My fists uncoil and a subtle breath leaves my lips. One much louder falls from her as she raises her hand and knocks without any hesitation.
“You all have quite the timing,” Nero says as his gaze roams over us.
The quiver in his tone and the gloss in his eyes have mine narrowing. Not in suspicion, but sharp concern for what may have happened in the time we’ve been in the meadow.
He pushes the door open wider, stepping aside to give us room to pass, but Thayla slams to a stop two steps in.
I crowd in behind her until my chest brushes her back as the space closes around us.
Four heads snap in our direction, and two of them surprise me, but they don’t hold my attention. Not when it’s dragged, unrelenting, to the couch.
To Sevryn.
Tremors still tear through him. Not subtle. Not lessening.
His elbows brace against his bouncing knees, and his hands are clenched so tight his knuckles have gone bone-white. His head is bowed, shoulders caved inward, and tears slide unchecked down his cheeks, splattering against the hardwood floor.
Each drop is loud.
When his bloodshot eyes lift and collide with mine, devastation cleaves straight through my chest. The pain is crushing.
There’s no anger in his expression. None aimed at me, at least.
There’s just…defeat.
The hollow aftermath of losing people you care about.
A shared understanding passes between us in this silent, fragile second. No words are needed. None would survive the space between us anyway.
We wouldn’t lay waste to each other. We’d rile each other up. We’d concoct our own plan of revenge against the men who raised and failed us.
Still, I apologize with my eyes.
I didn’t mean to fail his people.
“Where the hell have you all been? Are you okay?” Yemi asks, breaking the stillness as she swallows Thayla in a hug.
My Binder closes her eyes and lets her chin rest on her friend’s shoulder.
“We’re okay.”
“Little troublling,” Derivius says as he steps up as soon as Yemi moves over.
“What are you doing here?” Thayla asks.
“I felt…” he trails off as his gaze roams over V. Thayla’s attention follows his, and she clears her throat.
“Derivius, this is my Vedarya, V.”
My brothers, Derivius, V, and I tilt our heads at her. Understanding why she’s introducing them hits me square in my chest. My brothers obviously put two and two together at the same time as they hang their heads a fraction.
“Derivius and I go way back, Thayla girl. We had our reunion…a short time ago.”
She scowls between the two of them.
“When would the two of you be around each other without me?”
Her gaze roams over each of us, but it’s Kyzen’s nervous rubbing at the back of his neck that gives it away.
