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“Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
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While Bear sang and lamented the loss of his shadow and the birds exacted revenge on his behalf, a loud commotion broke out on the dais where Lloth still chanted dark fae gibberish at his twin sister. The queen continued to pull on the corvid energy that surged in the room like a rising spring tide.
Lloth suddenly turned away from Raven, distracted by what was happening on the stage. The shadows thinned. Cole appeared beside Lloth and the hilt of a dagger protruded from her chest.
“Traitor!” Lloth shrieked.
Before she could retaliate, Raven swooped down. Lloth flung her hands up and screamed, but nothing stopped Raven’s momentum. She opened her enormous beak and clamped onto Lloth’s head. The queen’s skull jammed in her bill like a fragile sunflower seed.
Lloth thrashed and pummeled her fists against Raven’s feathers.
His twin snapped her beak shut and chaos descended on the grand hall.
Metal rang as warriors and guards unsheathed their swords. Courtiers screeched like banshees and fled in fear, their footsteps thundered against the cold stonework. And Bear sat on his butt, still shackled and useless.
Raven shifted back to human form and fainted. He lurched forward, ready to stand, but a wave of nausea sat him back on his butt. He’d pulled too much power and now he couldn’t even bum-scooch to where his sister lay to comfort her.
Luckily, it didn’t appear as if he was needed. The two dark fae lords he feared would kill him last week cut down all the guards and soldiers brave enough to stay in the room. Seeing their ruthless efficiency did nothing to alleviate or remove his apprehension for them. Instead, he swayed where he sat while his mind bombarded him with questions. When would the fae notice him? When would they turn to cut him down, too?
And when had the second fae lord arrived?
Bear hadn’t noticed anyone entering the courtyard before Raven shifted into a giant fucking bird other than the ache of magic as it pulsed through him.
At least he’d managed to help Raven by supplying her with magic. Bear took a deep breath and the waves of nausea subsided. At least he’d avenged Tasha.
Sort of.
Lloth’s caomhnóir lay motionless on the ground in a pool of blood. A few ravens remained, hate-pecking at his body. As satisfying as the sight was in a sick twisted way, the man shouldn’t have died so quickly from the bird attack. Something else must’ve killed him.
Bear looked over at Lloth’s remains. His stomach turned again.
Get a hold of yourself, Crawford.
The sacred bond. Lloth had mentioned the guard was tied to her in a sacred bond of some sort. Her death must’ve caused his. Good riddance.
“Here.” Chloe crouched beside him and unlocked the shackles. She cupped his face and peered into his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I have no idea what just happened.”
“I think your sister just kicked some ass.”
He looked around the bloody room filled with dead bodies. “I’ve never been so proud.”
Chloe laughed, and stood, pulling him with her. “Come, we need to get you out of here before Cole or Bane remember they want to kill you, too.”
Bane. That must be the name of the dark fae client he’d defied. The name sounded familiar. Bane. Dark fae lord. Bear’s stomach sunk. Only one deadly fae lord that Bear knew of had that name. He knew the fae had been powerful when they met to discuss the job, but he hadn’t realized how much. But surely this couldn’t be a coincidence. “Bane...”
She nodded, probably seeing the exact moment he placed the name. “The Lord of War.”
Bear Crawford was a dead man walking. “Why are you helping me?”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “For a smart guy, you certainly say some stupid shit sometimes.” She tugged on his arm. “Let’s go.”
He shook his head. He was done with hiding, and he had nowhere to run. His disappearance had brought Raven into this mess and he couldn’t afford the dark fae going after his family again because Bear was too scared to face the consequences. He didn’t stand for much, but he would stand for his family. Any day. Any time. “I need to see this out.”
She sighed and stared at the night sky above. “Fine. Let’s go make sure your sister is okay.”
They turned to find the Lord of fucking War squatting beside his sister. His deep voice echoed through the room. “Little Raven.”
His sister had propped herself up to look around. Naked from shifting back to human form, blood covered her face and splattered her body. She was so pale and looked so lost, and a dark fae lord hovered beside her, imposing, armed and dragging a finger through a pool of blood like the sick fuck he was.
Bear lurched forward, but Chloe’s hand on his arm tightened. She shook her head.
“What have you done?” Bane mused. His tone implied he didn’t want or need an answer, which was for the best since his sister looked ready to pass out again.
Bear shrugged off Chloe’s hand and stalked toward his sister.
The other dark fae lord, the Shadow Man named Cole finished wiping off his weapon and removed his cloak. He spread it over Raven to cover her shivering body, and the look the fae gave his sister...
Bear pulled up short and stared.
The big bad fae who’d stepped out of shadows in the vault, the man who’d kept Chloe locked in a box, the fae who’d cut down Lloth’s guards as if he brushed aside annoying weeds on an overgrown forest path, the dark fae lord who embodied the word lethal and scared the crap out of Bear, looked at Raven with...tenderness?
Chloe walked up beside him, reached over and shut his mouth.
“Do we have a problem here?” Cole asked Bane.
“A problem? No. You’ve just handed me the solution.” Bane chuckled and turned to leave. Though Bane hadn’t glanced Bear’s way once, Bear knew the fae lord hadn’t forgotten him. An invisible weight pressed down on his shoulders. He’d have to answer for his betrayal.
“Wait!” Raven called out. “My brother? Spare him.”
What the fuck, Rayray? Don’t ask anything of a dark fae lord. Mom spent their entire childhoods outlining exactly why that wasn’t a good idea. Why would she ask Bane to spare him, anyway? Him? The wayward brother who ghosted on his own family? Whose removal from her life caused her own power to weaken? He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve her.
“You will owe me a favour,” Bane said.
Bear couldn’t let her do this. Just as she needed to clean up her own messes, he needed to answer for his. He shook his head. “I’m not worth it, Rayray.”
“Done,” Raven said without hesitation.
Bear groaned in unison with Cole. He looked over at the other man and met a gaze full of malice. Bear had stolen from him, but that look wasn’t about the Claíomh Solais. This was all about Raven.
“Consider him safe from retribution,” Bane said.
A deep sigh escaped Raven’s lips and his love for his sister grew. She shouldn’t have done it, but she’d bought him a second chance. She’d saved his life and he needed to make sure he didn’t waste it.
“My mercy is payment for a favour owed.” Bane chucked a lodestone at the floor and stepped into the portal that formed, quickly disappearing from their lives. At least for now.
“That was a mistake,” Cole grumbled.
“Could you have kept Bear safe indefinitely from the Lord of War if he wanted him dead?” Raven said.
Cole’s scowl was answer enough. “Come. I need to get you and Chloe to safety.”
Oh, fuck that. Something inside him snapped. Drained from captivity and torture, exhausted from Lloth’s magical manipulations, something hot and potent roared to life and took over his body. Nobody was taking Chloe away from him again. Without thinking about the consequences, without stopping to have a proper discussion, Bear launched himself at the Shadow Man with all his anger, frustration and confusion. “You can’t have her!”
They hit the ground and rolled. Bear struck out and viciously jabbed the man’s sides. Cole didn’t hesitate to respond. They exchanged punches and jabs.
“She’s my sister, you idiot.” Cole punched Bear’s stomach. “I was protecting her, not caging her.”
“Oomph.” The air from his lungs rushed out. Bear curled up and groaned. This guy was better than he was. And her brother? Fuck. That made sense. Bear had messed up again.
Cole continued to pound his fists into Bear’s body. Why were they still fighting? Bear had stopped. He now covered up, moving back and forth to deflect as many of the blows as possible, looking for an opening to escape the rain of fists. They kept coming.
“Cole!” Raven and Chloe shrieked at the same time.
Cole stopped, his fist hovering in the air a few inches from Bear’s face. He crouched over Bear and in unison, they both turned to find Chloe standing with her arms crossed, glaring at them. “That’s enough.”
In one swift movement, Cole stood and loomed over him. The moonlight from above played with the shadows of the man’s face. His expression promised pain and suffering.
Bear scowled and slowly got to his feet. Pain shot through his body, but not as much as it should have. Cole had pulled some of his punches, hitting Bear to make a point more than to cause damage.
Bear brushed off the dirt from his skin. Blood streaked his chest and the paste used to draw the runes had smeared, making war-like stripes along his torso.
Raven gaped at him with a “what the fuck?” expression plastered on her face. They were so alike in many ways.
Yeah, what the fuck? Why had he launched himself at Cole? Why had he reacted so violently to the idea of Chloe being taken away? Bear knew the answer.
“I love Chloe,” he announced, the words ringing true despite how absurd it must sound to everyone, including his former self. “You can’t take her from me.”
Chloe sighed and their gazes met. Yes. He said what he said, and surprisingly, she wasn’t running away or mocking him. Instead, the black of her eyes bled out to cover the white, and her mouth parted. Power rolled off her and she glowed, emitting light like a beacon. And like a moth, he wanted to go to the flames. He wanted to snatch her up in his arms, find a safe place for them to be alone, and revel in the heat of her power.
Cole’s eyes narrowed. “Like I said, I’m her brother. I have no intention of fighting you, nor any plans to harm my sister.”
“Why’d you keep hitting me then?”
Cole’s lips spread into a nasty smile. “Those shots were for your sister.”
Okay, Bear deserved that. He tore his gaze away from Chloe to study his sister. She looked ready to fall over. He really was an asshole. He took three giant steps and held his twin in his arms. Their magic pinged against each other. Her spring rain scent mixed with mischief wrapped around them and the dark energy inside him hummed. He spoke into her hair, his voice muffled. “Rayray.”
“Brother Bear.” She relaxed in his arms and squeezed him back. Everything was going to be okay.
“You’re a shitty brother,” Cole said somewhere behind him. The urge to punch the dark fae lord returned.
Bear reluctantly stepped away from Raven to face Chloe’s brother. As much as this man scared and pissed him off at the same time, Bear couldn’t deny Cole was right. “I am. I hadn’t realized how much I hurt her or myself with my absence. I will make it up to her.”
“You better.” The shadows drew around Cole, surrounding him like a liquid threat.
Bear straightened and pulled his shoulders back. Oh, it was like that, was it?
“How about instead of posturing with one another, you take us home?” Chloe stood with her hands on her hips. “I want to scrub off your psycho ex’s doodles, and Bear’s sister looks like she’s about to fall over.”
They all turned to Raven. Her body went limp, but instead of falling to the ground, bands of shadows shot out from the corners of the room and caught her. Huh. Cole might hate him, but the fae had feelings for his sister.
Bear didn’t know how to begin processing that. The man was a walking dagger—slick and stunning in a lethal way, but dangerous and sharp to touch—but none of the barely contained malice was directed at his sister.
Cole gathered Raven in his arms, supported by the bands of shadow and looked down at her possessively.
Bear suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if he was intruding on a personal moment and his sister wasn’t even conscious. He shifted his weight and cleared his throat.
As if only now realizing he had an audience, Cole looked up at Chloe and Bear standing side by side. He scowled at Bear before turning to Chloe. “Shall we go?”
“Yes, but you’re taking both of us.” She reached down and clasped Bear’s hand. “Together.”
Warmth spread through Bear’s chest and he squeezed her hand back. That was the best thing he’d heard all week.