by Miles, Amy
Just as I open my mouth to scream for Bastien, a hand clamps over my mouth. I thrust back my elbow, aiming for anything solid. He groans and I manage to wiggle free from his grasp. Leaping from the bed, I turn and crouch low in the bath of moonlight.
I watch as the intruder rises from the bed, his outline barely seen. I can tell he is a man by his height and the breadth of his shoulders. He raises a hand to stop me and I leap, throwing out my leg. He dives to the side, narrowly missing my attack. The instant he is on the floor, he turns and strikes out at me, knocking me off balance. An arm winds around my waist and I grunt as the full weight of my attacker settles onto me.
“Nice to see you too, Illyria.
My mouth gapes open and I stop fighting. I hardly recognize the sound of a door opening before the man above me is tackled and two shadows roll end over end, grunting. “Bastien, no!”
I hear the sound of punches being landed and rush forward, yanking on whoever is on top. “Stop,” I cry. “It’s Eamon!”
Bastien falls slack beneath my hand. “You’re sure?”
“Of course she’s sure, you idiot. Get off me!” Eamon grunts from below. “Wait a second… You know me? Why do you remember who I am, and what the heck is he doing in your bedroom at this time of the night?”
“Yep, that’s Eamon all right.” I watch as Bastien rolls off and rises swiftly to his feet. Eamon doesn’t move quite as fast. The instant he’s on his feet, I race into his arms, nearly knocking him over.
“Easy.” He laughs, wrapping his arms around me. I bury my face into his chest and breathe in deep. He smells like home.
“What are you doing here?” Bastien asks. Realizing how awkward this must be for him, I step back a few paces and move to turn on the light. “No! Someone will see.”
Of course they will. Get it together, Illyria.
Bastien hurries toward the window and locks it, pushing a button beside it. A privacy screen lowers into place, casting the room into complete darkness.
“How did you get here?” Bastien asks, moving back toward his room. He switches on the light in the bathroom and closes the door partway.
Eamon shifts, crossing his arms over his chest. I call tell he is still ticked at finding Bastien here with me, but he leaps into his tale. “After Illyria went off with you, we received word that Drakon was on the move. Kyan knew we were in the area, so instead of heading straight back, we took a detour to a base about ten miles north. When we arrived, we found nothing. Even the buildings had been demolished. There was only one thing found in the rubble… a note.”
“What did it say?” I ask.
Eamon wipes a hand across his face. “I win.”
A shiver races down my spine as he continues. “I radioed back to Kyan and we headed home, only to arrive back to find a message from some girl named Niyah.”
Bastien stiffens. I shoot him a warning glance and he remains silent. “Kyan was agitated. He paced for nearly an hour straight. I’d never seen him so intense before. When he finally spoke, he ordered all of the Sky Ships to head to that base.”
“All of them?” I can’t believe he would risk our entire fleet for me.
“Yeah. It caused quite an uproar, but Kyan was adamant that we had to get there as fast as we could.” He pauses, scratching the back of his neck. “We arrived to find the base burning to the ground. The weird thing was that we couldn’t find many bodies. It was almost as if they set the fires themselves.”
“They did,” Bastien says, sinking down onto the edge of my bed. “It was an ambush and we walked right into it.”
“Yeah, we figured that out when we picked up that Niyah girl. Kyan was furious. He screamed at her for over an hour before he finally calmed down. She took it, though. No tears. Just nodded in agreement.”
“‘Course she did,” I mutter bitterly. Eamon casts a glance in my direction, but I wave him off.
“She smuggled one of the space transports before the whole place went up in flames. We all hopped aboard and came after you. Turns out Kyan knows this planet really well. He had some connections that helped us fly in under the radar. We’ve only just arrived a short while ago.”
“And you came straight here, of course,” Bastien mutters.
“Of course.” His response feels like a challenge, and I have no doubt it will be perceived as such by Bastien.
“What about Niyah?” I ask to divert their attention. Bastien stiffens, his hands clenching into fists upon his thighs.
“She came with us. Said she needed to make amends, whatever that means. She was pretty tightlipped on the way here. Refused to talk to anyone besides Kyan, and he wasn’t too forthcoming with information either.”
I look to Bastien, knowing I should get his permission before revealing anything to Eamon. He shrugs indifferently, but I’m not fooled. He is seething inside. Niyah had better stay far out of his way.
“Niyah is the reason we were captured. Her betrayal wasn’t because she was in league with Drakon,” I say, treading lightly. Bastien turns away. “She was jealous… of me. She thought if she handed me over to Drakon, he would let Bastien go.”
Eamon frowns. He tilts his head for a moment, thinking. I see the light of understanding brighten as he looks between us. A scowl settles onto his face. “Breaking hearts wherever you go, huh, Bastien?”
He is on his feet and in Eamon’s face before I can even react. I dive between them, pressing my hands on both of their chests but make little effect. “This isn’t the time, guys.” I push, my arms trembling as they lean in toward each other, going toe to toe. “Don’t make me force you,” I grunt, sending tiny shocks through my hands to get their attention.
Bastien backs away first, but not because he wants to. I shove him back toward his room. Finally, he breaks off his staring match with Eamon to look down at me. “I need to talk to him… alone.”
His jaw clenches and for a moment I think he might protest. Instead, he dips his head in agreement, but not before tossing out a final threat. “If anything happens to her while I’m gone, I’ll hold you personally responsible.”
He leans forward and presses a kiss to my temple. “I’ll see if I can track down some food for you. I’m sure you’re hungry.”
“Thanks,” I reply awkwardly as he squeezes my shoulder and lets himself out. I wait to hear the security code keyed in from the opposite side of the door before I turn on Eamon. “Why do you two always have to be at each other’s throats?”
Eamon shrugs and sinks down into a chair. He looks tired. No, he looks exhausted. “He gets under my skin.”
I step into the light to close the door to Bastien’s room a bit more, and I hear Eamon gasp. “What are you wearing?”
I look down and groan, realizing I’m still wearing my darn dress. Crossing my arms over my chest, I turn and face him. “Don’t ask. This was not my idea.”
“You, uh… you do know that dress is see-through, right?”
“Oh my gosh! Really? You think I haven’t noticed that already?”
“Sorry.” He rises slowly from his chair and approaches. His steps are slow, measured. “I guess this has been really uncomfortable for you.”
“Uncomfortable?” I can hear the pitch of my voice rising as he stops before me. My back is to the light so I know he can only see the outline of my body, but I feel so exposed before him. First Bastien and now Eamon. Is there no ounce of privacy left for me? “I’ve had complete strangers eyeing me up since I got here, and Aloysius…” I shudder, not wanting to go there.
Eamon reaches out and grabs hold of my arms. “Has he hurt you?”
“No,” I mutter. “He’s been… kind.”
“Kind?” He draws me near. “How kind?”
“Don’t worry. So far he’s focused all of his attention above the waist.”
Eamon’s hands grip me so hard I cry out, not from pain, but from surprise. “Bastien let him do that to you?”
I pull out of his grasp. “He didn’t let anything happen. He
’s just as much a victim here as I am. Even if he were there watching, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop it.” I shudder at the thought, thankful that any private moments I’ve shared with Aloysius have been just that: private. I couldn’t bear for Bastien to be forced to watch.
Eamon begins to pace before me, no doubt angered by the fact that Bastien is the one here with me instead of him. Almost as if on cue, he turns and I see that his scowl has returned as I shift away from the light. “I bet Bastien’s been loving this outfit.”
A smack rings out in the silence of the room. My palm stings as I draw my hand back from his face. “Bastien has been a gentleman. I expect you to be the same.”
He looks hurt as he stumbles back. A myriad of emotions play across his face, finally settling on guilt. “I’m sorry.” He backs away, burying his head in his hands. “That was uncalled for. I know that he… that you would never do that. It’s just been a really long few days.”
A slew of snide remarks flit through my mind, but I bite my tongue down on every one of them, remembering how just yesterday I’d wished for one more chance to speak to him and here I am picking a fight.
“We need to talk.” As Eamon sinks back into his chair and I return to the bed, I lay out all of the details of the events leading up to now, being sure to edit a few of the details for my time spent with Aloysius. I don’t want to dwell on that any more than I have to.
By the time I’ve brought him up to the events of this afternoon, Eamon has leaned forward, his elbows against his knees and fingers steeple before him. “So you’re only under the king’s control when you’re with him, right?”
“Yes, but so far Bastien has remained relatively normal. I think Aloysius’s pride believes me so tightly wound around his finger that Bastien no longer matters. We act like complete strangers when anyone is around, apart from Alesta, of course.”
“And you trust her?”
I nod. “Bastien still keeps an eye on her, but she has given me no reason to doubt her yet.”
“Only one slip could be fatal, Illyria,” he warns.
I smirk. “Now you sound exactly like Bastien.”
“Well, in this case, I’ll take that as a compliment. You can’t be too careful.” He leans back in the chair, closing his eyes. “I’ve seen this played out over and over in my mind. Spent the past year watching you fall in love with Aloysius again and again. He’s the reason I lost you.”
“You know that isn’t true. You pushed us apart long ago.” I speak softly but know the sting of my words will still hurt.
Staring across the room at him now, I regret the way we parted ways. Him broken and me confused and tormented. None of this ever should have happened. He should have been the one giving me a shoulder to cry on, not Bastien. “I know how hard it must’ve been for you to look into my future, to know that someday I would be sitting right here, but you should have trusted me.”
Eamon twitches as he sits up. “You think I didn’t trust you?”
“What else could I think?”
He blows out a breath, shaking his head. “It was never about my lack of trust in you. It was a lack of faith in my own abilities.”
I curl my finger around a strand of hair, contemplating what he has just revealed. Then it hits me. I jerk upright in bed. “You saw something else, didn’t you?”
The sound of the keypad unlocking and the door opening sounds distant to me. I don’t realize Bastien has returned until I feel his hand upon my arm. “Illyria? What’s wrong?”
I don’t look away from Eamon. “He was just about to tell me what little detail he forget to mention about my future.”
Bastien’s grip tightens on my arm. He swivels his head to stare at Eamon, but he doesn’t notice either of our gazes. His eyes are downturned, focused on the floor. “Eamon?”
His shoulders rise and fall as he takes a deep breath. “I didn’t see any point in telling you…”
“Well, there is now,” Bastien growls as he raises his arm to grip my shoulder. “So start talking.”
Eamon clears his throat before he speaks. “For the past year I’ve been monitoring Illyria’s future, trying to find some way of altering it. I know it’s impossible, but the thought of losing her to that monster… It was more than I could bear.”
Surprisingly, Bastien nods in agreement. “So what haven’t you told her?”
“There’s nothing to see past her wedding night. It’s all blank.”
Bastien stiffens beside me, but I don’t react. This isn’t a surprise to me. “I’ve already seen that, Eamon. I know what happens.”
“You never said…” Eamon trails off, lifting his head to look at me.
I shrug. “What was the point in hurting you even more? I get married to an evil monster. End of story.”
Bastien and Eamon both cry out.
“How can you be so apathetic about this?” Bastien asks.
I release the breath I feel like I’ve been holding for over a year. “Because it haunts my dreams every night.”
“You’ve known all this time,” Eamon whispers, plunging his hands into his unruly curls. “I was trying to save you from this. To protect you from the pain.”
“And all you did was alienate her and force her to deal with this on her own. Smooth move,” Bastien growls beside me. I can feel his anger in the strength of his grip upon my arm.
“I didn’t know.” Eamon protests, beginning to rise from his chair. Bastien’s grip on my arm slackens and I know he is going to rise up to meet him.
“Stop it!” I cry, surging to my feet. “I am sick and tired of you two bickering. You’re family, for goodness sake!”
Eamon comes to a complete halt, blinking rapidly. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”
Bastien groans. “Great. This is exactly how I wanted him to hear the news.”
I could kick myself for letting Bastien’s secret slip out, but in the heat of the moment, I used what ammo I had available. “I’m sorry, Eamon. That wasn’t… I shouldn’t have said it like that.”
Bastien shifts uncomfortably beside me. I look to him for help, and he shoves his hands deep into his pockets. “Turns out you and I are brothers. Funny that, huh?”
Eamon stares at him with open disbelief. He looks between Bastien and me, waiting for one of us to start laughing. When neither of us crack, he sinks back into his chair. “You’re my brother?” he repeats, as if needing to hear it out loud for it to be true.
“Yeah. I pretty much reacted the same way. Sucks, huh?” Bastien says, blowing out a breath.
“Yeah.” Eamon snorts. “Little bit.”
I close my eyes and think over how completely opposite these two guys are. Night and day. Fire and ice. Summer and winter. And yet, under Eamon’s overprotective nature and Bastien’s sarcastic swagger, both men love deeply and fully. Perhaps, in the ways the matter most, they aren’t so different after all.
Twenty-One
It feels weird watching Bastien and Eamon try to figure out how to be civil with each other, if for no other reason than to give this brother thing a shot. I know it won’t last, but it’s kind of nice for a change.
“Where are the others? Are they close by?” I ask, interrupting their hushed conversation. I know they were talking about me.
Eamon lifts his head and glances back at me. I sit propped up in bed, fighting against a yawn. The pillows are far too comfortable and the blanket warming and inviting.
“Kyan and the girls are here now, but more will be arriving soon. Carleon has gone into the villages to collect soldiers loyal to our cause. We’ll be ready to fight.”
“There isn’t enough time,” I whisper, fiddling with the edge of the sheet. “I’m to be married in two days.”
I half expect Eamon to rise in anger or throw something, but instead he simply lowers his head, as if he already knew. And then I realize he did.
“And until then? Where will you go?” Bastien questions Eamon, staring past him to the night sky.
Already, the distant horizon has begun to lighten.
“We won’t be far. There’s an old series of mines under the woods that lead to the ocean. Kyan knows them well. We’ll use that as our base for now while we gather support.” Eamon slowly rises, obviously reluctant to leave, but he must with the coming dawn.
“Wait!” I stretch out a hand toward him. “Please, don’t go yet.”
I look to Bastien, pleading silently to understand my need to say good-bye. No one really knows what’ll happen during the next two days. The one thing I do know is that I need all the support and love I can get to face it.
Bastien’s lips press thin, but he nods and closes the door to his room behind him. Eamon rubs the back of his neck nervously as I rise from the bed and move toward him. I watch as his gaze flits down over my dress in the moonlight before he looks away. “I should get back. I’ve been gone longer than planned. Kyan will be worried.” His voice is raw with emotion. “I just needed to know that you’re safe.”
I reach for his hand and draw him near. I can feel his hesitation even as I wrap his arms about me and place my head upon his chest. Months of pain and loneliness rise up as tears gather in the corners of my eyes. This is what I needed. To simply be held.
“I’m sorry about before,” I whisper as my fingers trail across the black material of his shirt. I can feel muscle beneath it, tensing and releasing as he breathes.
He presses his cheek against my head, finally sealing me into his embrace. “I never meant to hurt you. I just… I didn’t know how to say good-bye.”
His hands splay across my back, warm and comforting. I press my face against his neck, smiling at the rapid pulse I find thrumming there. “I’ve missed you,” I whisper.
Eamon pulls back. His ice-blue eyes are tender as he smiles down at me. “Not as much as I’ve missed you.”
And I know that he means every word of it. Gone are the worry lines in his forehead and about his eyes. There is still reason to fear, but in this moment, he lets it all wash away. It’s sad that it took us coming to this point for him to finally realize there was nothing he could’ve done to prevent this. The gift of a seer is a curse and a blessing, depending on what you do with it.