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Chapter 33

Prince

D amn, and I thought I was self-centered.

"Well, leave it to the Hallowed to be even more pretentious than Fallon," I muttered, looking at the obnoxiously grand ballroom we found ourselves standing in the middle of. Bodies moved around us, like little dolls pulled by marionette strings. Everyone's faces were covered, but I'd never needed them to pick out people in a crowd. "You think we'd be able to snag one of those paintings? I think it'd make a great souvenir."

I grabbed a glass off a passing server's tray, bringing it to my nose, and enjoying the soft scent of white wine as Osiris continued his search of the room to my right. He looked down at the same paintings I'd been eyeing, the ones Fallon was doing his best not to drool over from across the room. "Not on our lives. Stay focused. We have to keep our guard up."

He'd switched languages so quickly it could have given me whiplash, Latin flowing easily off his tongue.

I chuckled at that, focusing on the chaos around us as everyone either gave us a wide berth or openly glowered. I'd expected surprise, the shocked looks at my fortunate resurrection, but seeing it up close was something else. People looked at me like I was the bringer of the end times, Nero, fifth turned of Sebek Ra, back from the dead.

It was kind of comical, in all honesty. I wondered what they might say, if any got brave enough to come up and talk to me. Osiris's gift touched the air, a hint of fire lighting the space between us.

Which meant the idea of a conversation was little more than a pipe dream.

"Have I ever been one to let my guard fall?" I said, draining the rest of my drink. I rethought my words as Osiris's eyebrow rose. "Actually, don't answer that. Just calm down, will you?"

Osiris rolled his eyes, before taking a few settling breaths, clenching his hands, shaking a little as he adjusted his tie. I didn't know exactly why he did it, didn't need to. Something inside me told me what I needed to do, so I reached out and set a hand on his shoulder.

"We've got this. I'm just saying … this place could use a bit of fun."

It was a brief moment of silence before Osiris scoffed next to me. He didn't move to shrug me off, like I half expected him to, instead going back to searching the room. His eyes, did enough to keep most of the passersby away now, but it was his aura that sealed their fear.

The flash of magic he couldn't hold back threatened to burst forward. It was tastable, a living thing that bled from him.

"They can be plenty chaotic, I assure you," he said, tugging on the sleeves of his undershirt. "During the last Titan Challenge, they'd nearly ripped the entire fighting ring to shreds, and you'd been star struck, wondering if Roderick would be up to fight you after. If I recall right, he'd said 'I'd rather lose the title I just won than have to fight you, Emperor .' It was quite a scene."

The way he'd said it, his lips tilting like it was a shared memory, made my stomach ache. I wanted to reminisce with him because fuck me if that didn't sound like something I'd have loved.

It was strange, knowing he was right but feeling like he wasn't. My body was convinced he was my brother, moving in a way that I couldn't explain. My mind wasn't as sure, and Osiris could tell, his head tipping down. "You don't recall, do you?"

"Not a lick. It's a bowl of really shitty spaghetti up there right now. But it's coming back, slowly but surely," I said, trying to bleed some humor into the words. Osiris's sullen look didn't fade, and I wrapped my arm around his shoulder. "Tell me about this fight, would you? It sounds like something right up my alley."

He was quiet for a second, seeming to think through if he really wanted to, before he was grinning.

"It was a haughty affair. There weren't supposed to be any Challenges, and we were only there trying to gain information. Though you had other plans; you always did. You, Milo, and Eirik decided you were going to try and drink the entire room under the table. I had to give away more than a few of my favorite treasures to soothe several Eternals' rotten moods. Then there was the incident with Frileti. You had always wanted to sleep with the Fae royalty. I just wish you would have tried before her betrothal." He scoffed then, shaking his head before his face settled back into a stoic lull. " It was a night I'll never forget. I … I wish you remembered it."

The whispered confession took me aback, and Osiris continued on like he hadn't said anything, surveying the room, but something in my chest, in the pits of my soul, told me that was important.

"I will, one day," I whispered, more distraught than I thought I'd be as I sighed. "I can feel it. The memories, they're there … I just need to get them out."

There was a moment of hesitation before Osiris nodded back. A few seconds of peaceful silence followed.

"It's strange. You're him, the brother I lost all those years ago … the one I'd begged I'd get a second chance to see, to speak to. You have his face, his smirk, even his scars. Yet you're so different. Someone else, in some ways."

I snorted as I sought out Aaliyah, like I always did, finding her with my brothers and still flushed from her dance with Eirik. Safe, looking worried around the room as she pushed her hair over her shoulder. She reached for Adrian's hand, whispering something that had him turning to her.

It warmed my heart when Fallon brushed the hair behind her ear, shielding her back from any attacks, even if that wasn't something we had to worry about here. I wasn't seeking a drink, or a lay for the evening. I wasn't hard set on a fight like I had been all those years ago that barely felt like a dream.

I looked again at Osiris, finding him scanning the room, holding up our defense while my focus had been elsewhere. Always watching. My brother, regardless of what else had happened. I was different now, and I couldn't find it in me to be mad about it. His Nero might have been Vivas, and I knew I still was, but the Prince I was now was Aaliyah's too.

I didn't see a reason why I couldn't be both.

"You're right. I am different. I don't remember things I know I should, and I'm sorry I can't share in those memories with you yet." No matter how much I want to. "But I see you, Osiris. I remember how it feels to be by your side, and I know I don't have to look over my shoulder when you're here with me. The memories aren't there, but the emotions I feel are plenty enough. There's no strain in that for me, Osiris. I don't need to remember you or the others."

I stopped us in the middle of the masked-filled room, banging a clenched fist against my chest. "You're as much a part of me as Aaliyah is. Always. We're family, brothers, and not even death would make me forget that."

The room died away, and it was only us in it for a moment. I saw a man who'd spent centuries by my side. I felt his presence, his love like an extension of myself.

"I'm glad you're back, frater ," Osiris said, dipping his head.

I couldn't help but smile at that, suddenly speaking before I could even question the words. "We are Vivas. When one fights?—"

I didn't have to finish it, whatever it would have been, as Osiris smiled and responded. "We fight with him."

No words had ever felt so right. It wasn't the first time I'd said them, but I still didn't know why they struck such a cord. Somewhere in my memories, they were important, and even though I couldn't remember why, I still held them close.

"Speaking of fights, what is the plan?" I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets, needing to clear the heavy feeling in my chest.

There would be time for reminiscing later, when we didn't have the entirety of the Eternium ready to jump down our throats. Osiris's eyes grew clouded with the weight of time lost before they zeroed in with a focus that startled me. The numbness there deepened, sharpened into points.

"Making the first move here would be a mistake. Someone will come forward, planting the seeds for Challenge, or a Retaliation. Either way, we wait," he said casually.

The words finished off, and no more were needed. We moved like we'd never been apart, Osiris scanning the left, I the right. Then I saw him, a man that my mind recognized but couldn't place. A visceral hatred told me all I needed to know.

Osiris froze next to me, a picturesque statue, as he saw the man I'd caught foaming at the mouth in our direction.

"It seems we don't have to wait long," he whispered hoarsely.

He clutched his wrist, his hand over the mark that Aaliyah had left there, the one that blended with the brand that dug into the skin. His eyes bled red.

I didn't know the man's face, didn't even know his name, but I flipped us away from him all the same, grabbing Osiris's shoulders, forcing his gaze on mine. Every move I made felt like instinct, as my hands went to his ears and I covered them. He struggled against my hold, enough that I had to more or less slap him upside his fucking head to get him to focus. "Look at me, now, Osiris! What do you see?"

I wasn't sure where the question came from, but Osiris startled, his eyes flashing back to a familiar mismatch of blue for about a second, before they were red again. He opened his mouth, gasping for air.

"The room, a chandelier, white walls." He paused, pulling in a hard breath this time, seeming to force it. His eyes gave again, staying blue for longer this time. "I see bodies."

Good, that was good, probably?

"There you go. Who do you see?" I asked, more confidently this time as the words slipped out, and I took a settling, exaggerated breath, watching as he did the same.

His eyes glazed as he swallowed, but I didn't let him turn his head. Sparks flew across his skin, singeing me, and I flinched. Electricity filled the air, like raw ozone flooding my veins. "You. I see you, Nero."

"More," I pushed, as the click of boots grew louder. Osiris flinched, his hands digging into my wrists. " More , Osiris."

His eyes opened, showing fire in the depths. "My brother."

"Good, deep breaths. You losing it here will do no one any favors," I whispered, and Osiris shook his head.

"But—"

"I know. He's a fucking bastard, and he has no hold over you now." I pressed my hand to my chest. I didn't know the man that walked our way, couldn't place his name if my life depended on it … but fuck if I didn't want to lay him out for the way he was looking at Osiris. "You're not alone."

Osiris nodded, unable to speak, and just as quickly, another voice cut into our conversation.

" Nero Vivas. You're supposed to be dead."

Pressure built in my skull like an avalanche that I was directly in the way of. I turned my full attention to the man in front of me.

He was short, stubby, like an overwatered cactus with all the prickly bits on display. His black hair was styled around his head, shit brown eyes staring at us, as though we should be kneeling. His mask was something of an extravagant frilly beast, over the top and obnoxiously jeweled.

"I always have been one for explosive entrances," I said, giving him a haughty smirk.

The man didn't respond to my quip, instead raising an eyebrow, fully intending to blow our plan to shit.

Watch. Wait.

"No matter, it's better that you're both here for this." His words flooded the room, silence falling. I held my breath. "Osiris, Turned of Vampire Eternal Sebek Ra, has killed Sorceri Eternal Kali in cold blood, and as her closest confidant, I, Mythic Eternal Darius the Great … request vengeance for her death, blood for blood. I call Retaliation. "

Darius's decree fell across the room, exactly as Osiris said it would.

Fuck.

Well, plan. Meet a vicious fucking end.