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“Take Me Back to Church” by Hozier
“Sandman” by SMYL
“Way Down We Go” by Kaleo
We sit in the dim light of Zenya’s room, our eyes fixed on her sleeping form.
Once I sang my dark lullaby over her, it lulled her into a deeper slumber. She’s nestled under the covers, her face serene.
I take a slow sip from the glass in my hand, savoring the burn of the aged spirit as it warms my throat. Nyxion mirrors the action beside me. We clink glasses in a private celebration. This moment of quiet camaraderie is truly rare for us.
We’ve been enemies for so long. But sitting here, watching over the woman who has turned our lives inside out, it’sdifferent. She’s unlike anyone—or anything—we could have ever imagined. A force of nature, delicate yet fierce, capable of walking between realms and holding us both in her grasp.
“She’s changed us,” I murmur, revering her. “Made us see things in ourselves we never knew existed.”
Nyxion nods, his gaze never leaving Zenya. “She’s more than we deserve,” he admits, a rare note of humility in his tone. “And yet, here she is, binding us together.”
I chuckle, the sound low and rich. “I suppose I should thank you for stealing my Eye, Nyxion. It brought her to us…but,”—I warn, needling my gaze onto his while brewing my shadows and bulging my wings—“don’t ever think about doing it again.”
Nyxion smirks, the corner of his lips lifting in that infuriatingly smug way. “Wouldn’tdreamof it,” he replies, but I don’t trust the mischievous glint in his eyes.
I glance down at my palm, where the familiar tattoo of my eye once resided—now just a patch of bare skin. I growl, the sound vibrating through the room. “Nyxion…”
His smirk widens into a full grin as he dangles a small, delicate chain from his fingers with my dark violet Eye of all-seeing prisms swaying back and forth like a pulsating pendulum. “Looking for this?”
I narrow my eyes, the glass cracking under the angry pressure of my hand. Amusement vies with the danger, knowing he’s only doing this to get a rise out of me.
“You really should thank me for keeping your Eye safe.” Nyxion chuckles and takes another drink. “Who knows where you’d have left it?”
I shoot to my feet, my dark eyes prowling over my bastard brother sitting there like a too-calm cat. “Probably somewhere you’d never find it. Like in a place that requires brains to enter.”
Nyxion leans back in his chair, crossing his arms with the eye still dangling. “Careful, Morpheus, wouldn’t want you to pull something. It’s been a while since you’ve had a real fight.”
I ball my hands into fists and snarl, “I’ll pull something all right—like that smug look off your face.”
“And I’ll enjoy watching you try—might even give you a head start,” Nyxion says, dark but playful menace in his gaze.
“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood tonight. Because if I wasn’t, you’d be flat on your back, begging for mercy.” My hackles rise, and my muscles tighten. The asshole still hasn’t moved, and when I reach for my Eye, he pulls back with a snicker.
“Please,—” Nyxion snorts,—“I’ve seen scarier shadows under my bed.”
My last nerve snaps. And I lunge for him, shadows writhing all around us.
Our bodies collide in a surge of dark energy. We take out a wall, grappling, a tangle of limbs and power, but there is no true malice in our blows—just the rough, almost affectionate brutality of brothers testing each other’s limits. Not like our pre-Zenya enmity.
Nyxion laughs as he twists out of my grip, only for me to pull him back with a quick grip of his long dark hair. He roars, and I get the last laugh since he should really take points from me by keeping it shorter.
We make it into the throne room where Phantasos sits at the supper table with his boots kicked up. He shakes his head with a snorting laugh before telling us, “Hold up a second so I can grab my popcorn.”
Rolling my eyes, I face off with my brother. Nyxion and I prowl, assessing one another, eyes gleaming with the thrill of the fight sparking between us. And the eternal flame of united brothers.
Chapter 46
“You’re not so bad, are you, Death?”
ZENYA
“A Twist in My Story” by Secondhand Serenade
