Then they burst into loud laughter.
Lily stared at them, baffled and slightly offended.
“I get that it’s not literally about you, but I do hope we’re not tempting fate with all of this.”
Aros managed to pull himself together enough to answer.
“Lily, don’t take it the wrong way. It’s just that it feels like you can see right through us. During our coming-of-age ceremony, we wanted to do something together, so we chose to fly aglider without an AI around the Hatur star while it was in near eruption. Fine. Khar was piloting the glider, Ikar was remote-controlling from a distance, and I flew alongside in the escort craft, but the story might as well have been written about us.”
“It seems to me you let Khar take the spotlight during your ceremony,” Lily joked.
Khar’s surprise was palpable, followed immediately by the snickering of his siblings.
“That gargantuan hornbearer was so occupied with his role and his glory that he didn’t realize we were exhausting ourselves to protect him too,” Aros chimed in, with Ikar solemnly nodding in agreement.
Khar could not believe what he was hearing. His irritation slowly bled into quiet appreciation as he began seeing his brothers in a new light.
“Well,” Lily said, turning to Ikar and Aros with unmistakable expectation, “since we’re sharing…”
Khar felt dread explode in his chest.
“You can make up for teasing me earlier by telling me all of Khar’s youthful mischief,” Lily said sweetly. “The things he does not want anyone to know.”
Khar tried for calm, but his blood went cold.
“Lily, that is completely unnecessary,” he began, hoping to steer the conversation away.
Lily silenced him with a look.
“Don’t be shy, Khar. I said you would get your punishment.”
Aros and Ikar pounced with the joy of starvingferishbear-beast offered fresh prey, each trying to outdo the other in tearing open the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity Lily had handed them.
Khar felt strongly that prisoners of war received more ethical treatment in the Legion than whatever was about to happen to him now.
Oh Cradle, have mercy.
Chapter 31
The Truth Behind the Mask
Lily
“But… he lied to me. He lied to us,” Camille sobbed.
“He did not lie. You just saw what you wanted to see, and now you are angry because you have to face the truth. It was right in front of you the whole time. You were simply too caught up in everything else.”
Lily and Camille arguing about their parents
Ikar and Aros turned out to be the most entertaining company Lily had ever met.
They pushed Khar to the brink of detonation with masterful precision, then retreated without a shred of shame the moment his patience snapped. For Lily, their antics were exactly the kind of balm her soul had been starving for after the brutal ordeal of the past chrono-cycles.
Yet as time passed, it became harder and harder to ignore the emotions churning under her skin, thickening like a gathering storm. By the time they finally said goodbye to Khar’s brothers and the ship’s door sealed itself, leaving her alone with Khar in the quiet of the sleeping quarters, Lily knew it would be impossible to pretend everything was fine.
Not that she needed to pretend.
Khar pulled her into his arms the moment the door shut, then simply leaned back onto the bed, taking her with him, fully dressed, no hesitation. She lay against his chest, held close without having to meet his eyes. His baritone rolled through her when he spoke, that warm, grounding voice that had steadied her through so many storms, only now it made the pressure inside her chest worse, tightening around her lungs until her breath trembled.
