Chapter 18 #3
Luck was finally on Tarius’s side, because by six o’clock, just as the sun was rising over the vast desert around them, their quartet was safely on board another train.
Not an express, so it would take three days, but they had the entire car to themselves, courtesy of strings pulled by both Chief Constables of Sansbury and Sonora Provinces.
Jeuel had silently declared himself Corinth’s personal nurse for the trip home, so they decided to share a cabin, giving Branson and Tarius the privacy of their own.
Privacy Tarius craved after so many hours in Emergency, surrounded by strangers, security guards, and unknown dangers.
While bullets had affected people he loved in the past, Tarius had never been in such close proximity to a shooting gun or whizzing bullets, and he never wanted to feel that sort of blazing terror again.
The terror of wondering if Branson was dead, if Jeuel was dead, if that unexpected pain in his back had been a bullet ripping through flesh.
Instead, it had been Corinth pushing him down and taking a bullet to the shoulder.
Tarius shoved those awful memories aside as he sank into one of the cabin’s four seats for the initial departure.
Branson sat beside him and reached out, clasping his hand tight, reestablishing the much-needed contact Tarius had tried to maintain for the last couple of hours.
Even leaving his side to use the damned bathroom had nearly sent Tarius into a panic.
For all he’d never imagined being here a year ago—married, in love, co-parenting a teenager—he could not imagine losing everything he’d found.
“I cannot fucking wait to finally put my feet on Sansbury soil,” Branson said after the announcer stated they’d depart in five minutes, so please find your seats. “I know Jeuel needed the closure, but I hate everything about this trip.”
Tarius gave his hand a squeeze. “Even your own chance for closure?”
“For all the terror it caused the people I love? Yes. I don’t regret my closure, exactly, but I hate that it came as such a big expense.” Branson’s green eyes glittered. “I hate that I could have lost you without us ever clearing the air about that fight.”
“Me too. It wasn’t fair of me to bring it up when I did, and especially not how I did, and I am so sorry. I attacked you for having different views, and that’s not fair.”
“You didn’t attack me. All our emotions were running high. It wasn’t the right time or place, but I can’t fault you for having strong opinions on something as polarizing as the death penalty. We’ve lived very different lives, and our personal experiences shape how we view things.”
Tarius smiled, relaxing under the warmth of Branson’s words. “Yes, they do. I hate to pull the age difference card, but life experience in general helps you see more shades of gray that might not have been there before.”
“I get that.” A bell dinged, and the train lurched forward. They didn’t speak for a while, simply watched in contented silence as the last few buildings on the edges of Sonora gave way to rolling desert, scrub trees, those weird palms, and the occasional clusters of cactus.
It was beautiful, but Tarius missed the green mountains bordering his home.
“I spoke to my omegin about our fight,” Branson said. “While you were resting. I needed his perspective.”
“I’m not surprised. Kell excels at advice.”
“Yes, he does. We talked about Emory.”
Tarius nodded, unsurprised that the conversation had turned to what was probably the most traumatic months of Branson’s life. “And about the alphas who experimented on him?”
“Yes.” Branson angled in his seat to face Tarius, and Tarius hated that their seats had armrests between them, because he wanted to pull Branson closer.
“You know that the four alpha scientists were found dead by the constabulary. They never faced our justice system, never had to answer to my family for what they put us and Emory through.”
“More alphas who got away with it?”
“In some ways, yes.” Branson reached out, and Tarius clasped his other hand in Branson’s. “Dad asked me a hypothetical question that helped me better understand your perspective on…certain punishments.”
Hypotheticals were the lifeblood of both criminal investigators and defense attorneys, two things with which Tarius was intimately familiar. He had an inkling, but he still asked, “What was Kell’s hypothetical question?”
“He asked me if I’d had the chance to confront one of those men, if my hand had been put on the lever for the gallows, if I’d had his life in my hands…would I have pulled the lever? Would I have ended his life?”
Tarius swallowed hard, not liking the distress bracketing Branson’s eyes. “Did you have an answer for him?”
“Not for him.” He blinked once, and a single tear slid down his left cheek.
“But I have an answer for me that I need to share with you. Because I can say all day long that I don’t believe man has the right to end another man’s life, not for any reason, because that’s what my mind tells me is correct. ”
Tarius drew their joined hands up and kissed Branson’s knuckles. “What does your heart tell you?”
“That if I had been given that power? Especially when everything was still happening and the triplets were newborns? I would have done it. I would have avenged my baby brother’s pain in a heartbeat. Does that make me a hypocrite?”
“No, babe, it doesn’t.” Tarius pressed their foreheads together, heart soaring at the honesty and vulnerability Branson was sharing with him. “You’re not a hypocrite at all. You’re human with the same flaws as the rest of us.”
Branson’s laugh turned into a choked wheeze. “Damn. Don’t tell anyone.”
“Our secret. But how about we each make a promise? Next time we disagree, we talk about it without accusing the other person. We discuss and listen, and we learn from each other.”
“Deal. Goddess, I hated us being at odds, especially with you getting sick. The last twenty-four-hours have been a giant cluster-fuck, huh?”
“Yeah, but we got through it. Now it’s time to put this place behind us, go home, and live our lives. It’s time for you and Jeuel, and Trei, too, to finally, fully heal.”
Branson made a rough noise. “I’m so glad Trei wasn’t here for this, not with him pregnant. I can’t imagine the stress of another shooting. I’m surprised Jeuel is as functional as he’s been, but maybe sobbing all over Corinth got some of that raw emotion out.”
“I hope so. Jeuel’s incredibly strong, just like this brother of his who I know and love.”
“This brother sounds like a pretty terrific guy.”
“He’s the best person I know, and I’m very lucky he agreed to marry me. I can’t imagine my life without him.”
“Same.” Branson smiled with so much affection shining in his eyes that Tarius’s belly swooped. “I love you, Tarius Higgs.”
“I love you, too, Branson Cross. You’re my everything.”
Through better or worse, thick and thin, sickness and health. Until the goddess did them eventually part.
But not for a long, long time. They had their future ahead, and nothing or no one would take it away from them. Tarius would fight tooth and claw for their happiness.
No matter what.