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Chapter 20

Prince

R ends were a fickle bitch that sat on me like the plague, constantly residing in the back of my mind, waiting for the right thing to tip them off. A taste, a voice, a feeling.

Or the stench of burning flesh that still fucking haunted me, something that was so buried in the shitty soup that was my brain that I'd never get rid of it, and my body knew that too. Pressure, a constant companion since I'd gotten to Archon's, paired again with the blood that slid over my lip and into my mouth. My body fought it, as viciously as I'd fought to get here. Only my will and the remnants of Mags's potion kept it at bay.

Not that it mattered now.

I was useless on this side of the door as my brothers screamed until their voices went hoarse, and Eirik stumbled into the early morning sun, trying to get to them.

Their pain was something physical in me, something that echoed in the space of long-since dried-up bonds that had just barely started to resurface in my chest. They thumped wildly, as though they'd been set on fire all over again.

Fuck , was this what they'd felt when it was me on that pyre?

"Eirik!" I reached my hand out, the sunlight hitting it, lighting up sparks of agony the moment it touched me, leaving trailing black marks along my skin. That pain lingered, soaked in until I couldn't even raise my hand to try again.

I was too late, always too fucking late.

Sebek had taken Aaliyah, Archon had strung up my brothers to burn, and Eirik , the fucking idiot, had dove onto the roof after them. The screaming stopped, leaving me in a dead silence, and I choked on my own as I tried to fight through my fears to rush out with them.

The little hints of bonds in my chest seized, trembling one more time, before sizzling away. When they snapped, it ripped every atom of oxygen in my lungs apart.

My hands went to my hair, a desperate laugh bubbling up as I slid to my knees. I could still hear the sizzle, the last hints of heartbeats that stuttered out.

I screamed to fill the void, clawing at the ground like it might hold some kind of answer, some reasoning why my luck was so shit. My teeth crashed together, eyes never leaving the ray of morning sun that slashed across the concrete floor.

Before a body came quite literally flying through that same ray of light, knocking me against the wall at my side.

Eirik.

Fucking Eirik.

The two bodies on his shoulders were quickly dropped in front of him. His skin trembled, wavering as a snarl slipped out, vibrating the air in the room as he kept himself standing, his body shielding the others, covering them as he slammed the door shut behind him. His breaths came out in steaming pants, his eyes flushed red, a feral mix of rage and fear as he looked over his shoulder as if to check that the sunlight hadn't found another way inside.

He crumpled to the ground, shaking and snarling, obviously fighting the beast inside of him, as he laid the bodies on the floor. Fallon and Adrian were little more than charred masses, and I pushed away my confusion at the sight of them as I searched relentlessly for heartbeats that weren't there.

I jerked back, landing on my ass. Black lines stretched under their eyes, across every visible vein on their skin. Blood slid from their noses, mouths, ears, and eyes. Their features turned into agonized mosaics.

A scream wrenched itself from my throat as I tipped forward, mimicking the keening cry that ripped itself out of Eirik.

It couldn't end like this. Not again.

"Not like this," I said, ripping the long sleeves of my shirt, exposing my wrists.

I gritted my teeth, and moved until I was next to them, tilting their heads, opening their mouths. Eirik was panting, his skin steaming but … unharmed? He wasn't burned. Beyond the gouges he'd already gotten, and the whip marks that still covered his back, there was no damage. As if the sun hadn't touched him at all. No black singes or hints of anything beyond panic.

Nothing . Not that I had the time to think on that fact. He was seemingly healthy, and that was all I needed to know for now. Eirik was quick to follow my lead, slamming onto his knees as I moved their bodies. They were dead, unmoving and lifeless. Every part of me told me it was so, but I couldn't let it go without trying.

I didn't come this far to fucking lose them.

I tore open my wrists, sinking fangs in until I tasted my own blood, then I placed them against their still mouths, forcing their bodies to swallow. When the wounds closed, I went again, only to be replaced by Eirik as he tore a chunk out of each wrist. When he healed, I stuck to Fallon, and he to Adrian.

Over and over, we forced our blood down their throats, until even the Rend that had been slowly growing faded. I grew dizzy, my body strung out as I bit again. It was only when I fell back, unable to lift my wrist to my mouth, that I stopped. I choked on the tears that sank heavily to the back of my throat. Eirik kept going, shaking and stumbling as he surged forward.

Adrian and Fallon hadn't moved, their faces covered in red, eyes closed in what I hoped was peace. I might not have remembered them, but it destroyed me all the same when they didn't respond.

We were too late.

"Eirik," I said carefully as he growled, his teeth snapped together as he shoved his wrist to Adrian's mouth again.

" Not yet, " he said, his voice hoarse and cracking, his eyes feral blue. The next time he tore his wrist, barely any blood came forward. It grew as sluggish as his heartbeat, and when he saw it, he snarled again, ripping in until I could see bone. He swayed, keeping himself upright with a hand on the closest wall.

" Eirik ," I grunted, struggling to move, watching as he killed himself to try to undo fate.

There was a crack of fire against my skin that bounced off the floor. Eirik bared his teeth at me. The shimmering blue of his eyes snapped to vicious seas, flushing dark as his beast swallowed him whole.

" I said not yet. " There was nothing left of Eirik behind his eyes when he growled this time, the sound straightening my spine as I jerked away on instinct.

His shift started slowly, his skin trembling as it stretched too taut, and he screamed as I heard the first bone break.

"You're killing yourself, too!" I screamed back, ripping him away from Adrian and Fallon, slamming him into the wall so he was forced to look at me.

" Then we die with them! " He snapped his teeth in my face, that snarl unforgiving. I shivered, snarling right fucking back.

"And what will that do? They're gone , Eirik," I said even as he frothed at the mouth and went to bite me again. "All this does is hurt her more."

The change was instant, when his wolf fell to the sidelines, the deep blues of his eyes shifting to the sky color I knew in my bones was him. It was a low blow, but it was effective. Devastation sank in as he stopped fighting, sliding to the ground. He covered his face, what started as a growl falling into a scream that had matched mine. His hand slammed down, cracking the concrete, shaking the floor. The thump continued as he did it again, taking his anger out with every hit.

Until I realized he wasn't slamming it down anymore. The thud in the air persisted, groggy and labored. We both fell silent, not even breathing …

Until Fallon did.

I shot forward, still disoriented from the blood loss, as Adrian let out a choked gasp. They stirred, groaning as their skin slowly mended, the black streaks from the sun lingering.

But they breathed; the damned bastards breathed. They were alive.

Fallon was the first to come to, sitting up with a labored hiss. His chest was exposed, showing that patchwork skin and a sprawling tattoo I hadn't seen before, the limbs of a tree across his ribs reaching up toward his heart. The white remains of his suit were marred by ash and blood, the green of his tie still wrapped around his neck, almost unrecognizable.

"Eirik?" he asked, his voice cracking as his eyes centered on our brother. He blinked a few times, coughing up a slug of what looked like wet coal dust. When he slowly turned to find me, I thought his eyes might jump right from his sockets. " Nero ? Fuck, I must be dead."

They were a haze, one that struggled to clear as his skin peeled, and he let out a pained hiss. I should have had more restraint, given that he'd just been cooked alive, but it was past time for niceties. I fell the rest of the way forward, crashing into him as I pulled him to my chest, hugging him so tightly I heard ribs crack. He wheezed, arms circling me in an embrace that started softly and ended with his hand biting into my shoulder blade with how hard he held me.

"I know, I know. Dead looks good on me," I joked, unable to get anything else out beyond a wet laugh. There was so much I wanted to say, to do.

So many things I felt , a joy I couldn't even begin to describe. I couldn't remember them, not really … but there wasn't a doubt in my mind who they were to me.

My family was alive. We'd made it on time.

"You really started with that, you fucking bastard?" Adrian cried, tears leaving tracks on his charred skin as he staggered to hug me as well. Then Eirik, the last, his arms encasing us like a goddamned wall. He was warm, and I breathed them in, soaking in the attention I'd been so blindly missing.

"I missed you, too, you fucking idiots." I choked, quite literally disbelieving that they breathed. I pulled back, just enough to flick Fallon and Adrian in the foreheads. Fallon's head snapped back, and he rubbed the spot with a grumble. "How did you manage to get caught up in this shit? It should have been child's play."

"You've been dead for decades, and you have the audacity to lecture us about getting caught?" Fallon grumbled as he clapped his hand on my back, harder than before, pulling away enough to lean against the closest wall. He looked at the door that was closed behind Eirik, and the sun that was still rising behind it. " Asshole ."

" Asshole doesn't really cut dying then coming back like the Ghost of Christmas Past as we die, Fallon. I'd say more like a dumpster cunt," Adrian said, rubbing his neck and down over his chest. On a golden mark that sat there, another price this place no doubt made them pay. "It's a long story, one that can wait if I'm completely honest. I'm with Fallon here. You're dead , or you should be . How are you here?"

There was a hesitation in the way he asked it, an obvious mistrust in his tone. I was here, physically, and even that didn't convince him. I wasn't surprised, but still, it stung. Somehow, thank our lucky stars, we all were here. Someone was looking down on us today, and from the lack of marks on Eirik, I'd bet it was Aaliyah.

Our fucking knight in shining armor, saving me even now. All over again. God, I couldn't wait to see her, hold her.

I'd gone willingly to save my brothers; eagerly even. But that didn't make it hurt any less to know that Osiris would be the one to get her back, assuming Sebek really did follow to Kri'Valta's. Every second I spent away from her side was one too many.

My nose ached, pressure pooling somewhere behind my eyes as my mind tried to convince me I smelled lavender in the air.

"Well … it's a long story," I said, mimicking his words. I followed Fallon's lead, sinking into the wall with a hiss as I plugged my nose, tasting blood in the back of my throat.

"Good thing we have a long time then," Fallon grunted, rubbing his arms, his skin pulled taut where the burn lines stretched.

I chuckled, trying to find a place to start before realizing how badly I needed to get the words out. Everything had been bottled in, and when I started, I found I just couldn't stop.

I told them of the crypt I woke up in, the boy I'd killed. My first interaction with the incredible Mags, and every moment, disgusting and sock tasting, between. They heard of the flight to the states after I'd realized who I was to them.

And after I'd realized who I was to her .

I couldn't stop the crack in my voice when I told them of Aaliyah. How she was already gone when I got there, the mess that our home had been. I zoned out on the far wall as I spoke of the plan Osiris and I had come up with to conquer both feats, him to fight Kri'Valta alone and me to save them.

If I'd thought they'd been ready to kill Sebek before, nothing compared to now. Aaliyah suffered under Sebek, broke at his orders. He'd die for what he did to her.

I'd kill him my damned self.

I choked up a bit on the memory loss, not lingering on what little I did know since most of it had been between Aaliyah and I. It was our past, our secret, and I didn't want to share it without her. It felt wrong to give that piece away, even to them. I didn't tag on the little caveat of the Rends . It probably would have killed the mood to add on a little additional, for now, to my unlikely resurrection .

"I still can't believe you're here," Adrian whispered, his voice hoarse as he coughed.

"I can't believe you're Prince." Fallon laughed, the dry sound more pained than humorous. "Why didn't you try to tell us?"

Eirik chimed in with a low hum, watching me carefully from where he stood by the door leading down the stairs. He hadn't moved once since going to stand sentinel. His eyes were liquid blue fire, and I dipped my head to think. I couldn't really tell for sure, but I'd have to guess it was because I didn't want them to hurt.

"You'd lost me once; I wouldn't make you go through it again." Not if I could help it.

A commotion sounded down the stairs, something I'd been ignoring. Eirik huffed again as the wailing of voices grew louder. His eyes shifted, not red like I'd been expecting, instead his beast slipping to the front. It showed in his face, the twist of thin lips and the angry pull of the tattoo that curled around his eye.

Seemed the guards were done waiting for us to die.

"The rest can wait, don't you think?" I asked, dragging myself to my feet, limping to the door as I clutched my head. The damned pressure was unrelenting.

"What's the plan?" Fallon asked, grunting as he stood on trembling legs. That was a great question. When I didn't respond, his face went blank. "You do have a plan, right?"

"Of course I have a plan. Who do you think I am?" I asked, snorting as I put my ear against the door. The clanging of metal swords against that shitty armor echoed. Everything ached, and I knew without a doubt a Rend was creeping up. Always fucking lingering.

Like a mold.

"So what is it?" Adrian pressed, and I shrugged.

Okay, maybe I didn't have a plan. "I'm working on it."

" Working on it?" Fallon asked, his eyebrows hitting his fluffy blond hair.

Damned, ungrateful— "I didn't exactly have a lot of time to figure it out, Fallon. Storm in, kill the bad guys, save the damsels—that's you, by the way—and ride off into the sunset! That was my plan. And look, here you are! Right as rain …" I waved my hand at them, grimacing when I looked a bit too closely at the sun ravaged skin. "Mostly."

For as sick as Fallon looked, he really pulled off angry well. He stumbled away from the wall, sweat pouring down his forehead as he sucked in a pained wheeze that made me feel slightly bad for instigating.

At least until the banging began at the door.

Eirik planted his shoulder into the wood beside me, leveraging his weight against it as the guards slammed into the other side.

"Just fucking perfect, saved from the sun just to get dismembered, great plan!" Fallon screamed, as I took a spot next to Eirik, barely dodging a sword as it pierced the door by my head.

I cursed, gritting my teeth. "I don't see you coming up with any better ones, you frigid bastard!"

Fallon's eyes turned red, his calm composure slipping away as he snarled. It only took a moment for him to pull the last remains of his tie off, wrapping it tightly around the knuckles of his right hand. It shielded the raw skin as he brushed his hair back, cold composure hiding the bloodlust that sparked in him.

It made my own pulse jump, a hint of a memory sneaking into my thoughts. A training room, freshly made, with sprawling windows. Fallon across from me, hands raised to fight.

His fangs may have dropped, but he had no intention of using them. He tightened the fabric until his knuckles went pale.

"Can we focus?" Eirik bit out, his words ending in a snarl.

"No!" we both said in perfect unison.

Adrian, who'd been quiet, snorted a laugh like we weren't about to be balls deep in a fight none of us could handle right now. Not like this, and definitely not when the fucking pressure went from a light announcement to a full-blown explosion behind my eyes.

Blood splattered down my chest, past my choked cry and onto the floor. The energy of the room shifted, Fallon slamming next to me as I lost my footing.

"Nero?" he asked, just as Eirik stumbled away too.

Adrian took his place, but there was no way we were going to be able to hold it back without the literal beast. Eirik snarled, viciously deep as his head snapped back. His bones cracked, his face shifting as he fought a scream and reached for his wrist.

Vertigo had me falling the rest of my way to my knees, Adrian and Fallon now alone at the door. The guards doubled down, slamming into it, bits of wood hitting the floor. Not that it mattered, as my heart sped up, and Eirik continued to descend into madness behind us.

"Aaliyah," I whispered, clutching my chest as the first Rend stole me, ripping me out of my body.

I crumbled to the ground, a conversation passing between the others that I couldn't hear. I snapped back just in time for Eirik to slam into the wall. His face was slick with sweat, his eyes a haze of red and deep blue as his beast fought the magic of Archon's home.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Eirik. Now isn't the fucking time!" Fallon screamed, hiding real fear behind sharp words.

"Ever seen him look like that?" Adrian pressed, panting.

I stumbled up as Eirik went silent. The growl that had been burning in his chest died in an instant, and even the guards stopped. He turned on us, no longer looking like we were to be protected, that sentinel by the door.

He bared his teeth, and I considered taking my chances with the guards.

"You mean like we're the ones in the way?" I asked, shivering. My body begged me to pull away, to get the fuck out of his path. I was confident in my next words. "Can't say I have."

He took a step forward, just as the clanking of knuckles against wood echoed behind me. We paused and waited, listening for more chaos. Instead, there was only the soft hum of a tune in the air, one that made my head spin as I dared to look away from the frothing beast for just a second.

"Do guards knock?" Adrian asked, when it sounded again.

"You going to open up or not?" a woman's voice echoed, one that had Adrian perking up and Fallon groaning like he'd rather be out in the sun.

"I know that voice," Adrian whispered, hand already on the handle of the door. Eirik snarled before it cut off, and I looked back just in time to watch him crumble to the ground.

"Oh, fuck me," Fallon followed, rubbing his hands over his face. "This is a nightmare."

The woman snorted as she walked through the now open door. Bodies were strewn about her feet, some covered in blood, like they'd been through a good fight. Most just dropped, their heartbeats echoing in the air as two men flanked her.

"Well, good morning to you too, Fang," she whispered, as I grinned.

Well, I'll be damned, I knew this one.

"Siren," Fallon grumbled, leaning into Adrian. Looking back at Eirik the same way I had, as Eliza continued to sing a soft tune, her blue eyes glowing as a bead of sweat slid down the side of her face.

"Eliza, right? Remembered you, just a bit," I said, watching as she turned to me.

Her nose twisted like she'd smelled something rotten, and I guess that could be true, considering how dead I'd been a few weeks ago. "Great, another one."

"Please, I thought we were better friends than that," I snorted, shoving my hands in my pockets, grimacing at the dried blood. "I'll be sure to let Aaliyah know you don't like her Prince. She'll be devastated."

Eliza blinked once, then twice. Her hold on her Siren's Call wavered, and Eirik stirred behind us again. She was quick to force it back down, the man at her side … Dezen? Black hair and steely eyes held her up with an arm around her waist.

"What the fuck?" she whispered, rubbing her eyes like she couldn't quite believe it. A running theme, I'd found. It'd never be not funny to see someone just 'gasp' in disbelief. "You know what? I don't want to know. Nice to meet you. Thought you'd be taller."

She shook her head as Carter, her second husband, stepped around us, taking a solid second to glare at Adrian before he hoisted Eirik onto his back.

"How'd you get here?" Adrian asked, pointedly ignoring Carter, even as he smirked.

Eliza grunted, pulling up her phone, and showing us the message on the screen.

"Because of this very confusing text message from I'm assuming Osiris." An amalgamation of what looked to be a singular word in all caps with no spacing between and several expletives, like he was trying to figure out why he couldn't delete mistyped letters. Her head tipped back, like she was trying to find some inner strength. "Reminded me of baba , to be honest."

"That sounds like Osiris," Adrian laughed, coughing into his hand as he leaned into the wall. Fallon followed him, grunting as he stumbled. "He stopped using spaces because I set them to auto replace with 'Adrian rules, Osiris drools' and he couldn't figure out how to turn them back."

Neither looked all here anymore, almost dead on their feet. I wasn't much better, as the lingering pressure brought the first hint of a memory forward.

Lavender eyes. I grunted. It wouldn't be long now before I was lost to whatever hell my mind decided to show me.

"I think the rest can wait. You all look about ready to topple, and Dezen can't carry you since he'll be making sure you don't roast … at least not any more than you already have. Can you walk?" she asked, not bothering to check if we agreed as she walked down the stairs, Dezen close behind her.

Carter was quick to follow, Eirik still slung over his shoulder, teeth suspiciously close to the Dragonkin's neck … but I wasn't going to ruin the moment for him.

"Thanks, Eliza," I mumbled, clutching my nose as the walls narrowed down the staircase. We stepped over bodies and each one had me clutching my stomach.

The Rend had ripped me away, and now the memory was fighting for its place.

"Don't thank me. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Ali," she said, unbothered by the carnage. "Wherever she is, she's probably worried about you. I wouldn't be much of a best friend if I didn't step in, would I?"

Adrian and Fallon were quiet, and I felt rather bad when the next stumble dragged me to a stop. The memory ripped away conscious thought, giving me just a breath as Fallon raised a brow. "I have some bad news."

I choked on another hit of blood, my vision fading.

"I don't think I'll be walking after all," I mumbled, grinning with bloodied teeth, almost sorry for the way Eliza's face twisted in rage. Adrian and Fallon watched me crumble, and I just had to hope they wouldn't leave me there.

Before it was lights out.