Kit held him tightly, let Nick hold him in return. Nick had been struggling, going crazy because he felt like he was the only one affected by Connor being kidnapped. The only one afraid. And everyone else had been doing so well that Nick couldn’t bring himself to voice the fact thathewasn’t. Kit was right. Nick was hurt, had been hurting, but… “I’m not alone.”
Kit hummed, but let it sit with him. Let Nick process his blame. The true cause of his anxieties.
Nick didn’t know why, but the guilt and shame didn’t amplify, they released. Breathing became easier. “Connor’s the reason I got to meet you,” Nick said.
A chirp drew Nick’s attention. He twisted in Kit’s arms and startled. Adonis sat perched on the edge of the well, tail disappearing into the dark. He was looking at Nick, not through him.
Nick’s breath caught. He waited for the fire to burn through his tattoos; he waited for Adonis’s gaze to shift, as if Nick wasn’t there at all. Adonis chirped again, his expression slowly transforming; his chin rose, and pleased arrogance washed over every inch of him.
“So annoying,” Nick said, but he grinned. Adonis’s attitude could be infuriating, irritating, and downright disruptive, but right now Nick was glad of it. The situation couldn’t be bad. Not while Adonis was brandishing his usual brand of smug arrogance. “Connor’s gonna be happy with you, I suppose? Since you found me.” Nick guessed the reason for Adonis’s prideful look.
“I am very good at making Connor happy,” Adonis boasted.
Valor, Ios and Mini all stood at the base of the steps. Mini and Ios stared with wide eyes, and Valor watched Adonis, assessing. Kneeling on the steps, Nick and Kit were closest to the merman. Nick shifted his weight onto his heels, pulling free of Kit’s embrace. He released the stranglehold he had of Kit’s hand.
“I’m sorry for grabbing you.”
Kit’s head tilted to the side. “I am the one who reached out to you. The pain is gone?”
‘Pain gone’was not exactly an accurate description of Nick’s physical state. His forearm was slashed deep in the muscle and still bled, his ribs ached, and his eyes stung with shed tears. Nick wiped his cheek to erase the tracks that tears left and ended up wetting his cheek with congealing blood.
The low groan of creaking wood filled the hall as the doors swung open. Footsteps preceded the soft patter of water droplets hitting the stone floor. Adonis chirped out a greeting.
Connor stood next to the slumped-over forms of Rin and Greya, feet planted between their pooling blood. His black curls were plastered to his head, the strands wet and dripping.His clothes—a plain T-shirt and pants—were saturated, water running off them in little rivers. Stormy grey eyes fixed on Nick.
Nick stared back. He should have felt guilty. Conflicted, maybe, if he had a conscience.
It was only relief that washed through him.
Nick rose shakily to his feet, Kit supporting him with a hand on his side, and then Nick found new strength in his body as he marched down the middle aisle. Connor watched every step, eyes raking over Nick from head to toe, before finally focusing exclusively on his cut arm.
“You’re looking a little –” Connor cut off as Nick engulfed him in a hard hug. The first he’d ever given Connor. Even if neither of them was particularly inclined towards physical affection, Nick should at least know what hugging his brother felt like.
Arms wrapped around Connor, he could feel the rigid tension of his body. Could feel his joints moving like rusted machinery as his hands rose up to touch Nick’s sides, only very lightly. Nick sensed that the hesitation wasn’t rejection, but wariness. Concern that there were hidden injuries that he didn’t want to worsen.
“You can feel me now, can’t you?” Now that Nick had accepted the resentment and blame he’d been desperately trying to extinguish, Connor would be able to find him. Now that Nick wasn’t rejecting him.
“Yes, and it’s steady,” Connor confirmed.
“Great,” Nick murmured. He pulled back, swaying on his feet, and Connor gave Nick’s face one more hard look before his focus shifted to the kits further in the church. Adonis was waiting patiently on the well.
Nick sucked in a sharp breath. “Crap. Adonis—Desre, the nymph, is she in there?”
Adonis twitched. His eyes cut to Connor, reading his face, before sliding back to Nick. He shook his head widely from side to side. “Escaped!” A big shrug. “River.” He mimed a fish swimming away with his hand.
Nick’s stomach dropped. Kit’s shoulders tensed, his tail lashing to one side. Nick cursed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Crap. Mini, can you redraw those? And Adonis…” Nick’s brow furrowed. “She can’t influence you, right? Can you catch her? Please.” Nick turned to Connor. “It’s important.”
“Why do you want her caught?” Connor asked.
Nick hesitated a second. But then he thought about the glimmers of sharp edges he’d seen in Connor. Connor was soft and gentle, but that wasn’t all.
“She can control how you feel through touch. She’s a serial rapist and a killer. And she’s got it out for Kit, so there’s no way I can leave her loose to come back and try to get him. Connor, please.” Nick’s voice came out nothing short of desperate. He’d learned, viscerally, that he was useless against her. His protection stripped away. He hated asking for help, but how could he do anything other than put that aside?
“You don’t need to say please like that. It feels weird.” Connor shook out his shoulders. “And…don’t tell Dad, but she’s…” He waved a hand. Broadly. Casually. Then he repeated the gesture as a sharper motion across his own throat. “Things have been a bit tense. I might have given Adonis permission to use lethal force.”
Nick blinked. He looked towards the well, where Adonis was looking smug as sin. The other kits looked that way too. Mini rose onto his toes and tried to see into the well.
“Is she actually?” Nick walked to Adonis and peered down. There was a large hole right at the bottom, the well cracked open and connected to the river. The gap was bigenough for Desre to have escaped through, but Adonis hadn’t let her.
