Everlong

by Hailey Edwards

  He stepped forward and my hand tightened on the knife. Blunt it might be, but enough force would slow him down until Emma could arrive.

  He took a half step back when he noticed my hands remained concealed. “I had to see you and I thought it would be safe now that, well, it’s been five days.” He coughed through his embarrassment. “I wanted to apologize. I have a problem with caffeine, I do, but I swear I’ve been doing better about drinking decaf. It’s just that times have been bad for me. I never meant for things to get so far out of hand that day.” The black-and-white tile floor held his attention. “I have issues with your family, but all of us do. With you being like you were, and the coffee, I just lost it.” He glanced up. “I had to say I’m sorry. That wasn’t me, and if you ever need to go to Harper’s grave, just call ahead and I’ll make myself scarce.” He turned to leave. “I don’t expect forgiveness, but I owed you some explanation.”

  “Wait.” I half expected Emma to barrel out at any moment to separate his head from his neck. “I appreciate you coming to tell me, but you have to get help before something like this happens again. The next female might not be so lucky.”

  I couldn’t say I forgave him. I didn’t, maybe never could. I couldn’t say it was okay, because it wasn’t. No matter the extenuating circumstances, he had problems, and I wasn’t looking to solve them.

  He ducked his head, pushing back through the door and outside where I watched until he disappeared from sight. My hold on the knife eased. Then, on second thought, I slipped it into my apron pocket. Just in case.

  I gathered the loose crayons and coloring books, carrying them back to the kids. Dana sat with her hands folded and stared at me, smiling just enough to make me nervous. “Sorry for the delay. I’ll go check on your order.”

  Ducking into the kitchen, I ladled three mugs of tomato soup and grabbed wedges of grilled cheese sandwiches from a blissfully unaware Emma, then carried it all on a tray to the waiting boys.

  My fingers looped through the mug handles and settled the smaller portions of soup onto the red and white checkerboard tablecloth. Choruses of “thank you” from Emma’s favorite patrons made me grin as I fished a handful of saltine packets from my apron, dropping them with a few extra napkins onto the table. “Will there be anything else, sirs?”

  Three sets of baby blues glanced up, grinning as they elbowed and shoved to hoard the most crackers from one another. “No, ma’am,” they chimed in triplicate.

  “Dana, are you sure I can’t get you something?”

  “No, I’m just fine, thank you. I ate an early lunch with Clayton and the new arrivals.”

  I exhaled slowly, counting backwards from ten and telling myself it didn’t chafe to know she’d seen him today and I hadn’t. “Great. I hope they’re settling in okay. I know the acclimation process can come as a shock.”

  “Yes, today was full of surprises.”

  I waited for an explanation, but she didn’t offer one.

  “Well, enjoy your meal and I’ll check back in with you in a few.” I escaped to the short hall separating the kitchen from Emma’s office, needing a minute to myself. Between Dana’s annoying cryptic remarks and Jacob’s confession, I had a lot to digest and I didn’t think the Rolaids I kept for customers in my apron pocket were going to be any help.

  The worn paneling gave beneath my back. I heard a sharp click and the murmur of voices seconds before the emergency-exit door popped open. The alarm didn’t sound, which was going to get Emma in serious trouble with the health inspector one day.

  I squinted against the glaring light pouring in from outside. Lynn’s shoulder bumped my own, jostling me aside in her haste. Marci followed on her heels and touched a gentle hand to my arm as she passed. They both entered the kitchen with hurried steps. Neither said a word. How strange.

  The door swung wide again and Clayton stepped through it. My chest tightened, wound by the convergence of relief to see him home safe and the knowledge he had come for me. I’d done a lot of thinking the last three days and had made my decision. I just didn’t know how to go about telling him what I needed him to hear.

  “I need to talk to you.” He reached for my hand. “I’ve brought someone you’ll want to see.”

  “I can’t just leave.” I laughed. “Emma—”

  “Has Lynn and Marci to cover for you. You need to come outside with me.”

  He compressed the metal bar with his hip. Pulling me along with him, we stepped into the narrow alley running behind the store meant for deliveries and trash collections. I didn’t see anything, or more to the point, anyone.

  “There’s no easy way to tell you this.”

  My palms dampened. Who could he have brought? What if this was a trick to lure me away from the bustling flow of the diner’s steady lunch traffic? He was the colony leader. Maybe he couldn’t risk the social entanglement with a half Askaran.

  If I made a scene, he wouldn’t want witnesses. Would he tell me our relationship was over before it began? I tried to steady my hands shaking lightly within his. Did he know how scared I was to lose him? How the thought terrified me until I’d tossed and turned each night he’d been away?

  “After you left me at the inn, I received word from a legion contact posted in Askara. He’d heard from a slave in your mother’s service at First Court.”

  I exhaled in a sharp rush that huffed between us. Not personal. Business. That I could handle.

  His warm thumbs rubbed over my skin. “The slave reported that your mother had kept a golden cage in her private chamber for a number of years. It was always empty while he attended her, but curiosity got the better of him once and he stepped inside the cage to look around. Lines were scored into the bottom, like someone had been marking time.” Clayton glanced up, finally meeting my eyes. “Someone was being kept there.”

  “That’s hardly unusual.” I hated remembering the culture I’d been born into, where cruelty was applauded and abuse commonplace. “A lot of the nobility have eccentric tastes.”

  His slow motions ceased. “Yes, but he had reason to believe that I would want to know of this slave in particular.”

  My mind struggled with the implications. Only one male would have drawn his personal interest. “Harper?” I forced the name past my suddenly dry lips as I waited for Clayton’s confirmation. No wonder he had left so quickly. Even wounded, the remote possibility of reuniting with his brother must have spurred him into action. “You think he’s alive?”

  Clayton reached into his pocket and pulled out the braided leather bracelet Harper had been wearing the last time I’d seen him. The night he didn’t came home. I took the slight weight into my hand, turning it over and smoothing my thumb across our names. “Where did you get this?”

  “Our informant found it hidden in the bottom of the cage. He recognized the names and went to find a legion contact he trusted.”

  “We have to go to him.” My fist closed around the bracelet.

  “No, we don’t.” Clayton palmed my shoulders. Gravel crunched beneath my shoes as he twisted me around to face the open alley. I leaned into his strength as my eyes caught on Mason escorting my guest. “It’s all right.” His fingers skated over my skin, soothing me with his warmth. “Just remember to breathe.”

  Mason’s approach was hindered by the support he offered the second male’s slight frame. He stood with his eyes downcast, staring in the vicinity of my feet. His blond hair hung loose around his face with circles darkening his eyes. His skin looked gaunt and discolored, none of which I should have been able to see. His fading glamour flickered.

  “I don’t understand.”

  A graveled voice issued from the weakened male. “He’s brought you a gift, Maddie.” When he looked up, his full black eyes sparked instant recognition. “Unless you would have him return me?”

  Hearing my name on his lips, my mouth fell open. “Harper?” I loosened my hold on Clayton. “Is that really you?” I stepped forward, hopeful, but unwilling to believe, so a
fraid this would be a trick of my mind and not reality.

  “Who else would it be?” He shook off Mason’s hold and opened his arms to me.

  I ran into them without hesitation. My hands slipped around his waist, so much leaner, thinner than I remembered. I felt his spine where my fingers met at the small of his back as bone almost punched through delicate skin and the thin flannel shirt hanging from his lean frame.

  Spiced incense tickled my nose. His fragile heart beat softly beneath my ear. “I thought I’d lost you.” Hot tears spilled over my cheeks to soak his shirt with my happiness.

  Harper buried his fingers in my hair and tucked me close. “I thought I was lost too.”

  I took his beloved face between my palms. My thumbs dipped into the hollow planes of his cheeks. “Have you been in Askara this whole time? How did you escape?”

  “The night I left you and Emma, I found Marcus and Clayton too late. Their intelligence was wrong about the location. Because of your ascendancy, there was twice the number of guards they had been told to expect. They were ambushed just outside of this realm.” A steadying breath rattled through his chest. “I helped Father carry the wounded legionaries to safety while Clayton covered our backs. When we circled around to search for survivors, an arrow sliced through Father’s wing.”

  Harper’s eyes closed. “The archers took advantage of his freefall. By the time I reached him, there were dozens of shafts piercing his body, too many to safely remove. Clayton was wounded while trying to reach us. The fall knocked him unconscious, so I had the remaining legionaries carry him home while I stayed with Father. He died in my arms. And I was captured.”

  “If not for me—”

  “Then positive change wouldn’t have been set into motion.” His glamour flickered again, revealing an almost skeletal frame shrouded in tight, black skin. “After I took you away, Nesvia blamed your disappearance on your mother. She has planned a coup to overthrow the throne of Askara. It’s taken many years to gather the proper support, but now she has it, and won’t rest until she’s taken the crown.” His coarse voice held hope. “She plans to abolish slavery. It will be a long path to our people’s freedom, but your sister has taken the first step.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I didn’t know her well, but I always thought she was grounded by Rideal.” I grinned. “Mother must be livid.”

  “I wouldn’t know. She vanished two months past with her private guard and half her servants. I’ve been a guest of the outlands since then.” His eyes lit with sincerity. “I mentioned to Clayton that in a few months’ time, once things have settled, you might want to contact Nesvia. You could help negotiate for our side. You’re half and half, the perfect mediator for our cause.”

  I pulled his face down to mine and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I would gladly help the others bargain for their freedom.”

  A growl rose up behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to Clayton, and the sound rumbled into silence.

  “I don’t think my brother likes you so close to me.” Harper cracked a smile. “But then, he never did.”

  “Madelyn is free to make her own choices.”

  Harper chuckled softly. “I had hoped in five years things would have progressed. Are you still playing knight errant? Still coveting her from the shadows?”

  “What would you have me do?” Something bordering perilously close to despair weighted his words. “You left her grieving, as your widow.”

  “It was hardly my intention, brother. I never planned for any of this to happen. I didn’t plan for Father to die, or to abandon Maddie and Emma. Certainly you can’t imagine I planned to sit in a gilded cage as a pet for the queen?”

  Clayton turned his back to us. “I don’t blame you for Father’s death. I don’t blame you for any of this.” His fingers linked behind his head as he continued to stare off into the distance.

  I pulled from Harper’s arms and waited until Mason helped him regain his balance. Then I walked until the toes of my shoes touched Clayton’s. He looked down at me. My neck dipped back and our gazes collided. “I have something to tell you.”

  His grim expression turned graver. “I’ll hear anything you have to say.”

  His gaze roved over my face as if memorizing it. He stood board straight. Tall, proud and hurting behind the illusion he projected. I could feel it. I knew he would offer his brother to me, even though he knew it had never been what Harper wanted. I just don’t think he realized I knew that now too.

  All Clayton needed were the words. A command he could follow like the good little legionnaire he’d been raised.

  My arms linked around his neck as I tunneled my fingers in his dark curls and drew his reluctant mouth down to mine.

  His lips were tight and unmoving, so I softened mine to press light kisses across the hard seam of his mouth. I flicked my tongue out to taste him, drawing in a hint of citrus. He groaned a rumbling sound that moved through me, tightening my stomach with anticipation. I nipped at him, forcing his lips harder to mine.

  “Please, don’t tempt me.”

  “I don’t mean to. I want you to know I’ve made my choice.” My throat tightened and tears choked my words. “I am so grateful that Harper is alive, and I need him to be a part of my life.”

  “I meant what I said. You are free to make your own choices. I wouldn’t have you claim either of us unless it was what you wanted.”

  “I know what I want.” I focused on keeping the tremor from my voice. “And even if Harper wanted me, and we both know he doesn’t, I wouldn’t choose any differently. I’ve had days to think about everything you and Emma have told me.” I swallowed past the fear that something for him might have changed. “I was miserable without you. I couldn’t breathe for fear you wouldn’t come back to me, and finding Harper doesn’t change anything between us.”

  Clayton’s eyes darkened, dilated, and drew me into them. “I want to believe that.” He walked me backwards until my shoulders hit the brick wall of the diner. His fingers dug into my hips, aligning me with the part of him I’d been curious about since our fall from Emasen. “But I have to know it’s me you want.”

  I pulled my hands from around his neck and smoothed them down his chest until they reached the waist of his pants. Hooking my fingers through the tiny belt loops, I pulled him closer, until I felt how hard, how ready he was to have me.

  He lowered his face to the curve of my neck and thrust once against me, groaning just below my ear.

  “Your brother is watching.”

  “Let him watch.”

  “You know, for such a straight-laced male, I’m beginning to think you’re a closet exhibitionist.”

  The crack of metal on brick echoed through the alley. I jerked my gaze from Clayton and found my sister standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. “Lynn said Clayton had a message for you.” Her eyes zeroed in on where my fingers looped through his jeans and dipped into his pockets. “Silly me for not realizing he would hide it in his pants.”

  Silence settled around us. Things I should have said scrolled rapidly through my mind, but Harper’s voice cut through the tension thickening the air.

  “All this time and you two still haven’t learned to play nice?”

  Emma stiffened. Her spine snapped ramrod straight and her eyes rounded. The meat of her palm slapped the wall. Braced against the bricks, she faced him. “I thought you were dead.”

  “I hear that a lot.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “But, as you can see, I am very much alive.”

  “You don’t understand…” Mortar crumbled beneath her fingers. “We had a funeral. And you have a grave. There’s a blank marker because Maddie couldn’t let you go. I didn’t want to let you go either, but one of us had to be strong or we wouldn’t have survived.” She glanced at the gouged brick and sealant then dropped her arm. “I couldn’t think about you being alive. I just couldn’t—”

  His unsteady steps closed the distance between them. Narrow arms banded around her,
pulling her to rest against him. “Shh.” His lips brushed the corner of hers. “You don’t have to be strong anymore.” He pressed another kiss to her forehead. “Everything is going to be all right.”

  He nuzzled aside her hair, brushing their cheeks together. Silver engulfed the black of his eyes. His lips brushed her jaw and traveled upward towards the shell of her ear where he whispered as he had our last night in Rihos. Whatever he said brought the crown of her head up fast enough to catch his jaw. He winced and Emma jerked from his arms.

  Coordination failed her as she scuttled backwards until her frantically seeking hands closed over the metal exit door. I glanced between Harper and Emma. She looked nervous while he appeared resolved. What could he have said to spook her?

  “I’m glad you’re here—safe. I meant I’m glad you’re safe.” She turned wide, glazed eyes on me. “I need to get back to work. Lynn is alone in my kitchen. She could burn the place down while my back is turned.”

  Harper stalked slowly closer, his every forward step made her gasp and the door moan where her halfling strength dented the metal in her hand.

  This leaner, darker Harper didn’t seem to care. I saw my sister reflected in the mirrored shine of his predatory gaze and felt the ground beneath me shift yet again. I recognized his expression as one worn on Clayton’s face whenever he looked at me.

  Her voice came out as little more than a whisper. “I think you should go.”

  “She’s right.” I stepped to her side and addressed the steadily advancing male. “You should rest. We have to get back to work anyway.” And I needed to speak with my sister—alone.

  He stared past me to Emma. “When does your shift end?”

  “It varies.”

  “Your shift.” He stopped. “When does it end?”

  She didn’t answer. Their silent standoff lasted until Clayton cleared his throat.

  “I should go. The others are waiting for me at the inn.” He raised his voice just enough to carry. “And my brother needs to rest whether he wants to admit it or not.”