He clears his throat again. “How did you know my twin brother?”
My world tilts and everything goes tumbling.
Twin.
Brother.
I blink but I still can’t move. On his other side I finally notice the other person who had walked up with him. Darian with his constant curiosity and has the wheels in his mind turning. That was why he looked so much like the sun devil. That was why I always braced when confronted with him.
Everyone is watching us and for a moment I wish Ms. Elaycia wasn’t here so I could just go to my room and sleep. I wouldn’t have to meet any family members and I didn’t have to learn this.
“Darian.” He stands up a bit straighter. “Kyros. That’s your surname. . . Kyros.”
I had never heard anyone say his last name before. It would have clicked instantly if they had.
“Lyalthil Kyros was your uncle,” I breathe.
The devil – the twin brother to the sun devil – shifts drawing my attention back to him.
“You knew my brother and his fated? His wife, she had been a water mage.”
I slowly turn away from them because my heart is still thundering and I can’t get it under control. My blood is rushing and there’s no stopping it.
“He was the devil who tortured you when you were a child,” Darian finally answers. Not loudly, but enough that everyone within our little circle can hear. There’s still chattering happening outside of our group so I don’t think anyone is payingus much attention anymore. “He had adopted her when she was a toddler and then he tortured, fed, marked, andclaimedher.”
I snap my head towards him. His icy blue eyes – the exact same almond shaped eyes as his father, as the sun devil – are on the ground. His back straight and head held high, but he won’t look up.
His father chokes along with multiple other people. Someone gasps and then a warm, peaceful presence comes towards my back. Orchids and blackberries – I suck her scent deep into my lungs to help ground me. To remind me this isn’t a nightmare, I am not before the sun devil, I am okay, I am safe.
“Mavyn,” she gently calls, not saying my full name now. “Will you take some deep breaths with me? Your blood is rushing too fast in your veins.”
Yes.
Yes, she’s right. It is rushing too fast. Too out of control and that’s never good. That’s always a disaster.
She breathes in and I copy her. She holds it and I begin counting in my head. Forcing my mind to say each number. To focus on that.
After sixty-two seconds she slowly releases and I do the same. Then she sucks in another deep breath and I copy. Counting to eighty-eight this time before releasing. We do it four more times before my heart begins to slow.
I suck in another deep breath for good measure but I don’t hold it. I’m finally able to gain complete control back over my heart and blood. Then I turn to face my audience and even though I hesitate for a moment when I look at him, that panic does not come back.
“I didn’t know Darian’s last name was Kyros,” I start. He’s still not looking at me, but his father does nothing but stare.
I can see it now, the differences. Their aura, his body language, the emotion in his eyes.
His eyes widen a bit as I push my shoulders back and straighten my back. My energy shifting because the sun devil and his bitch of a mage are dead. I made sure of that. And even though I am still tormented by him within my mind, he doesn’t exist in the real world.
I am not weak.
And they see it now.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Kyros. And I apologize toyouabout any videos you may see or already have of me calling your son a winged bitch.”
The tension that had stretched taunt between all of us after Darian had said how I knew the sun devil shatters as his mother chokes on a laugh. She covers her mouth with her hand but her eyes are sparkling as they stare at me.
Mr. Kyros also has a grin slowly curling onto his face with his eyes lightening with amusement.
“Trust me,” he gently rumbles, “that video had made my entiremonthand I had been counting down the days until I was able to meet the young woman who put my son in his place.”
