Bringer of Winter- a M/M/M Epic Fantasy Romance

28-- Freedom

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KHIF—

With my words, said with as much anger and resentment as I could muster, Heath's body froze and then his head jerked back as if I had hit him.

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry, Khif. With everything that happened—" Heath began, but he was cut off by the sudden, unmistakable sounds of explosions. The ground shook, trembling as if with a great earthquake. But by the look in Heath's eyes— a mix of dawning understanding and fear— I knew this was not only man-made chaos, but that my idiotic pirate was somehow connected with it.

"Explain," I bit out as Ryker shoved his way into the cottage and began to dress without a glance at either of us. He threw my trousers at me and I caught them, flinching in pain as I bent to put them on and my ass twinged. I followed him, strapping up my boots and ensuring they were tight enough for battle. We both dressed for war, unsure what was happening but both sensing that things were about to change. For better or worse, neither of us knew, but there was something in the air now that screamed to me that I was about to be put through another trial the gods deemed fit to test me with.

"Aviv is making a play for the throne," Heath replied in Nibean so both I and Ryker could understand. I knew Ryker understood more Nelek than he let on, but it wasn't enough in a situation like this.

"Theo's older brother?" I asked in confusion as Ryker passed me one of the daggers we had managed to secret from the Courtyard of Blood.

Heath's nostrils flared in something like disgust at my mention of the prince, but he nodded and shrugged. "I came back after hearing the rumors. He has employed some unsavory tactics, but the attack is tonight, it seems. I thought I had more time, but—"

"— He will kill his own father?"

Heath looked over at Ryker and raised his brows. "Many men have killed their families for far less than the power being Gal Medhse will bring him. Besides, his father slighted him greatly when he named him bastard and married his second wife, Theo's mother, instead of Aviv's. It honestly was only a matter of time before he found a way to punish the man."

Ryker and I exchanged a glance, and then we moved out of the cottage. We were met by Tye, Ryse, and Thom, all watching us, waiting for our orders. They, too, were dressed in the clothes reserved for the Courtyard of Blood, ready and willing to follow any path I and Ryker chose.

"Khif, fucking wait," Heath called after me, yanking on my arm to drag me back towards him. Both Ryker and Tye growled low in their throats, Tye's hand moving to reach for a sword he didn't have at his waist, Ryker taking two steps towards me before I shook my head to stop him. "What do you think you're going to do? Fight off the invaders single handedly, with nothing more than a single dagger between you?"

"Of course not," I bit out. "But we won't just sit and let ourselves be killed, either. We'll be ready if any—"

"I'm trying to tell you there's no need for that," Heath grumbled, rolling his eyes and holding up a small, silver key. It looked unordinary but for the dull aura of some kind of mystical power that ran around its length and centered at the tip of the key's teeth. "I came back to get you out of here, before the fighting began. It's a little late for that, but we can still escape amid the chaos."

While he spoke, he set the key against the moonlight thread around my throat, then both wrists. With his last word, each of the thin, silver chains dropped to the earth. And I fell with them, my entire body on fire with sensation as two years' worth of built up shay'yah blasted from my body. Bottled up, chained and held back for years, the power within me had nowhere else to go but out.