Page 20 of The Sirin Sisterhood (The Sons of Echidna #2)

Lai

“Predictable.”

Lai flinched. His father was the last person he’d expected to come after him.

How different would his life be if Aris had done that the first time Lai ran away?

It was silly to hold on to the grudge still, but it was a bitter, bitter pill, hard to digest completely, and Lai had been sitting by himself for half an hour now, bored out of his mind.

A little conflict might be just what the doctor ordered.

“You wound me, father. I’m surprised to seeyouhere, though.

”He turned to face Aris, amused to see he was wearing the Cerberus shirt.

He tried to read his expression in the neon lights of a Dominos Pizza, surprised again as the blue and white sign illuminated what seemed like concern in the lines of his father’s face.

Probably just constipation, though.

“You aren’t going to talk me out of it. You know we don’t have a choice.”

Lai needed him to try. Not because he didn’t want to go, but because he wanted his father to care.

Aris tucked both hands into his pants pockets. “I know, but I won’t let you go alone. Not again.”

A strange tingling sensation made Lai’s stomach ache.

As far as he knew, his father had long since given up on him.

The man had never said a word as he watched Lai go through one self-destructive episode after another in the aftermath of his return to the family home.

There were no conversations about what had happened during the years apart, and awkward silence usually filled the few moments they spent alone together.

Years worth of hurt and bile began to rise, choking Lai, threatening to unleash on his father. Aris would absolutely deserve it, but the strip mall parking lot was not the place for it, and right then was not the best time.

The doorbell dinged brightly as a delivery boy carrying three pizza boxes walked past the tense pair, heading for his car.

“Delivery for Spooky Mansion?”Lai shifted his attention to the boy, enjoying his sudden, fear-filled freeze.

“Oh shit, it’s you .”The teenager groaned. “Look, man, I don’t want any trouble. I don’t even want a tip; just take your pizza and go. Please. I barely made it out alive last time.”

Lai studied the young man as he quickly reconsidered his plan. Before his father arrived, he had been plotting to kill the boy and steal his car. Now, he was determined to prove he was a better son than Aris deserved, someone his father was a fool to have neglected.

Besides, the kid barely looked old enough to drive.

He wasn’t exactly a glorious conquest. With a long mane of golden waves barely tamed by a baseball cap with the company logo and black nail polish that was a couple of days old and starting to chip, Lai suddenly wasn’t so certain he wanted the boy dead at all.

He brushed away the driver’s hair from his name tag, squinting to puzzle out the word.

“Gru...Grag?Greg! Greg, darling…”Lai grinned, taking a few hundred bucks from his stash and tucking it into the boy’s shirt pocket.

“We just need a ride, and we don’t even have to go all the way to the house.

Still got the window sticker? Good man. Get in.

”He took the boxes from the poor boy and pushed him into the driver’s seat, ignoring his whimpered protests.

He looked like he might refuse to drive until Aris took the front seat, filling the car with his menacing presence.

Greg swallowed, nodding along, quickly coming to terms with his new assignment.

◆◆◆

The drive took a while, the pizza stone cold long before they reached the overgrown forest path. The delivery driver’s resolve finally failed just before the gate.

“I’m not going further than that.”He swallowed hard, slamming the brakes, the car’s headlights reflecting black a myriad of eyes watching them from the edges of the forest. “Take your pizza and go. Please,”he added, his assertive tone breaking into a frightened squeak.

“It’s close enough.”Lai nodded a thank you and got out, Aris following him. “Although if you want your tip doubled, wait for us at the end of the drive.”Lai flashed enough cash to buy even a coward’s courage. He knew by the glimmer in Greg’s eyes that he could safely expect a ride back out.

Lai watched the boy’s clumsy fifty-point turn on the narrow drive and waved as the car bounced away.

“You can’t follow me. You’re going to be my lookout.”Lai turned to his father. “You aren’t exactly built for stealth.”

“And you are?”Aris huffed, offended by the implication, and poked a sharp finger into Lai’s squishy stomach. “You may think yourself a master assassin, but the whole house can hear you sneak to the kitchen for midnight snacks.”

Outraged, Lai pursed his lips, summoning a barrage of insults that would decimate his father–but the sound of voices silenced him, and he quickly clapped his hand over Aris’s mouth. His ears pricked forward to pick up as much sound as he could, and he inwardly cursed as he caught the words.

Eleanore’s men were patrolling the grounds, coming to investigate the sighting of the car. Lai had been too cocky, overconfident by getting so close to the gate.

Before Lai could process his thoughts, Aris grabbed him, dragging him into the tree line and pushing him down to the damp ground.

Both men held their breath as the patrol passed with flaming torches raised.

Neither of the guards looked particularly thrilled with the job, and Lai didn’t blame them.

He suspected they’d learned early on that their more modern flashlights, while brighter, did nothing to stop the family’s monsters from attacking, and they both waved their fires around nervously.

When Aris let out a guttural growl, both men broke into a sprint, picking their lives over duty.

“She’s brought in more men, from her invasion force,”he nodded to their dark green uniforms. “I think it’s safe to say that Gaia is back up and running. We will have to be a lot more careful.”

Lai was forced to agree. He was confident in his abilities, but he also knew his limits. Being spotted would mean certain capture, and Eleanore wasn’t famed for her gentle disposition or mercy.

Once the light of the torches had faded into the distance, Lai and Aris slowly crept up toward the manor.

The gates were unguarded, and the two men they’d frightened earlier were probably the same ones neglecting security now.

Thankful for small blessings, they slipped past, keeping low to the ground, shielded by the uncut hedges and freshly blooming flower beds.

“Before we begin, I want to check on…”

“We’ll check on mom.” Lai nodded. Aris didn’t need to continue; Lai had been going to do it anyway.

Both of them knew that they weren’t fighting tooth and nail for the sake of their ruined old mansion or even for access to Gaia.

Lai’s mother was still there, and she was all that mattered.

She was the root of their desperate attempt to get their home back.

The manor grounds were the sacred resting place of the only woman Aris had ever loved with every ounce of his being.

It was a bittersweet reunion for Lai. Of course, he loved his mother, but he still held a little grain of resentment towards her.

She’d left them and took his father’s soul with her.

Aris was a shell of a man after her passing, unable to look after himself or his two young children.

They’d had to grow up fast after her death.

Aris couldn’t let go. He’d frantically scoured universes for a way to bring her back, keeping her body perfectly preserved through Gaia as they leaped from world to world, praying for just one where it was possible to bring back the dead.

Lucy’s world was the last of them; Aris had learned that doctors could sometimes revive the fallen and had crashed Gaia into that dimension in his urgency.

None of them had known that medicine was still limited to restarting the hearts of the deceased within minutes after it had stopped beating.

That was when Gaia stopped working properly, unable to move on from the location after their crash landing.

She could hide the manor in a pocket of reality outside of time and space, but the house had never moved again.

With no other choice, they stayed, avoiding the world outside of the sanctuary, their hope slowly dying.

Taking a path that hugged the forest, they soon reached the pavilion, relieved to find the tomb undisturbed.

Lai wasn’t surprised. Eleanore was reckless and loved to hurt his father, but she wouldn’t desecrate the grave.

There wasn’t a force in all of the worlds that could stop Aris from making her pay if she did.

Aris knelt by the grave, brushing away a thin layer of moss from the glass, his hand resting over the heart of the woman inside.

“She’d be so disappointed in you,”Lai felt the words fall out of his mouth before he could stop them and tensed, but Aris didn’t retaliate.

Both of them knew it was the truth. Still, Lai regretted saying it.

He hated that his father had let him down, over and over again, and maybe he even hated the man, but now they had nothing but each other, and the ties that bound were fragile at best. There was no need to keep pulling at them.

He struggled to find words that might comfort his father. He hoped Aris might beat him to it; the Gods only knew how badly he needed to hear them. Nothing came to him. Instead, he turned away, watching the manor still smoldering in the distance.

“I’m taking Pandora’s jar to the witches.

It’s empty now, but it can hold a lot of magic.

I’d be surprised if they weren’t tempted.

Thankfully, the conservatory is still standing; it should be okay.

I don’t think it can be broken just by falling off its plinth.

”Lai motioned to the room at the end of the east wing of the manor, overlooking the gardens. “I’ll be in and out. You keep watch.”

He glanced back as Aris rose to his feet, grabbing the back of his sleeve. When Lai didn’t respond, Aris’ grip on Lai’s shirt tightened.

“Trust me, okay? I’ve been trained for this.”Lai assured Aris with a roll of his eyes, but still, his father would not let go. “Seriously, let go. It’s been a few years, but I have a way better chance of sneaking in without you. If something goes wrong, you can just leave, okay?”

“Absolutely not.”Aris shook his head. “I’m not leaving you again.”

Lai wished they had more light, just so he could see his father’s face.

Did he hear him right just then? Was that a hint of guilt in the man’s baritone?

They didn’t have the time for this right now!

How had Aris managed to find the worst possible moment to finally confront the past and try to connect, after so many years of avoiding it entirely?

And what the hell was Lai supposed to offer in return?

A nod? A smile? He didn’t think he was ready to forgive his father yet.

The silence stretched, the universe waiting with bated breath for Lai to do something.

Sucking in a breath, he grabbed Aris in a hug. It was supposed to be fleeting, enough to dislodge the man’s grip.

He almost burst into tears when his father’s powerful arms closed around him, holding him close and gently squeezing Lai to his broad chest.

When was the last time they had touched? Not since his mom had died.

“I’ll be fine, I promise. In and out. You’ll be able to see me the whole time.”Lai didn’t want to pull away, finding comfort in his father’s arms, thecomfort he had craved for far too long.

“Please be careful.”

Lai pulled away first. He felt that Aris might have never let him go if he hadn’t.