Page 16

Bittersweet

Felix

The morning came faster than I would have preferred, and I had to peel the other three occupants of our cabin off the bed one by one.

Once they headed to the showers and got dressed, I walked over to the cabin next door to bang on the door.

Renard answered with a grumpy, tired look, but promised to get the dragon moving.

Satisfied, I went back to my compartment to find Chess packing things up neatly while Fitz and Dolly finished their morning routine.

By the time they were done with yoga stretches, I knew the others would be ready to eat.

“We don’t have a lot of time to eat before we get close to our stop.

This will be a fast-paced, coordinated effort since there’s several of us.

Have coffee and something filling as we won’t have time to grab anything else in our dash to the next leg of the trip.

Everyone takes what they came in with,” I say as we head for the dining car.

Dolly groans, rubbing her face as she stumbles behind me. “Morning Felix is not the vibe today. I need caffeine or I’m gonna die.”

“You four look like you’ve been run through a thresher,” Aubrey notes as he stomps to her side. “Perhaps being more cognizant of the time would have been prudent?”

Fitz sniggers as he skips on Dolly’s other side, and I have to mentally count to ten to keep myself from chastising him.

He’s going to be hyper as fuck because he got laid and there’s a lot going on.

“Would that I could, Chili Chameleon, but I can’t be bothered when I’m buried to the hilt in our sweet girl’s pussy. You’ll just have to deal with us.”

“Fitz!” My Princess flings her hand to the side to smack him as she glares. “Not so loud in public. This is not an adults-only space, and it’s rude .”

Blinking, my twin looks around to see the same car full of preds of various ages and backgrounds. His chagrined expression surprises me, but then, anything Dolly says goes with him. “Aw, Baby Girl, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be naughty in public. I’ll do better; cross my heart.”

“Will wonders never cease…” The gargoyle smirks at me and I shrug.

I’ve never been able to predict my brother and now that we’re sharing a mate, he’s even more of a wild card.

“Don’t be mean to him when he’s behaving.” Dolly swats her hand at Ren and me, her adorable pout in full force. “Be glad Fitzy listens to someone and pick a table.”

“Angel is tired,” Chessie says as he catches up. “You don’t want to be on the wrong side of her temper when she’s cranky.”

I don’t wait for her retort—I make a beeline for a table at the other end, where we can watch the occupants and the other entrance without obstruction. “Have a seat on the inside, Princess. We’ll get you fed and caffeinated before we have to get our stuff ready to disembark.”

“You’d better,” she mumbles as she slides into the booth. “I could eat a fucking hippo.”

Scarily enough, I believe she could.

Breakfast passes without incident, and I’m able to corral my family efficiently enough to get off of the train without losing anything.

Vienna is beautiful, and I’d love to roam around here, but that is a return trip activity.

For now, we have to navigate Wien Hauptbahnhof to the platform where our Rail jet to Budapest will leave in less than an hour.

We’re sitting in business class, which is as comfortable as we could get for an express that will only take a bit over three hours.

“Come on, Princess. We gotta hoof it.” I grab her hand, tugging her along as I look at the electronic screens. “The rest of you keep up! I want to make sure we get on in time. The next leg is a tight transfer as well, and we don’t want to miss it. They don’t run the line we booked every day.”

Renard and Chess helped me book the trains, making sure we’re on the best lines with the most luxurious cabins.

While I like that sort of thing, I know Dolly feels weird about enjoying some of the trappings of our wealth.

I would have been a little less flamboyant, but the ancients are big even when not shifted.

They need to have enough space to move around without killing themselves, too.

Chess pointed that out as we searched for the reservations, and I reluctantly agreed.

The Frenchman, however, is fairly okay with the fancy shit, and he was jubilant about the selections.

My Princess won’t complain to him once because she loves him, and with that, comes accepting quirks.

“Felix, why the fuck didn’t we just stay over if it would be this close?

” Aubrey huffs as he and the gargoyle bear the cases with the most weight, but I know he’s exaggerating.

He can deadlift shit that I wouldn’t dream of trying without breaking a sweat—he just wants Dolly to fawn over him when we sit down.

Sighing as I zip around the crowded station, I leave his question to someone less likely to snarl at him.

As predicted, Chess picks up the thread for me so I can keep my temper even.

“When we looked at what trains and paths we should take, we stayed with the most expensive to ensure the spaces were big enough for you two. The last leg is a long trip from Budapest to Istanbul with several steps… It doesn't run daily. We’re going to slip away with our shit at Sighisoara versus staying on board the entire time.”

“That seems very convoluted,” Fitz says. “Why there?”

“Because it’s a good place to hire locals to get us to the mountains nearby to journey to my clutch.

” Renard takes up where the cheetah left off, though he sounds more glum than informational.

“The humans have tales about a legendary man from that area, but… obviously, the tales are more true than they know. We will need to stock up on specific weaponry to move from there to the gargoyles, if my suspicions at l’Academie are true. ”

Dolly tugs on my hand, as if she wants to stop, but I don’t let her. “Damn it, Felix! Is he saying we’re going to vampire HQ? We’re going to need a bunch of stakes ?”

“That’s right, my little ‘Bunny the Vampire Slayer’.” Fitz looks excited as hell and I groan. He’s going to milk that for all it’s worth for… who knows how long. “The pouty poet is convinced we’re gonna finally run into some fangy fuckers to poof into the aether.”

“We won’t need stakes or anything else if we don’t get there.” I give them a stern look as I speed up my gait. “There’s two more train rides before that becomes applicable. Hustle up.”

That gets a snicker out of the dragon as he complies. “You know, I think there’s a librarian in that show who’s older. Isn’t there, Fitzgerald?”

“Kill me now.”

My muttered pleas don’t stop my mate or my brother.

Fitz makes a sound of victory, then answers.

“Fuck yeah, there is. And a handsome psychotic devil who loves her, plus some silly friends. There’s also a darker, broodier librarian type…

and an artsy dude who shifts. It’s a wolf, but we can ignore that, right, Chessie? ”

“Right, baby.” Chess is trying not to laugh as Fitz gets even bouncier as we rush downstairs and over another platform full of people.

He knows I can’t lose my temper because it’s likely a mix of humans and preds, which requires me to hold in my frustration.

“You know, there’s a sour-pussed sort of brother guy to the handsome devil that might fit you, Felix. ”

“We are not fancasting a TV show with our life,” I shoot back as I lead Dolly around an enormous family in the middle of the road. “Don’t be ridiculous. Focus on the task at hand.”

To be fair, I don’t actually care if they’re doing that as much as it’s distracting them and slowing us down.

This game could be played just as well once we’re in the place we need to be, waiting for the train with a safe margin.

They’re simply annoying me on purpose now, and it’s something I can’t deal with while we move through the mixed crowds of a train station.

“Calm down, bro,” Fitz says, as he catches up with me. “You’re wigging out and look… There’s the damn place we need to be. It’s all good, man.”

Sighing in relief, I guide Dolly and the others to bench by the car we’re boarding.

We can sit and chat about anything they want now that I’m sure we won’t miss our train.

“I know I’m uptight at the moment, but our route is tenuous.

I want to have as much time as possible to get to our final destination.

That gives us time to spare if they won’t answer what we need to know from the start. ”

Renard flops on the bench next to our mate, his hand running over her hair.

“That will probably be the case, if I am being honest with you. Gargoyles are not wont to give up secrets, and they will not want to discuss my past. Since it all ties together in this grand scheme, we will have to convince the leaders to let go of tradition to save everyone. It will not be easy or quick.”

“Exactly why I don’t want to dawdle and miss trains,” I reply firmly. “If we get what we need, we can leave and take a leisurely trip back. As long as we return to campus before school begins, we’ll be fine. But I don’t want to come back without getting what we need.”

“Don’t you dare say it would be a waste,” Dolly says as she narrows her eyes at me. “Taking me on a vacation is not a waste.”

Chess walks up, tilting her chin so she looks up at him. “Of course not, Angel. But we can take vacations whenever we want. This summer, unfortunately, has to be about gathering as much info as we can to help us this coming year. Shit’s bound to heat up in a big way.”

“Yes, it will. The Council has covered up the previous attacks, but with each one, the spectacle is bigger. There will be a point at which they cannot manage the fallout.” Aubrey looks around the platform before he murmurs, “And that will be when everything gets infinitely more dangerous.”

“I don’t think either side cares about collateral damage.” My Princess’s face is sad when she mumbles her addition, and I want to hug her, comfort her… yet I know I can’t. She’s absolutely correct, and the casualties will pile up as this ancient rivalry continues to build.

I run a hand over my jaw, then I nod. “They are only concerned with furthering their aims, so yes. There will be deaths, injuries, and more missing students around the world if that’s how the Fae are ‘fueling’ their campaign.

The Council will strike too quickly and hit the wrong people.

It’s like every other war in history, but with magic involved? I don’t know what it will look like.”

“We’re going to find out what your people know, Broody Batman, because I am not fucking around.

” Everyone turns to look at Fitz, who crosses his arms over his chest with a determined expression.

“If I have to hang the entire lot of them from their fucking toes and use hot pokers, they will tell us. You need to get right with that before we step a single paw on their land.”

“I understand,” Ren says as he slumps on the bench. “My ties to them are based in nostalgia, so other than my direct relatives, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Your parents might be an issue,” I warn him with a dark look. “But they sent you off and killed the woman you loved; it seems like you’d be able to separate who they are now from who they were before.”

Of course, unlike my brothers and I, he didn’t live through a childhood filled with torture and horror, so that won’t be as easy as it sounds.