Page 175 of Love & Heart Braking

They’d been there a second ago. Just before… Oh. My eyes rounded.

Bain was totally a distraction.

My heart hammered, and I scanned for Austin. He wasn’t here either. Okay, okay. The crowd was abuzz. I followed their focus to see none other than Soleil’s father sliding through the crowd toward her and Bain.

I gripped the bars of my hovering prison.

Master Hucs stopped before them, and I could see the curve of his lips from here. Bain looped an arm around Soleil’s neck and kissed her temple.

Dammit, I needed better ears.

“Prince of the Ignavis herd,” Lerome murmured, griffin gaze narrowed on the trio. “One of the cowards has returned. Though, I believe you have darkened the cobblestones of Nepos for a while. Or should I say staggered down them? I think, rather, that you are more accustomed to carrying a drink in your hand than my daughter.” He looked at Bain as the unicorn moved his lips, Lerome said, “She’s a better fit, wouldn’t you say? I plan to keep my hands on her as much as possible. And in case such etiquette was established before your time, boy, when in the presence of a king, it is customary to bow. To my future queen also.”

My mouth formed an O.

Soleil peered up at Bain, and I could practically hear her mentally asking him, King?

He’d left as a prince. Or did he just roll with that to cover his real title?

“Hucses do not bow to anyone,” Lerome said quickly. “The rules have changed.” His focus darted to Bain again. “The rules are as they always were.”

The unicorn flared his aura again, and when it cleared, there were more gasps and a ripple of frantic whispers.

Soleil’s dad was on his knees.

Lerome and I exchanged a wide-eyed look. Juno’s ambrosia. Bain was going to start something we couldn’t possibly win.

Bain kissed Soleil’s forehead, then led her around the motionless, humiliated siren. Unlike him, Soleil wasn’t smiling one bit as she followed him down into the amphitheater. Bain tugged her down onto a free tier.

Only now did this cage really feel like a cage. Shit was about to go down, and I didn’t have any cool physical abilities to protect those I loved. I couldn’t get out of here alone. I didn’t even have my tote.

I scanned for the others as panic started to claw up my throat. Devereaux and Maligni were nowhere to be seen, but when the crowd turned in unison toward the nearest tower, I spotted Austin striding out into the meadow. He was followed by Tiqlig, Bortyss, and the man who’d come along to take me hostage after Single Plus One.

The groom party walked down the steep steps to take their place on the cobbled bottom of the theatre. They stood at one end of a fire pit sprawling under an enormous arch.

The arrival must’ve been a cue because every guest left standing approached the lip of the tiered pit in readiness.

Lerome grunted and jerked his head. I stared down in the same direction and inhaled sharply.

They were back. Devereaux and the others. How had they appeared so suddenly? And left that suddenly for that matter?

“Maligni,” Lerome said in a low voice.

I focused on him. That was how they were hopping around? I knew he could travel to the underworld, but maybe the gen one could use similar pathways to jump around on earth too.

A low melody of intertwining voices drifted out through the meadows. I peered around for the mermaid choir but couldn’t see them at all as their song swelled and interwove, filling the estate with beauty that had never been more out of place.

I gasped with the crowd as a flock of sun fairies swept through the meadow, diving down into the theater where they swirled around the stage so fast they appeared like a hurricane of pure sunlight. The sun fairies rose in a heart, and Smolder Cineres was revealed in their midst, clad in a clinging dress of the deepest red.

Feeling eyes on me, I glanced down, and caught Soleil peering up.

I snorted as she rolled her eyes.

Bain caught her attention and whispered in her ear.

I stared to the far side of the amphitheater to find one blue eye and one gray eye watching me with unfaltering intensity.

Devereaux and I locked gazes, and I found new strength in the determination in the set of his jaw and shoulders.