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“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” A fourth figure emerged. A voice I recognized. Slowly, the group moved close enough to see in the glow of our torch. “Mother always hated it when we fought.”
I could hardly breathe. “Cyrus.”
He smiled at me, and in the dim light I could see tears glistening in his eyes. “It’s good to see you, Brother. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again.”
It felt like a dream. Or like waking up from one. I’d been in an alternate reality for so long, the vision of him didn’t feel real. I had to touch him. Had to feel with my own hands that he wasn’t a figment of my imagination.
My hands…I quickly dropped Emilie’s hand, and I heard her gasp behind me. I mourned the loss of her touch immediately, but Cyrus was staring, waiting for me to say or do something.
I stepped forward slowly, as if I might chase him away by making a sudden move. When I was close enough to touch him, I reached for his hand.
He looked down at my hand, posed to shake, and scoffed. “Get in here, Ladon.” He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me in for a hug. I flinched at the sudden feeling of hands on me but eased into it, clapping my hands on his back too.
“I’ve missed you, you fool. Do you know how long we’ve been searching for you? How long we’ve been fighting with Reyna’s forces on the border? She’s amassed quite the army, huh? When were you going to tell me about that?”
He released me and gave me a once over. “Are you okay? Gods, you’ve been missing for ages. I’m sorry we couldn’t get to you sooner. We better get you cleaned up before taking you home. Mother won’t let me hear the end of it if I show up with you looking like that.”
I allowed a small grin to take form, still feeling as if this were a dream. “I still look better than you.”
His laughter was warm and comforting. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him. I’d tried not to think too much about life outside of the mountain, for fear that it would hurt too badly. Now it felt as though my heart were being squeezed inside my chest.
He clapped me on the shoulders again and then looked behind me. “Emilie?”
Hearing her name on his lips? My heart sank. I turned in time to see Emilie walking forward.
“Hello, Cyrus,” she said. There was a formality there that I didn’t recognize. It’d been easy to forget that they hardly knew each other. They weren’t nearly as familiar as she and I were…not by a long shot.
And yet, she was going to marry him. Unless I could find a way to stop it. My concerns only grew when he wrapped her in a warm embrace, resting his cheek on top of her head.
Something roiled in my chest, and I wanted to drag him away from her. My lip curved in a snarl, and I caught Emilie’s gaze. She was staring at me with a placating look. I could almost hear her voice in my head, telling me that now wasn’t the time.
Cyrus pulled away, and I grumbled when he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. It was a battle to keep my anger at bay as my brother treated Emilie as if she was already his wife.
The gods had a sick sense of humor. Not long ago, I’d been adamant about keeping Emilie away from Cyrus. Now I wanted to keep Cyrus away from her.
She was mine.
“I’m glad to see you’re both alive and…well, I guess you’re not quite healthy, are you? Better than I had expected, though. We can clean up these wounds and nurse you both back to good health.”
He didn’t see the wounds beneath the flesh. The distress when Emilie was in a crowd. The dread when someone other than her touched me. Our scars were plentiful, even if they weren’t all visible.
“Are you sure you’re both okay? We got here as soon as we could. I know that’ll never be enough but I swear we tried our hardest.” I could hear the pain in his voice and knew he was sincere. My brother would do anything for me, just as I would for him.
“And who is this?” he asked.
I turned to see the harpy standing rigid, looking completely unnatural and entirely out of place. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
Emilie jumped in. “This is our friend. She’s helped us numerous times, including helping us escape. We owe her our life.”
I couldn’t deny that was true, so I gave the harpy a small nod of gratitude. “She comes with us.”
He looked her up and down, seeming to find no reason to deny us. “Understood.”
From a distance, I heard another sound of explosives shaking the ground, and a soldier in the back spoke up. “Sir, we need to move.”
Cyrus was still looking us over as if we might crumble but he agreed. “Let’s get moving. Unless Ladon here can use his magic to keep the mountain from caving in.
I gave my brother a pained look. “That won’t be happening.”
