Page 12 of Bros Come Before Hordes
Chapter Three
Iarrived at the castlein a chauffeured limo driven by a human. I'd asked, and that had put me at ease somewhat even as I’d wrapped myself up in as tight a ball as I could make myself on the seat and wept.
Following hood to bumper behind us was Vance, his handsome face tense. He was about to get a whole lot tenser.
We stopped in front of the castle, and Vance immediately stood outside my door and opened it for me, offering his hand to help me out. I took it, and the feel of his strength crumbled mine. I sagged against him and cried, and he held me to him with soft words and even softer kisses to my temple.
"Calhoun told us," he said into my hair. "About Oliver. About Rio and Petra."
That seemed like months ago, the way my life was going lately.
"There's more," I whispered.
He held me even tighter. "I was afraid you were going to say that."
"Yara!" Asa called from the front doors of the castle.
I pulled away from Vance and quickly collected myself. Vance touched his knuckles to my backbone as he so often did to help me straighten it even when it felt like splintering from all this stress. I gave him a nod of thanks and then faced my little brother, who was flying toward me with a big smile. His cheeks were already stained pink from the brisk wind blowing in off the ocean beyond the cliff.
His smile faded some as he neared, and then he tucked himself against me. "You've been crying. Is it bills again?"
"It's not."I wrapped my arms around his skinny body and planted a kiss on top of his head, breathing in his natural crisp fall smell and taking comfort from it. "It's fine. Nothing to worry your big brain about."
"You should come see all the rocks Tavis and I painted. He's such a good painter."
"Let me guess," Vance said. "They're all as blue as his hair?"
Asa grinned up at him. "How did you know?"
We followed Asa inside and found Tavis and Calhoun waiting by the door and talking in hushed voices. When they saw my expression, their shoulders slouched and their faces paled, even more than they already were. The three of them looked exhausted, far beyond what I felt, and that was really saying something. On top of their weakening states, I would have to drop another bomb. I hated being the bearer of more bad news.
Calhoun, wearing nothing but black jeans, bandages on his neck, and his usual dark expression crossed toward me and gave me a peck on the cheek. "Did you get it?" he whispered, his warm breath caressing past my ear.
I nodded and hugged him to me. “Are you all right?”
“A couple stitches,” he said. “I’m fine. Really.”
Tavis swept in for a bear hug that lifted me from my feet, his blue hair like silk across my cheek. I clung to him like the wind might carry me away, needing all three of them to keep me grounded.
"Big changes inside,” Tavis said and set me down again, his strong arms still locked tightly around me. “I just want you to be prepared."
Shit. I was through with change. Like, for good.
He wasn't wrong either. Inside the castle, the place swarmed with dragon shifters who were scrubbing everything in the huge entryway, some on their hands and knees and some on tall ladders leaned against the windows. When they noticed me striding past them with my harem and Asa, they bowed low and shot me all kinds of curious looks. None of them seemed hostile, at least openly. As of right now anyway.
"We need this many workers?" I whispered to Vance.
"It's a big place. When things calm down after the coronation, we can give you a tour so you can see just how big it is."
So never, then. I was beginning to think that being queen meant one catastrophe after another.
Asa led us to the “art room” as he’d nicknamed it—no longer the stuffy art room, according to him—and ran toward a table that the dead dragon shifter queens glared at from inside their fancy frames. The largest pile of rocks I'd ever seen sat on top of the table.
Asa zoomed toward it. "Come look, guys!"
A laugh bubbled up from somewhere, a mysterious place inside me Asa could easily find. I reached out and took Tavis's hand to stop him while the others went on ahead.
"You are too good.” I brought my hand to his chest, which was covered with a T-shirt with a blue fire hydrant on it. “Thank you. I hope you don't think I've just dumped Asa on you."
