Xavier landed lightly beside us in his lilac Pegasus form, the shift rippling along him as he fell still and a second later he stood in front of us naked in his Fae form.
“The Acrux spare!” a man cried in alarm nearby, pointing at him. “Quick – someone capture him before he reveals our location to the false King! Somebody – quickly!”
Orion flicked a finger that sent a snowball slamming into the guy’s mouth to shut him up, making him stumble over his own feet and land on his ass and Tory barked a laugh without even bothering to try and hide it. Honestly, the two of them were bad influences on each other, but I couldn’t help but like their little friendship all the same.
“He’s an ally,” Orion barked, glaring at anyone giving Xavier a fearful look.
The people closest to us exchanged glances then looked anywhere but at Orion, the words ‘Power Shamed’ passing between them in horrified mutters. A growl built in my throat and fire magic twisted through me as my rage grew hotter at their dismissal of him.
“Looks like you’re invisible, bro.” Seth’s hand clapped down on Orion’s shoulder, as he stood with his dick out right beside him – his leaf pants apparently having blown away on the wind - and Orion shoved him away so fast, he stumbled into Caleb.
“Xavier is our ally,” Tory confirmed to the crowd and they quickly paid her attention, bowing their heads and nodding their agreement.
“That’s right.” Geraldine piped up, moving to step in front of us and thrusting out her chest as she placed her hands on her hips. She’d shifted back into her Fae form now that she was done howling our arrival to the sky and the hoody someone had draped around her shoulders fell off into the snow, leaving her completely naked in front of them, her ass cheeks clenched tightly. “He is our pure hearted Pegasus friend, a Fae who is as kind as a kimmenfrog on a kipper, and who has fought valiantly beside us this very day.”
“For the love of the moon, Gerry,” Max growled, hurrying forward to grab the hoody and trying to drape it over her again, but she kept elbowing him away as she continued her speech.
“And yes, he may be an Acrux, raised by the vagrant vagabond who has stolen the throne from the true queens, and yes, we may look at him and accuse him of being a cowardly creature with a spine as slippery as a sallion slug. But hear me this day, and hear me ever more, for Xavier Acrux has proved he will fight in the name of my lady Tory and my lady Darcy. He has shown that every glittering speck of his essence is devoted to the true cause, the rightful cause-”
“Can we hurry it along? I’m freezing my cock off here,” Seth called and I glanced over at him as he fashioned himself some more pants out of leaves.
Caleb reached out to touch his arm, the heat of his fire Element blazing under his fingers, making Seth shiver as it flooded into him and he grinned at his crush with so much adoration in his eyes that I had to wonder how Caleb hadn’t noticed it yet.
Xavier’s cheeks had pinked from all the attention that was on him, standing awkwardly to one side as he held his junk beneath his hands.
“Come forth – come forth! Make way for the true queens!” Hamish cried, barrelling his way through the crowd and Geraldine abandoned her speech, running forward to embrace her huge father.
His moustache was flecked with snowflakes and he was dressed in a shaggy fur coat that gave him the appearance of a giant beaver. He had a pile of sweatpants and sweaters in his arms, throwing them out to whoever needed them so our friends could get dressed. The Heirs all moved forward to pile up their Phoenix weapons in the arms of one of the rebels, like they expected to be waited on by these people. The man’s knees nearly buckled under the weight of them all, but he didn’t drop them, even when Caleb grabbed Orion’s sword and tossed that on top of the pile too and a little squeak of exertion left the guy.
Assholes.
Dante shifted into his Fae form, pulling on some sweatpants but leaving his muscular chest bare as he nodded to us and strode off into the crowd like he was searching for someone and I wondered if his family were here.
“Oh daddypops, you fought like a clandestine clatterpuss out there,” Geraldine gushed.
“My dear Gerrykins, you fought like a true warrior of the Naggaluff,” Hamish exclaimed.
“Xavier?” a woman’s voice reached us as she pushed through the crowd and I looked up at the stranger as she darted towards him. “It’s me,” she said, flicking a hand across her face so that her true features were revealed for the briefest of moments and he gasped as he recognised his mother Catalina, running to meet her, the two of them embracing hard and making my heart squeeze. “Where’s your brother?” she begged, a note of terror in her voice.