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Tobin trembled silently, and I held onto him a little tighter, though my own limbs were feeling shaky. They’dleftAunt Faith behind? And Earnest and Valor?How?Leaving Dice behind had been agony, and we hadn’t sealed the bond or spent decades together, hadchildrentogether.
“You’d better come in,” Harbor murmured, gesturing for Sterling to open the gate. “It sounds like you have a lot to tell us about.”
We showed the remnants of the Bellamy family to the bathroom, heating water for the tub so they could wash off the grime from traveling. There wasn’t a single inch of space in the house or cabins, so Harbor disappeared onto the grounds to set up a tent for them while I heated up some soup and bread. It wasn’t much, we had to be sensible with our rations.
The four of them came down to meet me in the kitchen, freshly washed and in different clothes, though equally as in need of laundering as their last outfits. When had they last stopped anywhere? It was five hundred miles from Auburn to here, and gas was almost impossible to come by right now.
“How did you even find this place?” I asked, frowning to myself. “Did you know I was here?”
“Felix,” Creed offered. “Felix Lyon, Harbor’s older brother. When things were getting bad between the agathos and daimons, Harbor sent him the address and told him to bring his family here.”
Had he? Harbor had never mentioned it.
“There were rumors you’d headed in this direction.” Chance squirmed uncomfortably. “Some daimons were, er, harassed for information about you. A woman who traveled with you out of town eventually told us what she knew.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, letting out a shaky breath. What had her name been? Stacy? Stephanie? I’d tuned out her stream of chatter at the time, when she’d dressed up as Grace so Viper could smuggle me out of town and fulfill his bargain to Riot at the same time. Oh gods, I hoped she was okay and that she hadn’t suffered because of me.
“They let her go afterward,” Creed said weakly.
“Right. Sit, please.” I gestured at the table. “I guess that means Aunt Faith knows about this place too?”
“It’s likely.” Chance grimaced. “We’re not expecting her to follow. I certainly hope we haven’t brought trouble to your door.”
I nodded silently, filling up bowls and setting them down in front of them. Chance grabbed Tobin’s wrist, physically restraining him from shoveling the piping hot soup into his mouth.
“Thank you,” Creed murmured, watching the exchange. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a hot meal. We’re very grateful.”
I nodded, sitting down at the head of the table. It wasn’t a position I would have ever taken back when I lived with them, but they were on my turf now and I didn’t entirely trust them. Maybe it was petty, but I wanted them to know that I was in charge.
Chance and Creed fussed getting the boys’ food ready, both turning to me when Leon and Tobin were settled eating.
“We’re in love,” Chance said quietly. I blinked at him, my brain taking a moment to catch up.
“The two of you?”
“Yes.” Chance swallowed quickly. “Always have been, actually. We met through Aunt Faith—Creed was already bonded to her; I was last. We hit it off right away, finding an ease in our interactions with each other that we never found with our soul bond.”
“Right,” I replied slowly, glancing nervously at the boys. This was quite the conversation to be having about their mother right in front of them.
“They’ve heard worse,” Creed muttered, massaging his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “Seenworse. It was not an easy journey here. I’ll carry the guilt over what they’ve endured for the rest of my life. Over what all of our children have endured.”
“Grace?” I asked softly, feeling that familiar stab of pain whenever I thought of my cousin. I missed her more than anything, and I knew that we’d probably never see one another again. Before the world had fallen apart, she was already becoming some kind of mystical, goddess-like figure. Even if she found it in her heart to forgive me, I doubted she’d have time for me now.
“Faith was not an easy partner to live with,” Chance said, staring down at his bowl of soup. “And we deferred to her in all ways, because that was what we had always been told to do for our soul bond. When the closeness of the friendship between Creed and I had bothered her, we pulled back completely. When she wanted to take the lead on raising Grace despite her obvious disappointment at having a daughter, we let her.”
Creed was shaking his head, knuckles turning white where he gripped his spoon. “Only the gods know how much Grace has suffered because we were too cowardly to defend her.”
That he referencedthe godsrather than Anesidora surprised me. I’d believed every word Grace had said about the Olympians, but even here at the camp, not all the agathos had been so ready to accept the idea ofothergods.
“Mom was mean to Grace,” Tobin said solemnly, setting his spoon down in the bowl with a clink and looking at me with far too much seriousness for a five-year-old. “She even went on TV and said mean stuff about Grace.”
I grimaced along with my uncles at the memory of that interview. “I’m guessing you didn’t know she was going to say all that.”
“You’re being too generous in your assessment of us,” Chance replied wryly. “The bond… Well, it made it difficult to keep secrets. We knew enough. Enough to have done more. It was the biggest fight we’d had in twenty-seven years.”
“We left the moment the interview was done. Took the boys and ran, consequences be damned. We couldn’t let them grow up that way. It had gone on long enough. The things she said—” Chance’s voice cracked, and he cleared his throat, glancing at the boys. “And then the world went dark.”
“The endless night,” Creed agreed gruffly, finally spooning some now-lukewarm soup into his mouth.
