Caleb appeared right after me with Seth clinging to his back, his hat tassels fluttering around in the breeze as Leon jumped down from my back and slammed the drain closed, sealing it up again with a spell.
“Dere’s spiders down dere in dat hole,” a gravelly male voice made me whip around and I found a naked hairy dude standing there with a whole array of cutlery hanging from his pubes.
“Oh my stars, he’s a chip-chop pube champion,” Seth gasped, starting to applaud the man who was clearly high on something as he started spinning in circles and pointing at the sky.
Leon threw stardust over us and we were carried away back to The Burrows, my retinas forever burned with the image of the forks and knives wrapped in that man’s pubes, but relief pouring over me too. Because we now had another gemstone, and despite the need to scrub myself clean and the fact that I had to give up my prized Pitball card to claim it, I had to call it a win.
***
I sat in bed, missing Darcy, thankful Seth had gone to spend some time with the Heirs this evening. I turned the beautiful topaz gemstone over in my palm, zoning out as I wondered what Blue was doing.
A soft knock came at the door and I called out for whoever it was to come in, finding Darius there as he stepped into the room with a forlorn expression on his face.
“Do you want company?” he asked and I nodded, shoving the covers back beside me in an offering.
Darius pushed the door shut, kicking his shoes off and getting into bed beside me. The familiarity of his company made me instantly relax and I leaned against him as he shifted closer to me.
He sighed heavily, sadness spilling from him and tainting the air.
“I know, brother,” I said. “Hopefully they’ll be back soon.”
Silence fell between us, but it was the kind that was so familiar to me, it wasn’t at all awkward. Darius and I had always been able to share the same space in quiet contentment, and I was so fucking glad that was still the case now the Guardian bond was broken.
“You know I love you, don’t you, asshole?” Darius broke the silence after a while and I looked at him in surprise.
“Are you about to ask me to elope with you now Tory’s out of the picture?” I teased and he thumped my arm.
“I’m serious,” he growled and my brows raised as I sensed something was up.
“What’s going on?” I asked and he shook his head marginally before huffing out a line of smoke.
“You just never know what’s going to happen. And the second I get a chance to go after my father, I’m going to take it. I don’t know if I’ll survive that, Lance, so I’m saying what has to be said in case I don’t.”
My chest constricted at the thought of losing him, and though I knew he was right and that any of us could be in peril any time we stepped outside The Burrows, it was also easier to pretend that wasn’t the case than to say goodbye every time someone I cared about walked out the door.
Of course, at that thought panic welled in me over Blue having left without me seeing her, but Gabriel had taken them somewhere far away and he’d have seen that they were safe there. At least, I fucking well hoped so.
I considered saying something stupid to lighten the mood, or taunting him more for saying he loved me, but as I met his pained gaze, I found I couldn’t do that. And instead, I leaned my head against his and sighed, “I love you too, brother.”
“In this life and the next,” he swore, my chest tightening at the words because it sounded like he really thought he needed to say them. But the man I knew wouldn’t just give up on hope like that. Where was the arrogance? The self assurance? The utter confidence that he could win this? I needed to remind him of who the fuck he was and how certain I was that he would win that fight just as soon as we could destroy Lavinia and allow him to have it.
“You’re bigger than him,” I said firmly because it was more than true now. He’d let me measure him in his shifted form last week and by my calculations he was over a ton heavier than his father in Dragon form and nearly six feet longer too.
“And still growing,” he replied, a faint smile on his lips though it didn’t touch his eyes like even that fact didn’t make him feel any more confident.
“Stronger too,” I added. “Plus now that the twins are off learning from another teacher, I’ll have more time available to dedicate to you. And we have plenty of bones so we can get back to honing your skill with borrowing Elements from the dead.”
His smile grew more genuine at that and he nodded. “I would enjoy seeing the look on his face when I wield dark magic against him,” he admitted, his eyes brightening at the idea.