Page 10

Chapter 8

Brothers III

~VELIS~

Time starts forward, and she touches her lips to the vessel that’s been relentlessly hunting us like a Maka-damned minotaur, tidings of pain in her babydoll eyes. I hate my brother for putting it there.

He knew what he was doing when he grew close to her. He felt everything inside her and still he let this happen. He’s kept everyone in the fucking worlds from loving him, except my mother and my wife .

Shadows cover the balcony, and rustling in the woods compels me to summon a warning ring of djinn fire around myself, Dolly, and now Arrik, who’s just emerged from my grandfather’s vessel in a cloud of weed-scented smoke.

Under the indigo light, he looks nauseous—the same way I did when she made me wait in there for days. And just like the first time she found me, the moment her lips touch my family’s heirloom vessel, Dolly falls limp in his arms—but not before she reaches for his cheek, and he sets his hand over hers.

The blue flames around us flicker as he crouches to the ground with her like she’s a waif, lifting his eyes to me as if daring me to say something. He knows I felt the eruption in his chest the second he laid eyes on her just now.

He’s more in love with her than when he left!

I’m going to kill him.

The moment I think it, a flare of silent, red energy falls from the treetops above us, unfurling into a thin dome of glittering red light, encompassing us and the surrounding jungle.

The same barrier that kept me locked in the treehouse before.

Arrik gapes up at it from the far side of the deck. But he doesn’t move. He must have heard the rustling too. He knows there’s someone out there.

His eyes remain on mine as he crouches with my wife and master in his arms. And then—

He twists to sling ink into the face of someone who’s just walked through the ring of blue fire around us, having turned to stone to walk through unscathed.

Arrik squints. “Is that a gorgon? What, did you two rob a fucking casino?”

“Pay attention!” I shout as two more broad-shouldered gorgons break through the ring, and I instinctively sling another defensive ball of fire—this time nymph orange—but the gorgon, predictably, turns to stone, and the fire flies right through.

“Pick a new element, dickhead!” snaps Arrik.

“What are gorgons weak against?”

“Clearly not fire!”

I toss out a dozen ice daggers, successfully hitting one in the chest. Instead of turning to stone, the other two freeze the blades mid-air as a countermeasure.

Ice it is.

“ I got into a club fight with a few of these things once. They rely primarily on time-fighting, and it’s incredibly annoying. Be prepared to freeze time if you must. ”

“Are they responsible for that barrier?”

“ No. I don’t have a clue what that is. It feels powerful. ” Arrik crouches to the side with his finger pressed to his ear. He’s clearly favoring his power, shielding Dolly with his body more than his magic. I pitch a protective barrier around them, pulsing focus into it with one hand while conjuring a controlled shower of ice daggers over the two remaining gorgons with my other.

All three of them anticipate it, both the decoys falling overhead and those summoned in secret from behind.

Arrik continues to talk inside my head like he’s stationing a command center, keeping our tactics hidden from the enemies. “ I just tried to teleport out of here with her. Didn’t work. ”

I try the same. “Fuck!”

“ Despite the security thing, they’re technically prey creatures, ” he adds.

“Meaning?” I press.

“ They only have defensive magic. They fight hand to hand. ”

He should have said so earlier.

I stomp my foot, animating a vine from the surrounding jungle into the middle gorgon’s heart like a spear, then ripping it out. I didn’t plan on killing anyone on holiday, but at least I can make it quick.

While the two beside him watch their comrade’s heart roll across the floor, I give them a moment to consider their next move. But it seems they’re also listening to someone in their ears through glowing stones tucked inside.

They move forward, snakes out.

“That isn’t hand to hand!” I hiss at Arrik.

“ You’re still afraid of snakes? ”

“I’m not afraid of snakes, Arrik. Shut up and shield Dolly from blood.”

Just as I start to react, a sickle of ink slashes across the balcony, cutting several vines en route over my head, where yet another body has broken through my ring of fire. But before I can direct my attention to them, a blunt force hits me from behind.