Page 13 of Mantle (IMMORTAL FLAME #3)

~Ariana~

I looked over at Nyx as we held hands on our way through the corridors of my family home, making our way to the Dining Room.

He had a dazed, faraway look in his eyes, appearing intensely introspective.

“All right, cutie pie?” I asked, giving his hand a slight squeeze.

He blinked and eyed me. “Yeah, I… I’m just thinking about earlier. About Kai.”

“What about him?”

“I mean, I always accepted him as he was. Of course I did. And he did the same for me. But it did bother me that he cut himself off so much. Even quite a bit from me. It bothered me for him, because I knew he had so much to give. So much love and care, so much life, strength, and hope. And last night… it really came into full view… he’s become that person.

He’s open. He chose us over his obsessive pursuit of knowledge.

” His smile widened. “I just can’t believe it’s happened, that he’s become this…

this full version of himself, the potential that I saw in him actually being met. ”

“I know,” I said. “He’s been amazing, courageous. Not just for us, but realizing it was a way to unburden himself, too.”

“Yeah, doing it just for us, it wouldn’t have lasted, and it would have remained as just a strain on him. But this is much more than that.”

“If it hadn’t been for me, it wouldn’t have been such a struggle for him, he wouldn’t have shut down and—”

“No.” He brushed his fingers over my knuckles.

“It wasn’t you.” We came to a stop and he admitted, “At first, I did think that as well. But seeing the two of you together, then getting to know you , it quickly became apparent that I was wrong. Kai went that way after his parents freaked him out with that story about Draco. It shattered not just his worldview, but his sense of ever being safe. It brought hopelessness and perceived weakness along with it. It sparked his obsession. When you walked away and kept away for a long time, it was honestly for the best, while he was like that. And neither of you were ready for each other, or to be anything more. If you’d stayed close to him, given how you both were at the time, I really believe it would have become extremely and dangerously toxic between you.

It could have actually ruined any chance of us all coming together, of the four of us having what we do now. ”

“Wow, that’s… I didn’t think of it like that.”

“Well, I’ve got you, Halo.” He wrapped his arm around me. “Now, let’s get breakfast. I can’t wait to sit down with your family, the four of us with them, without it being a high-stakes sort of situation.”

I chuckled at that, in spite of everything. “Yeah, it’s close to becoming an actual pattern with that.”

“We break it today. This morning. Just relaxing, taking a beat, and enjoying the company—and the food.”

“Sounds perfect.”

We turned off the corridor and entered the Dining Room, a wave of familiarity and warmth rolling over me, just like being back here as a whole had been doing.

Although it still held a strong warmth and familiarity, returning here after everything that had happened made it feel like another life altogether—like a world away from the one my men and I lived now.

I took in the space, high-ceilinged and elegant. The walls were a matte sage and accented with warm brass sconces shaped like curling vines. Enchanted oil paintings lined the walls—landscapes from other realms, all shifting gently.

The long dining table was made of honey-stained oak and flanked by high-backed chairs upholstered in forest green and embroidered with gold threading.

There was a floating ring of golden lights hovering above the table, casting a soothing amber glow.

The table itself was set with stoneware dishes rather than porcelain, dark slate napkins folded with clean corners, and pitchers of fruit-infused water nestled among the platters of food.

“Whoa,” Nyx uttered, taking in the food, the crafted spread a true feast with a whole lot of thought put into it by Mom and Papa.

I smiled as I first saw the massive tray of waffles in the center. They were crisped at the edges and pillowy in the center, drizzled with maple syrup and topped with candied bacon.

A carved wooden bowl held scrambled eggs with black truffle and green onions. It was beside charred tomatoes and extravagant cheese with a chili glaze.

Across from it, I saw Lucian’s artistic and sophisticated touch with the soufflé bites, hand-rolled croissants and crystal flutes of pomegranate juice rimmed with sugar.

Nyx gestured at the notable head of the table, the chair slightly larger. “Who sits there?”

“My mom.” I smiled. “Always her.”

“I love it. As it should be. When we move in together after the Academy, we’re gonna do the same for you.”

“I’d rather there was no head of the table at all. We’re all even.”

“Some of that is your issue with being the most powerful being on the planet.”

Of course he’d see that as well. But it was more about not wanting that dynamic to play out with the four of us. I liked us all being on an equal footing. It worked best that way, especially when the egos of Kai and Vorzyr were factored in.

“Perhaps,” I told him. “But I don’t like there being a hierarchy with us. Being on equal footing is one of the things that makes it work in our relationship.”

“Fair enough,” he said, easily, then checking out the food again,

And then I was stilling, as the rest of what he’d just said computed. “Move in together?”

“Yeah. Of course.” He looked over his shoulder at me after leaning down to breathe in one of the croissants. “I mean… sorry, I just thought… I figured it was a given.”

“We just haven’t talked about it. With everything happening, plans like that kind of fell to the wayside.” I smiled out at him. “But I’d really like that, too.”

Before more could be said, Papa and Pops pushed on into the room, Pops with his phone out and texting rapidly, while Papa, clad in a black tailored suit even this early in the morning and just for family breakfast, informed him, “I’m going to head out with Jaxon’s Lupan Stabilization Unit after this and assist with the tracking of Ketheron. ”

Pops shook his head as he continued typing away, distractedly. “You’re gonna be needed at Polaris , my love. With Blackline Protocol in effect, the populace will be anxious and heading there will be a salve to all that concern and fear. You’ll be facing an influx. Even in the day.”

“I can do both. Anton and Warlow will also assist in my stead.”

“It’s not necessary.”

Papa grasped his arm and it had Pops giving him his full attention, looking away from his phone. “We both know it is. They haven’t even registered a single viable trail yet. My senses are next to none. I can get the trackers on the right path.”

Pops sighed.

“I know you’re worried.”

“I am.”

“I won’t get too close. Neither will Jaxon’s wolves. You have my word that I will see to it.”

“Okay,” Pops conceded. “Okay. And, yes, honestly, we could use the assistance. Especially from somebody with your abilities.”

Lucian kissed his cheek, making Pops smile, even despite all the stress of holding things together while the supernatural world was in lockdown mode.

“It’s been nice to see you master the art of delegating. Don’t let that slip away with it being a crisis situation in play now,” Papa told him, gesturing at his phone, and the fact that he’d been urgently texting away.

“I won’t, but I’m still the person that the buck stops at. Everything goes through me.”

“Are you going to be able to take an hour for our family breakfast?”

“I’ll make it so, yes. But I need to leave for the Compound right after.”

“All right, my beloved, then let us make the most of the brief calm before you return to the storm.”

Pops took in the breakfast spread. “Thanks for doing this. How come Jaxon didn’t help as well? He loves cooking alongside Mia.”

“He needed another run. Seeing Ariana suffering like that… it aggravated and pained his animal side. He also noticed that it did the same to Vorzyr, so he’s also using it as an opportunity to assist him .

A being with a powerful animal nature who’s also come into great power.

No one knows more about that than Jaxon. ”

Pops took his words in. “I’ll have him keep me posted where that’s concerned. Vorzyr possessing those abilities must remain only between us, our family. If the Celestial Plane got wind of it… he’d become a chief target of theirs.”

“Indeed.”

Papa stiffened.

With the urgency of their conversation, I guess he hadn’t been employing his intuition and vampiric senses to their full capacity, because he only then swung his head our way and noticed Nyx and I standing over on the other side of the room. “Early for breakfast as usual, I see,” he commented.

The two of them came over to us, and Pops told Nyx, “Breakfast was always Ari’s favorite time. The beginning of a new day, her telling us everything she’d planned to do from sun-up to sundown.”

“I remember that,” I said.

“An excitable kid, were you?” Nyx asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah.”

I had been. While I’d been safely ensconced here with my family, before I’d discovered how the supernatural world had seen me.

Mom walked in then, dressed in her usual sophisticated way in a royal-blue wrap top and a pair of black dress pants, along with designer heels that glittered with blue jewels along the straps.

She smiled out at us. “Come on, let’s begin.

Take your seats. Jaxon just mind-linked me, he’ll be here any moment with Vorzyr. And Kai—”

“Is here,” Kai finished for her, as he teleported in, startling everyone.

He wasn’t wearing his trench coat anymore. He was actually giving off an air of relaxation and openness by just being in his black button down and a pair of dress pants.

Before I could full register it, Dad and Vorzyr walked in.

I started as I took in Dad draping his arm over Vorzyr’s shoulders in a friendly and supportive gesture, the two of them chuckling heartily about something.

Wow.