this and never involved myself. I tend to the dead, and soon, there will be many.”
31
Mave
She woke up in a room that seemed like her bedroom but wasn’t it. Opening her eyes, she was only confronted by the sight of her blankets and furs, all given to her by her husbands, but the room still seemed off.
“Where am I?” she asked, knowing others were in the room, out of sight. None of them were cuddled with her, and she was almost grateful. She wasn’t sure how she would have reacted in a space with bodies next to her.
“Our new home,” Luykas explained, coming close enough she could feel his body heat. “We had to move because…It was unreasonable to live where we were.”
“Why?” she demanded to know.
“Leshaun died at our dining table.”
Mave closed her eyes again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t here—”
“There is nothing you could have done. None of us could do anything. Do not take that blame on yourself,” Mat growled from across the room. She sat up to look at him. “You only need to worry about getting that wing fixed. You only need to grieve. There’s nothing we could have done. He practically died in my arms, and I don’t want you beating yourself up anymore.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Was there a…a funeral?”
“Yes, and I saved some of his ashes from being spread, so you could do it,” Mat answered, his tone turning softer.
He came closer, crawling across the room to take her other side, cocooning her between him and Luykas. Luykas was rubbing her back silently, just giving her the comfort she had rejected when she made it home. She was okay with taking it now because her duty to the family was done, and her heart was sore from the tears.
“Where are Bryn and Zayden?” she asked.
“Probably making midday meal.” Luykas wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her down, forcing her to take the cuddles they offered. “You’ve been asleep for two days, so we’ve been taking shifts. Everyone checks in with us. Seanev, Nevyn, Varon, Dave, Trevan, even Senri made a visit, demanding to see you, but when she came in here, she broke down in tears again and had to be walked back out. You hurt her when you didn’t go into their home to grieve. She loves you, and she wanted her daughter.”
“I didn’t think…” Mave sighed. “He…”
“We know what Kian did,” Mat whispered, kissing her forehead. “Emerian told us everything, including how you told him he should never see you again.”
“Does that mean I won’t?” Mave said, going deadpan.
“No, it means he has moved into our spare room because he takes his promise to Kian more seriously than he takes your threats.” She could hear Luykas smiling.
“He moved in?” she growled. “He—”
“Saved your life at the behest of your father,” Mat snapped. “And I would have done exactly what he did, and I had known Kian for over a thousand years. Luykas?”
“Yes.”
She pulled out from between them, got dressed without their help, then left the room. She found Bryn and Zayden, where her other males said they would be.
“Would you have done it?” she demanded. “Would either of you have left Kian to die if he asked you to save me?”
“Yes, without question,” Bryn said first, his face blank.
She turned to Zayden, glaring. She knew she would get a fight out of him, and she wanted a fight over this. She needed a fight over this with a male she trusted because she couldn’t go after Emerian. She’d obliterate him and had resisted that urge for weeks.
“Don’t ask stupid questions,” Zayden growled. “You know I would.”
“Why?” she snarled. “How could you say—”
“Because you’re you, and a male’s duty is to his female. Not just his wife, but his daughter and his sister. His mother. His mentor. It doesn’t fucking matter what role she plays in his life, he lays down his life for her. She is the center. She is the core, and we are the shields. We die for her, and if we can’t do that, we die beside her, but there will never be a day when we let you die for us, Mave. Never. Not if we have any say in the matter.” He stepped up to her, his chest puffing out. “I will miss Kian, but don’t think anyone blames you. You might blame yourself. You might blame Emerian. Skies, you probably blame Kian, but the only ones at fault here are the Elvasi.