Page 223 of A Warrior's Fate

He didn’t elaborate on what the job had been, and though they had met him with curious stares, Jonah and Davina didn’t ask. Likely figured it was alpha business. But if that were the case.

“What errand?” Isla asked Kai through the bond. He’d been in a playful mood all day, and she’d attributed those high spirits to the upcoming gathering. But this…

Kai poured more whiskey, not looking at her as the corner of his lips ticked upwards. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Why later?”

He didn’t answer. Never had a chance to as a knock came at the shop’s door.

Davina let out a sigh of relief, a hand on her chest. “There he is.” She traipsed over to the door to turn each of the locks. Only three of the five engaged today.

Isla downed the rest of her wine and rose to her feet to get herself another.

But when she’d gotten upright as the entrance opened and a chilled Mavec summer wind swept through, carrying Rhydian and Ameera—and guests—she nearly fell over.

Because standing in the doorway—in The Bookshoppe, in Deimos, grinning at her like they’d gotten away with a robbery—were Adrien and Sebastian.

CHAPTER 46

Isla wondered if the noise that had escaped her lips sounded as pained as it felt in her throat. Something between a choke and a gasp, bolstered by the dryness of the wine and driven by some melding of fear and excitement. Elation and anger.

For a moment, she thought her mind had been playing tricks on her. That it had been pulled in so many directions this past week that the here and now was becoming muddied with memories of the past. She took in the two men who both appeared just as she remembered, but though it had only been a few weeks, it had felt like a lifetime had passed since they’d been together.

Maybe because it had been just that—a different life.

She couldn’t get her feet to move.

What the hell were they doing here? She’d told them to stay home.

“Are you drunk already?” Sebastian shattered the silence and tension she hadn’t realized was rising. It earned snickers and clipped laughs from around the room, but no one dared to speak a word. Either feeding off her reaction or being shocked themselves by the visitors.

Isla opened and closed her mouth. “Am I…”

A piece of the reality she’d been missing was finally clicking into place.

Sebastian had said those words.

Sebastian, her brother.

Goddess above, they were here.

Abandoning her glass on the table, in a movement so quick, Kai had to stop it from falling off, Isla bound forward. Rhydian, Davina, and Ameera only had a few seconds to clear the path.

Both Adrien and Sebastian let out a cough as she rammed into them, going up on her toes to throw one arm around each of their necks, pulling them down to her. They both smelled of fuel and metal and wood smoke, from a car, maybe an inn. But most importantly, they smelled of Io. Of the salty air of the Barit Sea, of warm sand, of rocky plains, with subtle hints of ash lily that she always felt permeated the air.

It awakened something in her, a part that had been dulled but still craved. That missed.

Missed that heat and those perfect summer nights as the humid air cooled to something temperate, the warm breeze rolling past, rustling her hair as the three of them sat on a cliffside, watching as the sun cast oranges and yellows and reds amidst fading blues over the distant horizon. Nights she cherished, even in their simplicity.

She could hear them laughing, could feel their loose grips on her, each with a hand on her back.

Adrien was the one who spoke first. “Glad to see you missed us, too.” Relief slipped into his voice, and it felt as if he’d looked at Sebastian and shrugged.

Her brother’s shoulders rose and fell, communication she couldn’t see, before he patted her back. “It’s been weird without your nagging all the time.”

Isla, whose eyes had slid closed during the embrace, snapped them open to glare at the side of each of their heads. When she unfurled herself and stepped back, she found they were, in fact, relieved by her positive reaction.

Idiots.

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