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Neia clicked her tongue. “You’re going to ruin my best gloves.” She didn’t hesitate to pull them out, though. The entire group seemed to sigh with the relief that we could all complain over things now, that the worst had passed.
Orman accepted the gloves and stretched them over his hands. When Lira stopped singing, he gripped the bars, his nose flaring and arms trembling as he yanked them apart. “Oh, fuck,” he said before ripping the tattered gloves off. Burns marred his palms, but they were minor. “You two first?” Orman said, gesturing to the hole he’d made.
Rainoe sighed and walked up and waited until Orman exited the cage before speaking to him. “Here, let me see.”
Later, after a sojourn at the siren city and a day of traveling, we approached the city walls of home as the sun rose over the world. Slivers of the curved domes of the palace were visible above trees, glowing peach as mist hugged around them.
Neia had lingered around Elisa, touching her gently at every opportunity, her eyes constantly darting to her. I’d hovered around Lira in the same manner. We’d both faced the potential of losing the women we loved. Elisa released Neia’s hand and skipped forward, catching up with the others where Orman teased Lira about something that caused her cheeks to turn pink while Luz walked alongside them.
I stepped closer to Neia and readjusted the straps of my bag which held both the heart stones and the box with the Map of Forgetting. Lira and I hadn’t figured out how to open the box yet, but it held little of our focus the previous night when we finally made it alone in a tent together. My heart soared with how successful the trip ended up being. Now there was only one other heart stone missing. Soon we’d have them restored which would secure our court’s magic and enable us to change Neia into a fae. “Another job completed.”
Neia smirked at me. “So, you and Lira worked things out in the temple?”
I laughed as we eased along a path that sloped down a hill. “I suppose so.” Hesitation rippled through me, but I was tired of always keeping things so swallowed down. Neia was one of the most trustworthy people in my life and I needed to stop pushing her out. I came to a stop, and she joined me. “I almost died in there.”
“What?” Her eyes went wide, and I shrugged but lifted the hem of my kurta. She sucked air over her teeth as she took in the massive scar. “What the fuck?”
I dropped the fabric. “It turns out demon-haunted temple ruins are not the safest places to travel through.”
“Saints. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Me too, but that’s not why I brought it up.”
The rest of the group had made it a stretch away from us. Elisa looked back over her shoulder, and Neia smiled at her before returning her attention to me. “Why, then?”
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other before releasing a breath. “I love you, Neia. I want you to hear me say it out loud and not just have it implied.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I know.” I readjusted the backpack, shifted my feet again, looked beyond to the walls, then lifted my gaze to her again. “I’m not great at being transparent, but when I laid there thinking that was my end, you came to mind. I regretted never saying it to you.” I gripped her arm and knew telling her was the right thing. I should have done so years before. “You’ve made my life richer for knowing you. I love you.”
She placed a hand over mine. “I love you too, Sai.”
I cleared my throat. “All right, now that I’ve made us both thoroughly uncomfortable,”—we both laughed—“let’s go home.”
We broke apart, but the warmth of the conversation remained with me. As we made it into the city and walked up the palace steps, drums announced our presence. Orman looked back over his shoulder at Neia, and she grinned at him. Thank the Goddess they’d worked together and used those codes and Elisa’s note to warn us. Damn I was lucky to have all these beings who belonged to me.
We reached the door and found the Maharani waiting for us, something Mother never did. I bowed before her, touching her feet, before rising again as worry prickled along my spine. “Is something wrong, Maharani?”
She nodded, her forehead furrowed. “I’ll brief you directly. In the meantime, Lira, Prince Lennox is here to see you.”
“Lennox?” I hissed.
Lira stepped forward. “Okay.”
“Wait.” I turned on her. “Do you feel safe speaking with him?” After all, we’d tricked him, and despite primarily possessing glamour magic, a prince of any fae court usually had a great depth of powers. If the bastard even looked at Lira the wrong way, I may recant on my policy of not harming others.
She gripped my arms and looked me in the eye. “I feel perfectly safe. Trust me?”
I groaned but gave a nod of assent. Damn it, she would use that against me. I’d promised to trust her and give her autonomy with her choices from now on, but I hated standing back as she walked towards anything that might cause her harm or discomfort.
“Good,” the Maharani said as she gestured for a guard before turning back to me. “We must speak at once. Much has changed in your absence.”
I frowned, worry deepening like a pool filling until it spilled over its edges as I watched Lira follow the guard into the palace, the doorway swallowing her form.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE
LENNOX
