Page 214 of Revels on an Angel’s Grave

Leo shook his head, hair flopping into his eyes.

“Once this is over, you should. You’d love it.” He hadn’t seen it himself, but he’d spoken to Desmond and Lola about it earlier. Said they had to take Leo, no matter what happened tomorrow. Had to show him all the world had to offer.

Roremar didn’t have the heart to promise Leo he’d take him himself.

“Valyn is a cool city,” Roremar said when Leo didn’t comment. “It has a lot of art and history. Lola knows all about it. I’m sure she’d show you.”

“It’s not Lyra,” Leo said beneath his breath. Not with an attitude, like he was shirking Roremar’s opinion, but…longingly.

“Is that what’s wrong?” Roremar asked, turning to face him. “You’re homesick?”

Leo slipped his hands into his pockets.

“You’ll go home, Leo. Soon. This whole mess is almost over, and in a few weeks, you’ll all be back on the isles. This is all temporary.”

“Yeah, Rore, and where will you be?”

The words were a blow to Roremar’s chest. “What?”

Leo’s harsh gaze sliced up to him. Fates, he’d grown so quickly in the past year, he was only about six inches shorter than Roremar. All gangly limbs and stretched out frame, but in his formalwear, he looked so much older than Roremar remembered, and that stare that spoke of experiences well beyond his years added to it.

“Where will you be when this is over, Rore? Vivienne and Siena don’t get it, but I do. These people want you dead.” His voice cracked on the last word.

Maybe Roremar shouldn’t have let Leo sit in on the conversation the other night, but while he wanted to protect his siblings, it felt wrong to shield Leo when he was smart enough to put together what was going on.

Roremar wouldn’t lie to him.

“Yeah, Leo a lot of people do want me dead.” Pain slid over his little brother’s features, and it wrecked him. No matter how old Leo got, he was still his little brother. Without Nico, it was just them. “But I’m not letting them win.”

“Won’t they put you through another trial when this tournament is over?”

“They might,” Roremar admitted. “Or they might take it as a sign of the Fates if I survive. The truth is, I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow or any day after that. None of us do, and that’s fucking scary.”

Leo’s gaze dropped to his shoes, hands still shoved in his pockets. “I hate it.”

“Of course you do. You’re too smart not to understand that the unknown can be one of the scariest things about life.” He gripped his brother’s shoulder. “If I’d known when I last saw Nico that it would be the last time I saw him, I would never have let him leave that night. I would have told him I love him extra, and I would have hugged him tighter.” His eyes stung, words choked in his throat. “But I didn’t know, and that’s how life goes. What matters is what we do about it.”

“What do you mean?”

Roremar had to dig deep for the next words. They were fucking terrifying to admit to someone whom he only wanted to see good in the world. “When it first happened, I didn’t want to keep going—to live. I didn’t know how I could. But all of this—you guys being here, us getting to be with Lola again, and Emmeline—it’s reminded me why we have to. So, no matter what, I’m going to keep fighting, Leo. Tomorrow, and every day after.”

Not only in this tournament, but his own fucking demons. He’d fight them every single day to show his brother it was possible.

The words landed, Leo nodding like he was summoning his own strength. “With you gone, I’m the man of the house. I don’t know how to be.”

Roremar’s heart broke for his brother. He was only fucking fourteen. He didn’t deserve that kind of pressure. “For now, you be a kid. You look out for the girls, you help Mother when she asks you to, but you do things you love, too.”

“That’s not what you did,” Leo accused. Fates, how much had he noticed over the past ten years?

“I was wrong. I didn’t know how else to function, but I should have figured it out.”

“I don’t want to have to figure it out,” Leo said quickly, eyes widening.

“I don’t want you to have to,” Roremar confessed. “I wish Nico was still here, that we were all back on Lyra like we were a few months ago.” He swallowed, gaze shifting to the stars spinning outside the window. “But everything is changing. The Fates never let things remain too peaceful for long.”

“You have to survive tomorrow,” Leo pleaded. “No matter what else changes, you need to fight.”

“I’m fighting. I promise, Leo. I’m fighting for all of you like I always have, but this time, we’re being smarter about it.” He wasn’t only fighting to get to the next day, he was fighting for all of them to have the true happiness they deserved.