Page 134 of Cursed Heirs

As it was, right now I was struggling with how Alena had been.

We’d all been separated for so long and now she was back, she wasn’t herself. She was cut off from us, and it was impossible to draw close to her when she couldn’t stand to be touched. After Orpheus had left for the DFR, I’d sat with her and instinctively moved in to give her a hug and she’d cried out and jerked away, completely panicked.

Perhaps even worse had been that she’d kept apologizing afterward for being that way when it wasn’t her fault, when it wasn’t anything she should apologize for. When the blame was squarely on Constantine Vale and what he’d subjected her to.

At the same time, Talon still hadn’t woken up. The Healers and Abigail had assured me that there was nothing physically wrong with him, that he’d healed. So we suspected it was emotional, that he was afraid to wake up after going off like that, afraid he’d cause damage and hurt again.

Orpheus had been putting thenew rule, as he called it, in place in the DFR, but thankfully he’d be back any hour now. He believed that a spark of his magic could rouse Talon awake. Our firebird had always taken most comfort in Ore, so it stood to reason that it could do the trick.

“Xavier.”

I spun at the sound of the voice to see Isabella walking up to me, her gaze flitting back and forth between me and the angels in the sky.

I caught sight of her minions hanging back and watching nervously as she approached. She’d gathered a few more since the battle here that night after she’d put on an impressive display that had drawn attention from those who got off on that sort of thing.

“What can I do for you?” I asked, folding my arms across the chest of my denim vest and uttering the words in a terse tone to make it clear I was in no mood to entertain her antics.

I was surprised she’d actually had the courage to approach me at all, considering what I knew Orpheus had done to her the last time she’d crossed paths with any of us.

She got right down to it, telling me in a rapid, nervous burst, “When Orpheus was training us and there were some issues working together as one, some of those were between my Light Fae friends and some of the witches. I’ve had words with them and we’ve brokered a peace, so there won’t be any more problems there. It’s just the vampires and the wolves—a few of them—who he needs to deal with now where that’s concerned. Just… pass that on to him whenever he gets back, okay?”

Hmm.“You’re actively helping him? Us?”

“Yes. And there’s no catch, before you ask. We all need to pull together to survive the awfulness that is Constantine’s reign of terror. This is just me doing whatIcan.”

“How noble.”

“More like too long coming. And, if you will, please tell him I’m sorry.”

“You’re going to need to be much more specific.”

“For what I said about Alena the last time I spoke to him and… what I did, bullying her like that.” She gazed up at the sky, looking forlornly at Alena, “She didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve any of this.” Emotion swam in her eyes. “Word has spread through the Academy about what she went through with Constantine Vale, and I’m so sorry. No one should have to go through that.”

“No, they shouldn’t,” I ground out, trying to contain my own upset.

She played with her unicorn hair. “It also came to my attention that my caustic attitude toward a bunch of things had been standing in the way of having good things in my life. I’ve been trying to remedy that lately. So, what I’m saying is that you won’t have any more trouble or nastiness from me.”

Before I could process this peacemaking she was doing and this complete turnaround, yellow smoke erupted and Artemis Highleen emerged from a cloud of teleportation.

He draped his arm over Isabella’s shoulders and looked between us. “Everything sorted, babe?”

Babe?Interesting.

She beamed up at him. “I think so.”

“Long time, no feed, Xavier,” he said with a wink.

“And you won’t be enjoying the pleasure from him again,” a familiar voice sounded a moment before Orpheus appeared, soaring down from above us and landing perfectly beside me.

He tucked his wings away and wrapped his arm around me, staring between Isabella and Artemis.

He thought I was being steamrolled while I was still vulnerable without my magic and not yet used to my vampire side being front and center and all that I was.

“Isabella was just apologizing,” I told him.

“Is that so?”

“And giving you help with the army,” Artemis spoke. He looked at her. “You told him, right, babe?”

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