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“And the rest of my brothers…” His eyes narrowed, feet shuffling backwards a step. “Did they bend to your fetching so easily?”

What if you just choked him a little bit?

So, so tempting. And why in the bleeding realms did he seem wary of her?

The nerve.

“Amun and Magnus were already with us,” she pushed through gritted teeth, “and the whole thing was Amun’s idea. Vann is now his problem, and you’re mine. Believe me, I didn’t want to see you so soon either.”

Araxis scoffed. “So Alwyn and Fionerys are aware this is happening?”

“Sisters save me.” Magic was tingling on her fingertips, her frustration eking out in prismatic tendrils. “Is the Blessed Keeper shite just for show, then? Am I nothing more than an annoyance for you to mistreat when others aren’t watching? I’d always imagined it would be nice to be someone’s sister, but you make it hard to believe.”

Araxis sighed, not fighting the urge to roll his eyes. “In case you forgot, our armies are leaving for Thodelebor in a few days, and I am their primary commander. There are endless tasks to complete for it to be a successful push.”

Lunara must’ve really botched that first gathering for him to still assume she was a complete fucking idiot.

“Are you planning on commanding armies in the middle of the night, Araxis?” she hissed. “I’ve come now because I have not, in fact, forgotten that we are all going to Thodelebor. I’m well aware that there are things to do, but this cannot wait. Amun went ahead to warn your parents, and I am to mist all of us into a secret location so that—Sisters forbid—no one finds out the entire Imperial Family gathered without the requisite pomp and circumstance. Does that satisfy you, or is there something else you’d like to start whinging about?”

He stared at her for a long moment, as if he was actually considering opening his mouth instead of taking her words for the warning they were.

Insufferable creature.

“Fine, but I only have an hour. Maybe two.”

Alright, that does it.

Lunara misted and grabbed the front of his fighting leathers, pulling him down to her level as she sneered. “You have as long as I say you have because I am your Blessed Keeper, and your brother needs you. Bordoroth needs you. The secret dealings you’re doing a shite job of hiding will have to wait.” She wanted to crow when his eyes widened a fraction, thrilled to unsettle him. “I am not the fool you think me, Araxis.”

“You understand nothing.”

“And whose fault is that?” He tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t let him. “Get it through your thick skull—for as long as you continue to disrespect me by withholding your activities, I will continue to not give a fuck and refuse to accommodate you. So, unless you’re ready to share…?”

His jaw ticked. “No.”

“That’s what I thought.” Without warning, she wrenched him into the ether.

It was always strange to travel with Araxis, their magic pushing and pulling against one another, as if it didn’t know which of them was leading in the moment. At least, until she loosed Illamiata midway and shoved his power so far back that he audibly gasped.

Good. Arsehole.

It still amazed her how far she’d come in such a short time. From shaking knees and abject terror at the very idea of being in this arsehole’s presence, to invoking her unwanted status and yanking him all over the stars-damned place.

Lunara liked herself better like this.

The others were already in the Great Hall when she and Araxis materialized there, a mix of pacing and sitting and staring while they waited.

“Ah ha!” Fern shrieked upon seeing them, hopping up and down on a nearby bench. “Pay up, Wolflord.”

Magnus grumbled and fished a coin from an inner pocket, tossing it across the long table and shrugging his shoulders at Lunara. “It’s not that I doubted you, witchling. It’s Axie I was unsure of.”

Araxis jerked out of her hold. “For the millionth time, don’t call me that.”

Brand was at her side in an instant. Her heart fluttered when he lifted her hand to kiss the back of it, hazel stare intense. Worried. “No issues other than the obvious?”

“Nothing. I was fortunate enough to find him brooding alone.”

“I wasn’t brooding, I was working,” Araxis lied, smoothing his hair and adjusting his sleek armor, the soft hide creaking. “Are we going or not?”