Page 12 of The Sirin Sisterhood (The Sons of Echidna #2)

Klein

Claiming his position as the pack enforcer, Klein ordered for a break.

He needed to look after Lucy, and everyone else had a lot to process.

Aris especially; the man looked like a kicked dog, fuming in the corner and nursing a glass of rum.

It was hard to tell if the sulk was real or not.

Klein suspected his father might actually be relieved but too proud to admit it.

The man had been in a tailspin from the moment they’d passed the manor’s gates.

Lucy might not have been the perfect candidate, but at least she wasn’t paralyzed by indecision and fear.

“Everybody, take five. I’ll make drinks, and we can regroup to sort out a plan.”

“The coffee is automatic. See?”Xim tapped on her phone. A second later, the machine near the kitchen counter began to grind freshly roasted beans, hissing softly as the water in the tanks boiled on command.

Klein did not like that. He needed to do something with his hands to think.

Brewing coffee was relaxing, and right now, some robot was taking that small, honest pleasure away from him.

Lucy must have noticed him glaring at the damned gadget because she gently touched his shoulder and motioned to the elevator.

“Do you wanna grab your cup and go for a smoke outside? The rooftop is beautiful,”she offered, looking up at him with a weary smile.

Klein considered it. He didn’t like smoking around others, but he needed to settle his nerves. The adrenalin from challenging his father was wearing off, and he felt a slight tremble in his hand.

“Yes. That might be good,”he managed, his throat suddenly dry. “Keep an eye on them?”

“Yes, sir,”Lucy laughed. “I’m in charge now, so they’re definitely gonna listen to me, right?”

He couldn’t bring himself to smile at her joke. She wouldn’t be trying to make light of the situation if she had any idea of what she’d just signed up for. Lucy knew so little of their world.

Klein felt guilt stab him, the physical ache reverberating in his chest. It was his fault she’d gotten involved.

He’d needed help, and he’d searched for it in the wrong places.

He should have reached into other worlds where magic was plentiful, not drag in a fragile human.

A human with powers, but just a human. If he had asked Bird for help, the god would have gladly obliged, but his pride had conquered his senses, and now Lucy was trapped with them.

Klein thanked the coffee machine as he took the mug it had poured for him.

He hated the robot on principle, but it did render a service, and it would be rude not to show his appreciation.

The coffee wasn’t bad, either. Klein took a sip as he hit the rooftop button in the elevator, arriving there within seconds.

It was blessedly empty, and he took a seat in a sheltered little nook, shielded from the wind by thick glass walls.

The peace didn’t last for long. A loud squawk interrupted the silence, announcing the magpie as it landed clumsily on the bench beside him.

“May I join you in this moment?”Bird asked, puffing up his feathers.

Klein considered the request with a soft smile and nodded. “You may.”

The magpie was gone, and in his place sat a man.

He comfortably wore his rich, dark brown skin covered in pale vitiligo spots, with his black curls slicked back behind his ears.

The only hint that he was anything but human was a mane of black and white feathers that bled into his hair and framed his arrogant, perpetually amused face, highlighting his warm, Indigenous Australian features.

His dark robes twinkled with an absurd amount of jewelry, not all of it precious: gold, silver, and priceless jewels were worn together with cooking foil, plastic beads, and a necklace made of soda can tabs.

Bands, stripes, and dots of white paint decorated any bare patches of skin, matching his magpie feathers perfectly.

“Halcyon.”Klein sighed in relief, leaning into him as strong arms covered in feathers and paint wrapped around him.

“I’m already involved a little too much,”the man murmured apologetically, stroking Klein’s back.

“I know. I’m not asking for anything.”Klein looked up and caught his partner’s lips in a soft kiss, keeping him for a moment before settling back into his arms. “I’m surprised you got involved at all.”

“It wasn’tbecause I wanted to. Three needed help, and Lucy will be useful to us one day.”

Klein knew the ‘us’didn’t refer to him. Pulling away with a reluctant sigh, he lit up a joint, giving Bird an irritated frown. “Please don’t say it’s bigger than me. I hate when you use that excuse.”

“Me not telling you will not make it less true, and you, of all people, know that there are always bigger things at play. It does not diminish your efforts here; just because another universe’s Klein is trying to stop the end of the world doesn’t mean this Klein’s problems are any less of a concern.

”Halcyon leaned in to peck his cheek, nudging him affectionately.

Despite his irritation, Klein smiled. He had an inkling of just how big Bird’s reality was, but Halcyon somehow managed to make him feel as though he was the god’s entire world.

Time around them had stopped entirely when the magpie appeared.

Klein saw the frozen wind outside the glass shelter clutching the specks of dust it had been blowing across the roof, suspended and glittering in the rays of sunlight, completely and utterly still.

It was just himself, Halcyon, and their single moment in time together.

“I don’t entirely understand. But I know you did something in the manor, and because of it, my family is still alive. Thank you.”Klein took a slow drag of his cigarette, the pungent, skunk-scented cloud hanging motionless in the air as he breathed out. “So what do I do now?”

“Whatever you do will be the right thing. This world is flowing exactly how it’s supposed to.”

“How can you be so sure?”Klein raised an eyebrow as the lazy buzz started to kick in. It was the only way he could really have those long, twisted conversations with the god without feeling like his brain was going to melt.

“What if I jump off the balcony? We’re sixty floors up; I’d be turned into paste.

Would that be what’s supposed to happen?

”He was teasing, goading Bird into comforting him, or maybe kissing him again.

Now that he was comfortably high, he wouldn’t mind trying to steal a few more kisses, a smile warming his face.

The god only chuckled, his golden yellow eyes drinking in Klein’s presence as though he were the only person in the world. “There isn’t a reality anywhere in which I would let that happen,”he promised, and Klein knew that the words were an absolute, universal truth.