The Return of the Lifebringer (Children of the Sun Book 3)

Chapter 30

"You stay away from her," Alor said darkly, glaring across the table. Relioth seemed unbothered though. He just rolled his eyes.

"I can't get close to her in the first place," he replied, rattling his cuffs. And before Nira could stop herself, she had closed the distance between them and gripped the cuffs. She sighed as stark, white light flowed into her hands, filling her with a wonderful, incredible feeling of power.

"Hey! That's mine," Relioth complained, actually trying to shrink away from her. Was he afraid of her like this? Nira noticed a smirk had formed on her face and she quickly schooled it into a neutral mask.

"Not anymore," Nef joked, though his voice was surprised. He probably hadn't been expecting Nira to be this direct about this. And honestly, Nira hadn't expected it either. But she felt so much better immediately. So much more powerful. And the fact that she'd taken the power from Relioth just made it better.

"Why is he here?' Nira asked as she turned around to look at Nef and Alor. Nira blinked as suddenly the pieces slid into place. Alor was an Eternal now? Or was he possessed? She looked at him more closely. She couldn't really explain it, but it was definitely him, just...different.

"Apparently, Kaleth doesn't approve of my methods when it comes to teaching," Relioth replied, making Nira turn back around. It was incredible how unafraid of him Nira was now. Last time she'd been in the same room she could hardly breathe. And looking at Relioth, he didn't seem happy with this change.

Good.

"Dude, no one approves of any of your methods," Nef said, taking a seat next to his brother again. Nira sat down next to him, impressed by his fearlessness. Though Nira supposed it made sense. Even when Relioth had had power, Nef had been oddly casual with him.

"How is that my fault?" Relioth grumbled, leaning back into his seat.

Alor rubbed his temples. Nira was really starting to wonder how long they'd been talking to Relioth at this point.

"That didn't answer my question," Nira prodded again, genuinely curious as to why Relioth wasn't in a cell. There had to be something like that around here, right?

"Kaleth asked us to watch him while he talks with Elrin," Alor answered, exasperation clear in his voice. "Er, Elrin is our former boss," he added immediately, probably realizing Nira had no way of knowing that.

"Ah, good ol' Tira," Relioth said, grinning. "Though she could learn to let some things go. How was I supposed to tell her to get out of the Flare before I blew it up when she wasn't picking up her phone?"

Nira stared at him in disbelief for a moment. She quickly got over it though. Why was she even surprised by things like this at this point? Relioth was insane, after all. Or way outside of what a normal person would consider acceptable behavior.

"Should I even point out the lack of logic in that senten—" Nef started, looking at his brother, but Alor cut in.

"No," he said, his voice very, very tired. "No. Just...leave it."

"I really wonder what Kaleth and Tira have been talking about for so long," Relioth said, looking over at a wall. It was bare, silver, and metal, just like all of the others Nira had seen so far, so she would assume Kaleth was somewhere that way.

"For an immortal, you're really impatient," Nef told him, clearly also tired of the conversation. His hair stuck out more than usual. Nira wondered if he had been pulling on it. She wouldn't blame him if he had. And it looked adorable.

"Can you blame me?" Relioth said, leaning his head back and letting out a long breath. "Enor is out there, doing the universe knows what, and Kaleth isn't letting me show him how to beat him. At this point I'd be up for asking Irif for help if I weren't stuck here."