Page 99 of Sidhe (The Incubus Saga #3)

Everything ached. It was a sensation Nathan was used to. Normally, he wouldn’t mind—the harsh awakening, the dull ache of pain from wounds sustained—because ‘waking’ and ‘pain’ also meant ‘alive’.

What bothered him, though, was that someone was shining a light directly at his scrunched closed eyes and he was not in the mood to be blind as well as sore.

“What’s the…deal?” Nathan huffed out, arm lifting instinctively, heavily, to shield his vision further. “Who’s got the damn flashlight?”

There was a laugh, one distinctly of relief, and coming from a voice Nathan knew well. “No one’s got a flashlight, Nate,” Jim said through his chuckling, “it’s the sun , dude.”

Nathan’s arm immediately dropped, his eyes squinting open against the unfamiliar brightness filling the bar of the Gatehouse through the windows and doorway. Had the sun always been this bright, or had Nathan just grown too used to Malak’s world of darkness?

Squinting further and waiting for his eyes to adjust, Nathan began to make out the form of his brother kneeling beside him, Alex on his other side, and Walter standing in front of him, hovering all protective.

Nathan couldn’t have been happier to see them.

The slowly encroaching sounds of chatter and movement beyond the trio told Nathan that there were others inside the Gatehouse— many others.

“We did it.” Nathan grinned all tired and lopsided, so damn exhausted that he almost wished he could fall over and curl up on the floor for a few more winks.

But he was too excited, not only in remembering that Malak was gone, but in knowing that his soldiers had been winning when he passed out, and clearly hadn’t disappointed him while he slept.

“ You did it, Nathan,” Walter said, ever magnanimous and proud. “The dark fae fell apart without Malak’s confident resolve. You saved us.”

“Guess you and Malak had one hell of a conversation,” Alex said, hand squeezing Nathan’s shoulder, the other wrapping around his waist to begin helping him up, Jim having already moved to do the same.

“Wait!” Nathan gasped, waiting for the cringe of pain that being hoisted up would inevitably cause, since several of his ribs were broken after Malak’s brutal assault.

Jim and Alex froze at Nathan’s cry, worried looks springing to both their faces, but even though Nathan was prepared for that sting of pain, it never came. He took a deep breath.

“My ribs were…I thought…” He was very confused because as sore as he was generally, it wasn’t as sore as he should be, and his ribs weren’t giving him trouble at all.

“Where does it hurt?” Jim asked.

“Not in nearly enough places…” Nathan mumbled. “I was beat to hell. Malak left me in pretty bad shape. I almost thought…” He trailed again, and suddenly looked sharply at Jim. “Was I…did you …?”

Jim’s brow furrowed a moment before realization struck. “No, Nate, I didn’t use my ability on you. You were unconscious but…well, you seemed fine when we found you. You don’t look all beat to hell,” he added amusedly. “No more so than usual.”

“But then…how…” Nathan trailed one last time as he realized, seeing Walter’s puzzled look as well, that there was only one person who could have healed him, who would have had the free will and power to do it.

And since he figured he owed the bastard for offering a parting gift, he decided he’d keep Malak’s secret to himself.

“Guess it looks better than it felt at the time. I must just be tired.”

No evidence remained of his beating, as if it had never happened. There was still the faint ache in his jaw from when Malak punched him, regardless of the lack of bruising. And his ribs, they were sore , just not broken into bits.

“What happened to your horsemen weapons?” Nathan asked.

Alex frowned in answer for all of them. “They vanished. That’s how we knew you’d defeated Malak. They vanished when he did, and all of the remaining dark fae either fled or fell. A shame too; I really liked those guns.”

Nathan chuckled. “Everything else normal then?”

A sudden BOOM echoed through the bar to answer Nathan.

It seemed a small, harmless tousle had been about to break out, maybe nothing more than a friendly argument, but the Gatehouse wards were back in full swing if the two seals rubbing their rear ends on either side of the bar were any indication.

They looked to each other and then to Alex apologetically.

“I don’t get it though. What happened with Malak?” Alex asked, once Nathan was steady on his own two feet.

“I beat him,” Nathan said simply. “Guess he couldn’t stand up to my superior intellect.”

A brief twinge of pain, like an aftershock, made Nathan cough, choking on the laugh that had formed on his tongue. He thought better of saying anything else along those lines. Best not to tempt karma—or Malak’s generosity.

Jim laughed for him, as if the idea of Nathan beating Malak with wits was plain ridiculous, until Nathan really looked into his brother’s eyes and saw that Jim wasn’t laughing out of disbelief, but out of reverent, brother-worshiping awe.

It was a look Nathan never tired of, no matter how old they got, no matter how much they went through, because it was something special, the knowledge that at least in someone’s eyes Nathan Grier would always be a hero. In Jim’s and in…

In…

Sasha’s .

Nathan gripped Jim’s shirt, clutching more desperately than before and hating himself for only just now noticing. “Where’s Sasha? Is he okay? What happened out there after Malak took me? He’s okay , right?”

Jim placed his hands over Nathan’s. “Nate. Sasha’s fine. He’s outside helping the soldiers further off. There’s a lot of damage out there, a lot of injured, and…” The light dimmed in Jim’s eyes as he trailed.

“A lot dead ,” Nathan finished.

Glancing past Jim, Alex, and Walter to the large amount of survivors slowly entering or being brought inside the Gatehouse, Nathan saw that crotchety old seal coming in, assisting some nameless fae.

They were helping each other toward a pile of first aid while the old seal went on about what a damn good fighter the fae was.

There were others that had made it out of the fight alive. Charis and Lindsey, among them, were across the bar, Charis resting on a makeshift gurney, her wounded wing being bound carefully by Aloysha while Lindsey stroked the hair from his wife’s face.

Nathan saw no sign of Shiarra, or Oberon and Gwen.

He also couldn’t deny that he really wanted to see Sasha.

Simply knowing that the incubus was alive was not enough.

If Sasha was helping lead the cleanup outside then Nathan was glad for that, couldn’t imagine anyone better for the job, but he needed to get out there too.

“So neither of you ended up using your powers, huh?” Nathan said to Jim and Alex.

“I did,” Jim said with a slightly nervous smile.

“You did? On who?”

“You’ll see,” Jim said, nodding toward the Gatehouse doors.

It was all the invitation Nathan needed.

Leaving the others to help however they could inside the Gatehouse, Nathan soon stumbled out into the sunlight. He was almost knocked back by the glare illuminating what remained of the battlefield and all the bodies on it, and by the smell rising up from the fields of blood and flesh and death.

The first thing he noticed when his eyes adjusted further to the bright light was Solrin— Solrin , alive and well and helping others! Jim had used his power of Death—of Life—on the enemy.

There were several seals helping bring in wounded, but Solrin was helping Ula and a handful of others gather bodies. The dead bodies of their comrades. There was a neat pile of them along the front of the Gatehouse.

Solrin froze in place after lowering the body he and Ula had been carrying, seeing that Nathan had joined them outside.

The guilt that seemed solidified on his face as he carried out his task intensified when their eyes met.

Nathan took that as his cue. He bounded forward across the lawn and hugged Solrin regardless of how much the other man stiffened.

“Knew you could do it. Knew all along you’d tell that bastard to take a hike,” Nathan said into Solrin’s shoulder.

“But…Nathan,” Solrin’s voice was low, “I didn’t. If Sasha had not banished Malak’s influence, I would have continued to lead Malak’s forces against you.”

“Nah. Sasha just cleared your head,” Nathan said resolutely, pulling away but keeping his hands on Solrin’s shoulders. “You still had to make the call, and you realized your mistake. Doesn’t matter how long it took you.”

Solrin looked aghast. “Jim said the same, that this would be what you’d want.

Ula, too, did not ask for my penance, though I insisted I help in the aftermath.

Why? People died because of me. Many directly.

Iain…” His pale green eyes—both green still—watered and he clenched them tight. “I was such a fool.”

“Yeah, you were,” Nathan said, “and now you have to live with it. Can’t imagine a worse punishment.

Though carrying the dead is a start.” He thought about mustering another smile but realized how cold it would look.

He met Solrin’s eyes steadily instead. “I’m not saying I forgive you for Iain.

That…that’s gonna take longer. I’m not saying it’s a good idea for you to stick around after this, either, coz I honestly don’t know what might break this fragile truce we got going between everyone.

But you being alive, here, doing what you’re doing this moment, because you realize you were wrong …

I just can’t find any reason to think that’s bad. ”

When Solrin looked back at Nathan it was with the same reverence he’d shown since he first saw Nathan’s ‘light’, whatever that really meant. But this time it was not because of blind devotion, only gratitude.