Saturday, July 30, 4 S.E.

  Kairi rewarded Leonidas’ question with a punch to the gut.

  Ceruviel barked a laugh when he doubled over in pain, and Kairi smiled in grim satisfaction, reaching up absently to wipe her eyes. She still couldn’t believe she’d cried—her second time seeing her idiot brother in five years, and she’d shed tears like she was sixteen again, and he’d just come home following a semester away.

  A flare of warm affection blossomed in her at seeing him, and she promptly stamped it down before it could ignite her emotions again.

  She had to be tough, still. She had so much to interrogate him about.

  Much to her immediate annoyance, Leonidas recovered with surprising swiftness after only a wheeze of disbelief, laughing weakly and forcing himself to straighten as he rubbed his abdomen. Despite herself, Kairi was impressed. Ceruviel had bragged to her about how unprecedented her brother’s talent was, but seeing it in person was something else.

  She’d used punches like those to fold Contenders, and Leonidas was already recovering.

  His Vitality and Endurance must be absurd, she thought to herself idly while her eyes shifted past Leonidas toward the two Haelfar standing where he’d left them in the entrance hall. She still felt uneasy around aliens, even after a week of living with them and coming to find a grudging respect—even admiration—for the Duchess that had been her forceful hostess.

  Walking in on her wearing out three Vanguards like they owed her money had been less than ideal, but she’d learned her lesson from that, and part of her couldn’t help but respect the imperious Archon even more for her unapologetic nature.

  The Dusk-Lord was like the badass Aunt she’d always wanted.

  The admittance had stung Kairi the first time Ceruviel had read it in her mind, but she’d gotten past that point of embarrassment.

  The two women below her, though…

  Kairi’s eyes drifted over them skeptically, and she felt her jaw tighten.

  The blonde looked like Haelfar Cinderella come to life, if Cinderella had been a 6’2” smokeshow with eyes as blue as the sapphires of her gown, and enough poised elegance to make a straight girl blush. As for the redhead, that one Kairi could read far more easily. She was staring at Leonidas with what Kairi could generously call ‘puppy love’, and was darting her golden eyes at Kairi herself in a mix of curiosity and violent intent.

  The fact that her weaponized curves looked like they could smother someone told her pretty readily why her bonehead brother had an interest in the taller of the two, at least at a perfunctory glance.

  Kairi resisted the urge to fold her arms over her own comparatively conservative chest and looked back to her sibling, watching him turn and wave off the concern with a warm laugh and an easy manner that confirmed exactly how comfortable he really was. When he’d entered, she’d been watching covertly, wrapped in [Stealth], and she’d hardly believed her eyes.

  Leonidas had walked in like something out of a fairytale.

  The blonde Haelfar had been looking at him like he was Prince Charming come to life, and when he’d grabbed the redhead, Kairi had rolled her eyes so hard at the woman’s naked joy that she’d nearly given herself a seizure. Leonidas had gone from dorky gamer nerd to charming a Princess and a Wildfire in a matter of weeks, and Kairi still didn’t know how she felt about that.

  “Aylar, Synthra, there’s somebody I’d like you both to meet.”

  Kairi’s eyes narrowed at Leonidas’ words, and before she could protest, he grabbed her by the forearm—she allowed it, in fairness—and dragged her down the stairs with a grip like a vise. He paused, briefly, to hug Ceruviel one-armed with a gruff ‘thank you’, which the Duchess chuckled at, and then continued on down the stairs, dragging Kairi all the way.

  There was no way he should be that strong at Initiate, but Kairi filed that away for later review as she was pulled bodily before the two aliens awaiting them.

  The very, very tall aliens.

  Kairi wasn’t short by any means at 5’8”, at least not for a Terran woman, but compared to the blonde and even taller redhead, she felt stunted.

  Wait—did he say Aylar? She recouped mentally as her brain caught up. As in the fucking Queen that the System just announced? Aha!

  “So,” Kairi said before any of them could speak again. “You’re the crazy bitch that got my brother wrapped up in your stupid power play.”

  Leonidas froze at her words, the redhead’s golden eyes widened incredulously, Ceruviel snorted behind them, the serving staff stiffened, and the blonde—the blonde laughed.

  Kairi narrowed her eyes at the reaction from the Queenly woman, and mentally chalked one point in the Haelfar’s favor. She had expected a more visceral reaction, perhaps an excuse to use her talents—instead, Aylar had disarmed the matter flawlessly. Grudgingly, Kairi felt herself respecting the decorum the woman showed.

  She wasn’t airheaded or vain by any means, based on that, which was a pleasant departure from Kairi’s admittedly uncharitable expectations.

  “Yes,” the Haelfar Queen finally responded with sharp amusement, her voice so musically feminine that Kairi felt momentarily enchanted, much to her chagrin. “I am the one who drew him into my House’s conflict,” Aylar finished with no hint of offense at her words, with a certainty of self that was hard not to respect.

  Kairi stared at her in veiled, but admittedly pleasant surprise as she continued.

  “Though, in fairness,” the Queen concluded with a smile, “he was the one who proposed to me, so I would call that as much his fault as mine.”

  “I knew what I was getting into,” Leonidas said before Kairi could answer, smiling at the blonde like she was made of pure sunshine, and then looking down at Kairi. “And, uh, yeah. I’m engaged. Surprise?”

  Kairi stared at him for an extended moment of silence, and then shook her head. Trust Leonidas to find the one woman their family would go apoplectic over.

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  “Pop’s gonna lose his shit,” she muttered.

  “Probably,” Leonidas agreed with a sigh.

  “...she’s pretty, though,” Kairi admitted finally. “Nice job.”

  Aylar, to her surprise, favored her with a warm smile at that—forcing Kairi to suppress an embarrassed blush. She hadn’t felt like that since she’d met her favorite pop star as a kid.

  Leonidas, ever oblivious, then turned to the redhead

  The golden-eyed giantess stared skeptically at Kairi when he did.

  “This, by the way, is Synthra,” her brother said casually, gesturing to the woman indicatively. “She’s a friend, and another member of our Party.”

  Kairi eyed the redhead warily after Leonidas finished and stuck her hands in her pockets out of habit, lifting her gaze toward the woman’s horns and jerking her chin at them with genuine interest.

  “Are those real?” she asked carefully, eyes tracking the striations that ran along the horns themselves.

  “Synthra has Dragon blood,” Aylar answered before Synthra could, her voice once again echoing with that musical etherealness that made her seem just that much more fantastical.

  “Wait. Seriously?” Kairi asked with a mix of alarm and a flare of her [Nightreaper Core], turned back to the redhead as her [Titan Slayer] Ambition vibrated. “Is that—is that normal?”

  “She has a very prestigious bloodline,” Aylar said with a small smile.

  “That’s right, I do,” the redhead, Synthra, said haughtily—her voice emanating with a husky, melodious register that sent an involuntary shiver down Kairi’s spine. “Is that going to be a problem?”

  Kairi stared at her for a long moment and tried to mask her growing disbelief. Not only were both women tall, gorgeous, and exotic enough to be the lead characters of their own novels, but they were also clearly infatuated with her brother. Her brother. The same moron who had spent hours nose-deep in Manwha.

  Kairi turned fully back to Leonidas, reassessing him rapidly when she did.

  When she spoke, it was with a slight loosening of her usual control.

  “Okay, yeah, firstly—how did you manage this, Ace? Secondly, what the hell happened to you?”

  Leonidas’ expression flickered at her words, and her brother turned to both women, whose own faces shifted into something more empathetic. Kairi’s trauma radar went off loudly in her head, but she studiously ignored it as she impatiently awaited an answer.

  When her brother turned back to her, his expression was grim.

  “There’s a lot I have to tell you, Kai,” he said after a moment, reaching up to brush his fingers through his hair with an almost haunted look. “A lot. I wanted to tell you when we last met, but after the Duskguard hit—well, it all happened too fast.”

  Kairi didn’t need the reminder. She could still remember the hurt, the pain, the rage at being unable to take her brother with her when she’d been forcefully teleported by her [Recall Stone].

  “So let’s talk,” she said instead, nodding to the stairs behind her.

  Leonidas glanced back at the two women, and they both flicked their eyes to Kairi, then gave him similar but different nods—the Princess warm and encouraging, the redhead tense but understanding. As if satisfied by their reactions, and as Kairi’s possessive jealousy over her brother flared annoyingly within her, the idiot in question turned back to her with those dopey, kind eyes of his.

  “We can talk,” he agreed simply, gesturing up the stairs in kind. “I’ve got rooms we can use.”

  Before Kairi could respond, more people entered the Hall, and the four of them turned to see an old and elegant Haelfar, a blonde Haelfar with pronounced canines, a skinny-looking Haelfar holding a staff of all things, and the biggest, most golden-adorned Haelfar she’d ever seen. The last entered the Hall with a passive force of presence that momentarily stilled her heart.

  Instinctively, Kairi glanced at Ceruviel, and the Duchess gave her a sly smile.

  Oh fuck me, Kairi thought as she turned back to the giant of an elf. There really are two of these monsters. That would make that one Uriel Aventus.

  The Nomads, she realized immediately, had no idea how absolutely screwed they really were if they attacked Dawnhaven.

  +That is no longer your concern, dear,+ Ceruviel’s voice said, lancing languidly into her mind. +Remember what we discussed. If you wish to remain with your brother…+

  Kairi’s spine stiffened, and she grimaced while no one was looking.

  I know, she said in resignation. I remember your terms, Ceruviel.

  +Good girl,+ the Duchess said fondly. It was fondness, Kairi knew. They’d actually bonded in a measurable way over the week of her stay. Her respect for Ceruviel was by no means groundless. +Your presence will be good for him, Kairi. He has been through a very great ordeal. There’s a reason I wanted you here when he returned. He will need you. Not the Reaper’s Shadow, but instead, his loving sister.+

  Kairi paused at that and glanced at her brother, who was greeting the new arrivals like he’d known them for years, and already explaining her identity to them as they closed the distance amidst the bows of the Estate staff.

  I don’t know if I know how to be that person anymore, Ceruviel, she admitted into the privacy of her mind.

  +If you didn’t,+ Ceruviel said with no pretense at gentleness, +do you really think I’d have tolerated your presence?+

  Kairi said nothing to that and let the tension bleed out of her.

  The Duchess, in her experience, was many things—but never a liar, and never one to make empty threats. If Ceruviel believed that the sister Kair had once been remained inside of her, it wasn’t something she could rationally dismiss out of hand. Her week with the Archon had shown her exactly how insightful the grumpy Haelfar could be, and despite her best attempts, she’d benefited from that at-times vicious honesty more than she wanted to admit.

  I don’t know how to find that part of myself anymore, she sent back instead, letting herself expose some of the self-conscious doubt that lingered. It wasn’t as if she could really hide it from Ceruviel anyway. I don’t know if he’ll even like the person I am now.

  In response, the Duchess laughed softly, quietly enough that even Kairi barely heard her.

  +Child,+ Ceruviel said warmly, +if there is one thing I know about my Squire, it is that his capacity for love is perhaps the only thing he has never been able to control. Trust him, Kairi. If you do, I believe you will be happier for it, as hard as it may seem.+

  To that, Kairi had no reply, and instead she looked up with instinctive skepticism as Leonidas led over the tall, blonde Haelfar with the fangs, the golden giant of a man she mentally registered as Uriel, based on what she’d scope out, the elder elf who looked like a Butler, and the skinny-looking Haelfar with the staff.

  The last one she actually found sort of cute.

  “This, my friends, my lords, is my sister,” Leonidas said to the newly arrived quartet, gesturing to her in the proud way he had when he’d introduced her to his College friends, all those years ago—before the nightmare, before the System.

  Kairi took a breath at the introduction, forced some of her tension to melt away as the Queen gave her a small, encouraging smile. Kairi faltered for a moment, hesitated, and then finally presented her best, most charming smile.

  Or whatever approximated a charming smile for her, these days.

  “Hi,” she said with what she hoped amounted to proper civility. “Nice to meet you, I’m Kairi.”

  First, she’d concede to play the well-behaved sister.

  Then, finally, she’d get some answers—whether Leonidas liked it or not.

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