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“Enough.” Magnus drew deep from the roll of herbs and passed it along to Fern. “I refuse for the last words I exchange with you to be heated, should the worst happen. You can be as pissed as you please. Call me a fool, I don’t care. I might not be High Ambassador yet, but the one thing I know how to do far better than you is be fucking alive. I’ll go to the Veil having tasted life. Having enjoyed it, with little in the way of regrets. Can you say the same, little brother?”

There was a weighted silence, every breath on that balcony bated. Tense. Waiting to see how Araxis would respond, or if their night was ruined.

“No.” Araxis shook his head. “I can’t say the same, but I have my reasons for being the way I am. All I want is to not be made to feel like shite for the things outside of my control.”

“Aye. Fair enough.”

“What is happening right now?” Faldir whispered.

Hedda ruffled his hair. “I think this is how regular siblings bond. Or…something. I don’t know. It’s weird.”

“It’s fucking tragic.” Fern shoved a handful of seeds from Vann into her mouth, still laying down and making a mess. “I’m obsessed with it.”

Lyriat hummed, fiddling with the hem of his tunic. “It’s different for everyone, I think. Siblings or cousins, friends or lovers…” He looked at each of them in turn. “No matter how the relation came about, family is the most precious gift we’ll ever be given. Don’t take it for granted. Not for a moment.”

Not when it could be taken away in the blink of an eye, like Bal and Nyri. Like Brand himself had been.

He pulled Luna up from the end of their seat and into his lap, banding his arms around her. “Most precious,” he murmured into her ear.

She settled back with a sigh but he wasn’t fooled by the mask of serenity she wore. Not when her fraying nerves were stirring up his own, her worries running rampant down the bond.

“I’m not nearly drunk enough for hugging yet,” Faldir said. “Give me another hour before you all go soft.”

Vann slid down onto his knees and embraced first Faldir, then Lyriat. “I was that gone before we even got here,” he teased, planting a loud kiss on Lyriat’s forehead and shoving him away, stumbling to his feet.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Araxis held both hands up when Vann spun in his direction, backing away.

“Come on, baby brother! Give us a kiss!”

Araxis misted to the other side of the balcony, gaze snagging on Magnus. His brow pinched, a million thoughts working their way across his face as he mumbled, “If you can catch me, I’ll consider it.”

The others erupted, cheering Vann on when he unleashed his Fae speed in every direction, trying to grab Araxis before he disappeared again⁠—

A howl rent the air, and every one of them froze.

Magnus jolted forward, his chair screeching as he flung himself against the railing. “That’s Sorcha,” he breathed. “Down in the Main Square.”

“As I said”—Lyriat joined him, giving his shoulder a slap—“family is a gift, and one of ours has been missing of late. I thought to surprise you, and summoned him under the guise of needing a report before we move in the morning. Though, I’ve no idea why he didn’t come through the portal in the Great Hall.”

Magnus turned a pleading look at Luna. “Please, witchling. Can you fetch him?”

She disappeared, reappearing with Thaddeus in tow a second later.

Thad looked absolutely exhausted. His wheaten hair was longer, but lank, black ooze clinging to the ends in some places, clumping them together. More of the same coated his tattered robe, bandages here and there. What had been a shadow on his face before was a full beard now.

Fuck. He looked almost exactly like Magnus—barring that bright and glittering cerulean gaze, taking all of them in with wide-eyed surprise.

Mag was on him in a second, squeezing him tight before he held him at arm’s length. “Are you alright, lad? What the fuck happened to you? Caius’s letter⁠—”

“Fine. It’s fine. I look worse than I feel. I think. Haven’t really looked at myself in a bit, aye? No time.” Thad waved him away with a rueful chuckle. “Besides, today was slower than it’s been in a long while. It’s like the beasts know you’re all coming.”

“I’m sorry,” Mag rasped. “I should’ve been there when the cities were taken.”

“What you were doing was just as important.” Thad glanced over at Brand, then Lyriat. “Speaking of letters, I’m sorry too. It might not have been so bad, but I was injured after the two of you made your escape from the Ghostbor and Da lost his damned mind over it. He was pissed as anything to find out what we were up to.”

Lyriat shook his head. “No apologies, Thaddeus. We put you in an impossible position. It was bloody shite of us, to be honest.”

Thad huffed. “If it makes you feel better, I think he regrets the way it all went. He was harsh in his missive, aye, but you know how he is since we lost mam. He feels everything…more.”