Callista squeezed my hand again, and her brother lifted his chin in a twitchy acknowledgement of what I said. His arms remained folded. “I appreciate that, but what about the harm you did to my sister?”
“I have apologized to her,”I said at the same time she answered, “He never harmed me.”
We both gave her dubious looks.
She grinned at me. “You didn’t. Things happened that were stressful, but they were not at your hand."
I brushed a lock of hair behind her shoulder. “I cannot believe you would reduce several life-threatening situations to merelystressful.”
She squeezed my hand. “And I cannot believe you would take credit for those when you went to considerable lengths to protect me from them.”
Alastor unfolded his arms. “Regardless, we’re going to talk about this—” He waved his hand at Callista and I. “Later. We actually came to deliver a message.”
I raised a brow and looked at Callista.
She tightened her hold on my hand and nodded. “It’s something Alastor told me, but I’m not sure this is the best place for it.”
I created a sound barrier with magic around Callista, her brother, Lyam, and myself. “Nobody will hear us,” I told her. I knew she could see the magic, but I doubted her brother could.
His eyes tracked to Callista. She gave him an encouraging nod, and he took a deep breath. “Guyan and I had a deal. I broke the barrier to let him inside Sirun. He was going to kill you and bring Callista back to me.”
An icy pang cut down my chest. Nothing he said could have surprised me more. My own cousin. And yet… there might have been signs. “Was there anything else he said? Any hint about how he intended to kill me?”
Alastor had the decency to look ashamed of having been party to murder. “I… no, not really. I had been trying to get any elf Imet to go in and get Callista. He told me he would do it. I doubted his ability to get her away from your bond, and he said when you died, it would disintegrate.”
I nodded slowly. “It would have, but I already removed it myself. It will be impossible for him to uphold his end of that deal now.” I glanced at the small group of people who knew my greatest vulnerability. “I will confront him about it now. You three should stay out here.”
Callista shook her head. “No. I already walked away from you once today, and it nearly ripped me in half. Do not ask me to do that again.”
A wild smile leaped from my heart to my face. “Firehawk. I would burn my own fortress down before I asked you to leave it again. No, I just want you to wait in a different room so you do not get caught in the cross-fire that is sure to happen. You have a rather stunning tendency to step into flames you cannot fight.”
Her brother snorted.
She threw him a glare.
“What?” He shrugged. “A certain argument comes to mind with a drekkan and a half-fae who were throwing flames around…”
She folded her arms. “And yet we all survived.”
“Callista.” I touched her upper arm, hoping the contact would help us all stay calm. “I am not an easy elf to kill. If I go in alone, I have the advantage of surprising him. If you all come with me, he will know I know something, especially if he sees Alastor. Trust me on this. Please. We will all survive again.”
Her eyes looked stormy, like she was planning to start another fire, but she said, “I will agree to stay in this corridor unless I think you need me. Therearethings I can do, even if I don’thave magic.”
“Oh, I know it.” I raised my hand to her face. “And do not discount your magic sight. You are more powerful than you give yourself credit for.” The drive to clutch her to my chest again was nearly overwhelming. I wanted to hold her and kiss her and never let her leave.
But I had to confront Guyan. If I found even a hint of the treason Alastor talked about, he would spend the rest of his life in a dungeon. And Callista—
Callista looked up at me with her soul-searing gaze, and something feral inside me answered. I tightened the sound barrier, so it only surrounded the two of us, and then I raised a wall of smoke to block us from her brother’s view.
I kept one hand on her face and moved the other to cradle her head. “I desperately want to kiss you without your brother watching.”
She gripped my biceps, lighting up my entire world with so many emotions that I couldn’t even see. “Then the smoke was a wonderful idea.”
I bent down so my lips grazed her cheek. “I missed you.”
Her hand landed on my neck, and the heat from her touch spread like a wildfire. I whispered, “Firehawk,” against her lips and then relaxed as she met my kiss.
Raw emotion ran through my veins as my heart clung to hers. Were we already preparing for a marriage bond? The fact that I’d let her go, sent her away, and she’d come back—without any threats or promises or coercion—meant everything. Standing here, walled off from everyone else by magic smoke, she kissed me back and held onto me with the same enthusiasm I offered her. The possibility of happiness stood like a bright fire in front of me… and no twisted bonds or lost brothers orpast mistakes were stopping us.
