. Gabriel halted and turned, eyes wide. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Yes, Andrian. I know it sounds stupid, but trust me, it’ll work?—”
“Not with this plan,” Andrian hissed. “With helpingme.”
Gabriel fell silent and blinked.
“You have afamily, Gabriel.” Andrian didn’t know why this was all suddenly hitting him. But he wasn’t sure he could watch his brother throw himself to the wolves when he arguably had so much more to lose. “Don’t do this if it will hurt your wife and son. I’m not—” Andrian swallowed thickly. “I’m not worth that.”
Gabriel’s expression softened.
“My wife and son are in Leuxrith already, Andrian. They left a week ago.” He glanced around. “I never trusted this place. The moment I got here and saw what was going on, I sent word back to them—in a code, don’t give me that look. She knew to take our son and get themselves safely north if they received that from me.”
Andrian’s mouth dropped open in shock. “You…they’re…”
“Yes. They’re safe.” Tears lined Gabriel’s golden eyes. “Would you do me a favor? Can you find them in Leuxrith and make sure they’re safe and provided for? Tell them I’m fine and that I’ll join all of you as soon as I can.”
Fuck. Pain squeezed through Andrian’s chest, filling in all his hollow cracks. He stepped forward, wrapping a hand around the back of Gabriel’s head and drawing his brother’s forehead to his own.
“I would be honored to find your family, Gabriel. They’re my family, too. They will stay safe and away from this nightmare.”
Gabriel nodded, taking a deep, shaky inhale. He pushed back, clearing his throat.
“Right. Thank you.” He gave Andrian a weak smile before turning back to the stairwell.
“Travel safe, brother. I will see you when the darkness clears.” With that, the golden-haired lord bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time as he summoned flame to his palms. His raucous calls echoed off the walls, the perfect mimicry of a drunk petulant lordling having a wild night.
Andrian smiled. “When the darkness clears, brother.” He pushed through the door on his right, vanishing into the Khento gardens.
The moonlight dancedaround him in welcome.
The once-resplendent foliage that had adorned the sprawling gardens outside Khento was still burned and destroyed from the conflict that spring. Hedges were reduced to ash, trees ripped from their roots, flora burned by dragonfire.
On the walls behind him, where guards usually patrolled, Andrian heard jeering laughs. The occasional burst of red-gold light illuminated the sky as Gabriel launched fire into the air.
An idiotic plan, and one Andrian couldn’t believe was working.
He quickened his pace. Light flared again, and he cringed when his boots crunched on the ash and wreckage spotting the gardens.
“Andrian Laurent.”
The familiar voice said his name softly, hardly more than a whisper. He froze. Shadows unspooled around his wrists, dread and fear sliding through his gut.
He turned slowly to meet the wan face of Anniliese Hareth. Her white priestess robes hung loosely around her gaunt frame.
“Anniliese,” he said quietly. His shadows grew more solid, a coil of rope forming around his arm. “What are you doing out here?”
She cocked her head. “I could ask you the same thing.” Her soft brown gaze scanned him, seeing everything he wished she didn’t: the pack slung across his shoulders with enough provisions to last a few days on the road, tightly laced boots, a broadsword sheathed down his back.
He remembered what Mariah had told him. About what had happened between him and Anniliese back when he hadn’t been himself.
