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Araxis blinked. “What in the realms for?”
“I don’t know, yet.” Yes, he did. He just wasn’t sure of the where at the moment. “But I will require it be given to me now—an advance for future services, if you will.”
A dense silence blanketed them before Lyriat witnessed one of the rarest sights of his life.
Araxis tipped his head back and laughed out loud. It was not mirthful in the slightest. “You’re asking me for something I won’t give my own mother, and for what? A few words that will likely amount to nothing?”
“Suit yourself.” Lyriat shrugged. “I’m going to check on Brand and Lunara, then. You’re welcome to join me.”
It took every ounce of his control to stand like he didn’t care one way or another. Like everything that mattered in his life didn’t hinge on Araxis’s agreement. The trek from his seat to the grand double doors felt like the longest walk he’d ever taken.
“Wait.”
Lyriat could have crowed to the cloudless sky. “Yes?”
“That’s it?”
“I have neither the time nor the energy to sit here trying to convince you of something that doesn’t interest you.”
Araxis misted, reappearing before him. “What’s this actually about?”
Lyriat crossed his arms and considered Brand’s youngest brother for a moment. He had a choice—honesty or evasion. Araxis wasn’t exactly known for his empathy, but there was really only one way that Lyriat wanted to answer in the end.
“What every other breath and thought is about.” He let his hands drop, squared up to Araxis, and chose honesty. “Finding Baldrir and Nyriadne, no matter the cost.”
“A dangerous line of thinking for a king.”
“And yet, it’s the only conceivable one where my family is concerned.”
“You say that like I don’t understand,” Araxis snapped.
Lyriat wasn’t sure. “Do you?”
“Tell me, if only half your breaths and thoughts are for your cousins, who are the rest for?”
Almost rhetorical, but there was a note of vulnerability in his tone that burrowed its way under Lyriat’s skin. “Brand,” he answered.
“Hmm. Believe it or not”—Araxis produced a swirling marble from the ether and held it to a ray of sunlight—“I can relate. Though, there are times when I think he might be more your brother than mine.”
“We both love him,” Lyriat murmured, suddenly not quite able to meet Araxis’s eye. “That’s all that matters.”
Araxis huffed and handed the marble over, an entire galaxy held within the tiny sphere. “Toss this into any portal and I’ll find you shortly thereafter. Don’t follow it, and don’t fucking waste it. And fair warning—I won’t stop trying to get through to Lunara myself.”
“Good luck with that,” he teased, unable to stifle a quiet laugh. “She’s…quite stubborn.”
“So am I.” Araxis stared at him for a long moment, his mouth opening like he was about to say something else, and then he was gone to the mist.
Lyriat closed his fist around the token, its magic humming in his hold.
An overall absurd morning, but it couldn’t have gone better for him if he tried.
Stars above, Magnus was so tired.
Leaning on the bed from his seat beside it was making him too aware of muscles he hadn’t realized existed. They kept bleeding twitching. And that was to say nothing of his lids, which wouldn’t stop drooping. The blanket was just so damned soft on his cheek and—
—Maggie!—
Magnus snapped awake at Pet’s bark. “Aye, I’m here. I’m up.”
