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“Why?” Fern asked, winking at Lunara while she twiddled the gold piece between her fingers. “Have somewhere shady to be?”
“I merely wish to give my all to Bordoroth and the Evesong’s Cursed Blessing,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm as he bowed at the waist.
Damn it. Lunara never should’ve told him the name she picked for herself. It sounded absolutely ridiculous when he said it in that mocking tone.
Who gives a shite? He chose Blessed Nightmare of the Endless Dark. Talk about ridiculous.
“Lest you forget,” Brand rumbled, some of the Greater coming though, “you and I still have some unfinished business, Araxis. I would appreciate it if you kept that in mind when speaking to my mate.”
Ooh, interesting. Also, climb him like a damned tree as soon as you can.
More importantly, it seemed to ruffle Araxis and he nodded once before looking away.
“Children, please,” Magnus chided, gathering his things. “Mam doesn’t like it when we fight.”
“I’m sure she’ll dislike it even more when we descend upon her without warning,” Araxis said.
“Ach, Amun left earlier. She’s had plenty of warning.”
“Besides, Fifi might be the nicest person I’ve ever met.” Fern held up her coin. “Who wants to bet she shrieks with joy and hugs you all to death?”
Magnus recoiled. “Fifi?”
“Didn’t you know?” Lunara tried to stop the laugh bubbling up but couldn’t. “The empress positively insisted on Fern calling her that.”
Fern flashed a wicked grin at Magnus. “And who am I to deny my blessed Imperial Sovereign?” She fluttered down from her perch and joined them, clicking her tongue. “Come on, lovey.”
Stirling poked his head out from under a table, a piece of meat hanging from his mouth—cuter than anything had a right to be.
“You heard her,” Brand said, chuckling when the fox bounded across the hall and up onto his shoulder, stretching up to lick his cheek. “Time to meet even more new people who will adore you.”
Lunara caught the tightness around Magnus’s eyes, and the way his breath hitched. The fact that he never looked directly at Stirling without gritting his teeth. Heartbreaking and absurd at once. A grown Wolflord jealous that his brother found a new pet to comfort him because he’d always been the one to do it.
Finally learning his grown up lessons, indeed.
She would never let Araxis know that she maybe, possibly, might have agreed with him a tiny bit about something. Sort of.
“Alright, everyone get close” she said, grabbing Fern’s hand with her free one.
Magnus and Araxis made contact, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife, but it was the least of her worries. With the memory of their meeting place in mind, she pulled them into the ether.
The emperor showed her and Fern the private garden shortly after finding Brand, before taking them down to the library. He’d offered it as a place to rest, but Lunara never took him up on it, too engrossed in finding answers to bother.
Shielded from the rest of the world by an invisibility spell to allow him to tend his plants and animals in peace, Alwyn’s stunning plot stood at the end of a veritable maze of soaring corridors and outdoor walkways, jutting out from one of Argoph’s middle levels. Wild and reaching, with haphazard paths and sitting areas that did little to organize the space.
The second they landed, Fionerys did exactly as Fern predicted, snatching all of them in for a fierce embrace before they got a word in. Beyond, Alwyn stood in deep conversation with his two oldest sons, Amal focused on them with spear in hand as fruit trees danced in the evening breeze around her.
Even in the relative safety of the Demon’s Cove that morning, the ajma had been silent, diligent in her watch. Brand insisted that Amal was simply committed to her role as Amun’s sacred bodyguard, but Lunara swore she was cloaked in a deep sorrow. It almost spilled from her pores when she thought no one was looking.
As if the thought reached her, Amal’s crimson and charcoal gaze met Lunara’s, the ajma’s eyes narrowing and darting away again.
“Come on,” Fionerys said, hooking her arm through Magnus’s. “I’ve got tea and nibbles over here, and you can all get to explaining what this is about.”
The bond flared, thumping and anxious, Brand’s hand tightening around her own.
“I’m here,” Lunara whispered so only he heard. “We’ll get through it together.”
The second they fucking found her, Lunara was going to rip Okthana’s head from her body with bare hands.
