“Fuck!” Xelan never swore. This was bad.
Tameka shoved Nox aside to let her partner see her. “Sorry. Short of knocking him out again, I couldn’t do much to stop him.” She had followed Nox all the way to this tree, telling him now wasn’t the best time. But here they were, the giant Icarus downwind of the father/daughter pair, interrupting. She glared at him. “What made you think this was a good idea?”
Xelan looked off, muttering curses, while Nox said, “I couldn’t sit there any longer, knowing Rayne withstands this on her own. I agree to surrender, but only under the terms that I bring Celindria in with me.”
Despite Nox’s noble words, Tameka knew this calculating bastard had waited until Korac left with Sagan to pull this stunt. If only Rayne didn’t look so devastated by his pronouncement. Tameka said, “Kyle and Andrew will be here and hopefully make this situation better. Until then, no one is making any life-altering decisions.”
Tameka hoped to reassure Rayne, and by the softening of her best friend’s eyes, it had worked. Tameka said, “Get up here and hug me, woman. You owe me a few for keeping yourself a secret for months.”
As Rayne climbed to her feet and pulled Tameka in for a bone-crushing hug, she noticed Xelan had stopped cursing to himself. In fact, both men seemed to bask in the warmth happening between them. Dampening the flames of Tameka’s fury, something else flickered in its place.
Hope.
“There.” Tameka set them apart and wiped the tears from Rayne’s eyes. “Oh, fuck.” Her sudden outburst contorted Rayne’s face into bewilderment before she explained, “I just realized we’ll have to deal with Kyle.”
Simultaneously, the brothers groaned in further exasperation. With tension pulled taut between them, they looked at each other. Xelan with undiluted disdain, and Nox with regret. The younger brother clicked his tongue in disgust when he looked away, while the eldest did it in shame.
The brief moment of eye contact fanned the flicker into a flame.
It burned in Rayne’s eyes too. The look on Rayne’s face begged Tameka to play ambassador again. With a roll of her eyes, she relented and stepped into the massive Icarus’ line of sight. “You. Did you come to us with some plan about how to make Celindria surrender? Because we saw her yesterday in a prisoner’s body. She mentioned a deal. I don’t suppose…”
Nox was entirely too tall, and Tameka was shorter than Rayne. She edged onto her tiptoes to keep from craning up to look at the man who blinked down at her. The smart ass asked, “Am I permitted to address you now?”
Tameka misaligned her jaw, seeing now why Xelan was so damned infuriated. She flicked her eyes all the way up the mountain of an Icarus until she stared him down. This was the look. It made puddles of grown men. Even the former King of Cinder took a step back as she gritted out, “Don’t. Waste. My. Time.”
Rayne touched Nox’s arm. Elden when he looked at her, the man transformed. It was in the shine of his eyes. Nox loved Rayne. Rayne squeezed encouragingly as she said, “Please answer her question.”
Xelan was at Tameka’s back, but she could tell by the tension in his shoulders he was listening to every word. She could mediate this for him, but only knowing he would pay her back later tonight. It was enough to make her half-smile, which narrowed Nox’s eyes.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The Icarus Rayne whom loved—ugh, that hurt to think—said, “At Night Rayne’s Tomb, I asked Celindria to surrender with me in return for us rehabilitating together. And thereby we would dedicate our skills in service to the Concerted Empire of Iona Pax.”
Tameka’s eyes stretched wide, and she couldn’t stop herself from looking back at Xelan.
He was frozen to the tree branch. She swore he wasn’t breathing.
Rayne chimed in then. “She almost agreed to it, too. But Bethany dropped all her vessels.”
Okay. This pissed Tameka off. “You mean the annihilation squad knew the two of you were alive?! Before me?! Who else knows?”
Not even Rayne’s pitiful wince would temper Tameka’s ire. Rayne said, “Uhm… Caedes was the first to find out, and I don’t know if Korac told anyone.”
“Tumu knows. Lucas, too.” Xelan sounded equally ashamed of himself. As was right.
Angry tears stung Tameka’s eyes, but she knew this was temporary compared to how she’d mourned Rayne’s sacrifice. With a sigh, she dragged Rayne in for another hug. Yup. Another rib-breaker. “I’m super mad because you’ve missed Pax’s birthday—Hell, my birthday. And so many other things. I can’t even begin to understand you, but you’re my favorite martyr, so I guess that counts for something.” When Tameka pulled them apart, she pointed in Rayne’s face. “But you owe me. First chance you get, you’re babysitting for me while Xelan and I have some alone time.”
Bright laughter burst from Rayne until Tameka said, “And then I’ll force you to listen to the details.”
Xelan and Rayne shuddered at the same time, and Tameka couldn’t help herself. She laughed—
So did Nox.
Ew. They’d laughed at the same time.
Well, at least he looked properly aggrieved by it, too.
“As much as it disgusts me to say it, you two head off somewhere. I want some time alone with my partner.” Tameka shooed them off.
She hated to admit it, but as the pair clasped hands and flew down into the forest, they looked good together. Two War Kings in love. “Ugh.” Tameka turned and looked down at her man, sulking. Somehow, he made it look cute. How to console Xelan? She sat down beside him and said, “Rayne loves you. You’re her everything and you have been ever since the beginning. And now the one person Rayne loves most despises the man she wants more than anything else. You’re going to push her away.”
Xelan squeezed his eyes shut. “It doesn’t matter what I want or what she wants. If our Probability is to survive, we have to pry them apart.”
Tameka frowned, but put it together. “Oh. Of course, they’re the Eternal Bind. What a trifecta of a fucked up night. Will you take his plea bargain?”
After prying off a piece of bark, Xelan chucked it onto the forest floor. “Something Rayne said struck a chord. You know, with vice lords like Cinderken and others, I’ve wondered about the best system for reform. Rayne said she rehabilitated ‘he who shall remain nameless’ by living his life with him and vice versa. That he experienced the torment he put her through, and it sympathized him with his victim—And she is his victim.” A heavy sigh tore from Xelan before he continued. “Well, it’s an inspired concept. One I think we can emulate.”
Tameka let him finish before saying, “So you think we should expose Nox and Celindria to all their victims’ lives—All the ones willing to donate their experiences. By doing so, they learn compassion. I like it, but… Elden, how many people have they hurt? It would take centuries, millennia even.”
Xelan looked up at the canopy, seeking something in the silver leaves. “Perhaps in that time, Nox will remember what he loved in Celindria, and they can build a relationship together far away from Rayne—Ow!”
“Asshole.” Tameka understood. Rayne and Nox together at all—let alone being the Eternal Bind—was astronomically fucked, but… “There’s no way I’m conspiring to ruin my unrelated sister’s happiness, and I’m trying not to think less of you for suggesting it.”
The crestfallen slip to Xelan’s features said she’d properly shamed him. As an apology, he offered, “I’m not at my best today, am I?”
Tameka squeezed him in for a side hug and kissed his temple. “You’ve had a bad day, so I’ll forgive you. Let’s take this one thing at a time, okay? Kyle and Andrew will test Nox, and then we’ll all sit down—yes, all of us—and discuss next actions.”
“I love you, Fury.”
There was no denying it. When Xelan shifted so Tameka could see his eyes, they glistened with overwhelming emotion. She said, “Wingmaster, I can’t solve all your problems, but I am right here by your side. I love you, too.”
Xelan chuckled out of nowhere.
Tameka quirked a brow at him. “What?”
“At least we don’t have to name an Iona after him now.”
That was Tameka’s mate. Always seeing the brighter side of things.