Page 70 of Cheating Fate

“Excuse me?” Vahl said when Gavin didn’t elaborate.

“You have the same look that Keran used to have before becoming the Magnar,” Gavin explained. “He didn’t think he could live up to his father.”

Vahl bared his teeth, his fangs descending ever so slightly as he glared at my mate.

“Were you eavesdropping?” he asked in a dangerously low voice.

“No,” Gavin replied, unfazed by my brother’s flaring temper. “I simply know that look, and I could feel the tension the moment I entered the room. And I can tell you that you are good enough.”

“Pfft,” Vahl replied with a disdainful gesture.

“You are,” Gavin insisted forcefully.

“So good I couldn’t even save my own twin sister or my crew,” he replied with a disgusted expression. “And people expect me to save the fucking galaxy?!”

I recoiled, shocked that he would have such thoughts. Granted, I knew he hated not to have been simply able to yank me out of the pit with his biokinetic powers. But I hadn’t realized that he considered himself a failure over what happened during that mission. How had I been so blind?

You’d been too focused on healing your mate and working on your relationship.

That hit hard. I always promised myself that I wouldn’t become one of those females who suddenly forget all their friends and relatives the moment they had a boyfriend. And yet, I had done just that. Sure, I could claim some extenuating circumstances. But I should have been more attuned to my brother’s needs and mental state.

“What are you talking about?” Gavin asked as if Vahl had said something silly. “You did save her.”

It was Vahl’s turn to look at my mate as if he’d fallen on his head.

“I was helpless and pathetic,” Vahl argued. “She was already hurt, and my dumb idea made her fall and crack her ribs on top of the Goddess knows how many other injuries!”

“You weren’t helpless and pathetic!” I exclaimed, flabbergasted. “You tried something. Fine, it failed. But I also believed it would work. At least, you didn’t sit idle. There’s no such thing as always succeeding on the first try.”

“And in the end, you did save us all,” Gavin chimed in.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Vahl asked, baffled. “You saved us!”

“No, Vahl. You did,” he replied calmly. “You’re not going to save the galaxy alone. It will be a team effort, just like on the mission.”

He smiled when my twin’s confusion seemed to deepen.

“I watched the body cam footage from that event,” Gavin explained. “Zhara got herself to the safe pile of rocks close to you. I got her half the way up the pit. You got us the rest of the way. You learned from that first attempt and extended the chain with material that actually wouldn’t melt or snap under our weight. We never would have made it out without you.”

Vahl shifted on his feet, his brow creased as he intently listened. I could see his wheels spinning, trying to find an argument that would sustain his own thoughts that he had not been up to the task. As much as it upset me, it was how his brain worked. Failing to find such an argument would be what rebuilt his confidence.

“You kept your team calm and organized,” Gavin continued. “It was you who ordered them to build that chain and to start moving the debris that blocked our way out. Without the work they had already done to open the path, I couldn’t have helped lift the debris on our end so that you could all crawl out. Without you dragging me to the other side, I wouldn’t have had a body for your sister to resuscitate me. You were the glue that kept everyone going.”

My brother swallowed hard, the first crack showing as the words started sinking in. In that instant, I could have kissed Gavin till he passed out. He had found the words that failed me to get through to my brother.

“I jumped into that pit because I knew you would get us out. One thing you’ll discover about me is that I’m cocky but not suicidal. I trusted you with both our lives, and you came through. There was no way I could get us all the way up with my daggers. Although I knew it, I thought we could get a bit higher before they all melted. In that, I failed.”

I shuddered as I remembered how insanely quick the heat wrecked the blades. Even now, I could smell Gavin’s skin burning on top of the acrid scent of his leather suit also melting.

“When my last dagger melted, Zhara’s quick thinking saved us when she whipped out her braid blade. I never even thought of it. But it allowed me to get us high enough for you to pull us up the rest of the way. And that’s why we’re a team. When one fails or falls short, someone else steps up, and we get each other out to safety,” Gavin said forcefully.

My heart melted seeing how deeply his words moved Vahl. He stared at my mate, his eyes gleaming with gratitude. None of it erased how overwhelmed my twin still felt about the burden he had to shoulder, but we needed to take each small victory as they came.

“I never looked at it that way,” Vahl said sheepishly.

“I’m not surprised,” Gavin said softly. “You’re too humble for that.”

Vahl snorted. “Hardly. A lot of people would say that I’m an arrogant prick.”