Chapter 28 Eiri
Eiri
Shouts of alarm and angry curses jerked Eiri from the depths of darkness and back to the waking world.
Every inch of his body ached as though he’d been beaten.
His head throbbed, his eyes were crusted shut, and there was a gaping hole inside him where his magic usually resided.
He wanted nothing more than to sink back down to where nothing hurt and they were all safe, but a muffled oath forced him to drag a hand over his eyes and look up.
The very first thing he saw was his husband’s face.
At some point, he’d ended up in the bed with Syrus, resting against his side in a way he’d begun to hope would happen eventually.
Syrus’ dark skin was still ashen, but the sickly pale tinge to his lips had receded.
Eiri’s head still rested on Syrus’ chest, and when he listened, Syrus’ breathing seemed easier, without the terrifying wet rattle.
Exhaustion still nipped at Eiri’s heels and he closed his eyes, ready to sleep again now that he knew Syrus was safe, but another shout abruptly jolted him, reminding him why he’d woken up in the first place.
Lifting his head didn’t take as much effort as before, but it still wasn’t easy, and when he managed it, it still took several seconds to comprehend what he was actually seeing.
Xan and Ellis stood side by side at the foot of the bed, facing the opening out into the main area of the observatory.
When had they gotten here? The last thing Eiri remembered was Syrus opening his eyes after he’d drained the fluid built up in his lungs.
Why was Syrus unconscious again? Had the others not found the antidote in Kien’s room? Where was Marsen? He had to get up.
Eiri shifted on the bed, but the rest of his body remained uncooperative.
Whatever rest he’d stolen while unconscious, it hadn’t been nearly enough to combat the exhaustion plaguing him, and he wouldn’t be able to restore his magic without getting down to the water.
Rain beat down on the glass ceiling overhead, and if he hadn’t been so completely drained, it would have been enough to rejuvenate him a bit, but he’d delved too deeply into the core of his magic for that to help now.
“Ellis, you’re being ridiculous!”
The deep voice caught Eiri’s attention and he saw Ellis stand up straighter, his chin notching up in defiance. From this angle, Eiri couldn’t see who spoke, but the voice sounded vaguely familiar.
“It’s ridiculous to protect my brother? To protect our brother?”
That meant the voice had to belong to Crown Prince Brandow. Eiri had made it a point not to speak to the man, but he’d heard him a few times at the wedding and later at the birthday party. So far, he’d proven himself to be the arrogant, condescending prick Eiri had first taken him for.
“Syrus does not need protection from our own people,” Brandow snapped. “We’re here to arrest the harbor trash he married. He attempted to murder our dear brother, in case you’d forgotten.”
“If that’s truly the case, then why was Eiri the only one trying to save him? Why was Syrus locked up here, away from the rest of the palace, without even a single healer on hand to help him? Why is the queen telling people he’s already dead, when he clearly isn’t?”
Xan barely reached Ellis’ shoulder, but there was no doubt who was the more dangerous of the two. There was a deadly calm about him as he spoke, his questions cuttingly direct. The air in front of them shimmered with Xan’s magic, likely some kind of ward that kept Brandow from crossing.
“I don’t care for your tone, cousin,” Brandow said. He didn’t even try to hide the threat in his tone. “Are you questioning your queen?”
“And I don’t care for your attitude,” Xan shot back. “Syrus is your brother. Your queen abandoned him here to die, and he would have if we hadn’t found him in time. If Eiri hadn’t figured out what poison was used, Syrus would be dead. Ellis only just got the antidote to him in time.”
Relief hit Eiri so hard his head spun and his stomach clenched.
He wanted to cry, to scream, to throw up, perhaps all three at once.
Syrus would live. Xan and Ellis had succeeded.
Just knowing that gave him a surge of strength and he slowly pushed himself upright.
He didn’t have his magic, but he’d been fighting without it his entire life, and he couldn’t let Xan and Ellis do this alone.
“Eiri is the one who poisoned him. He wouldn’t tell us what he did, but he must have realized Mother would execute him if Syrus died, so he told you to save his own worthless hide.”
“I didn’t tell you because no one spoke to me after I was tossed in that cell.”
Xan and Ellis both turned their heads to look at him, surprise and relief on their faces.
Now that he was on his feet, Eiri could see past them.
Standing just on the other side of Xan’s ward stood Prince Brandow with half a dozen heavily armed guards at his back.
One of them looked worse for the wear, with a distinct pallor about him and a bruise marring his face, already darkening against his fair skin.
The two directly beside Brandow held no weapons, but the many pouches at their belts marked them as mages.
Judging by the sweat on their brows, they were attempting to break Xan’s ward and failing.
“I refuse to listen to any of your lies,” Brandow spat, his lip curling into a sneer when he saw Eiri. “You tried to kill a prince of Vaetreas, and you’ll pay for it.”
“You care more that he’s a prince than that he’s your brother?
Typical.” Eiri came to a stop just behind Xan and Ellis.
With his height, he could see over Xan’s shoulder, but Brandow couldn’t see that Eiri had to grip Ellis’ shirt for support to stay upright.
Even with the help, the floor lurched beneath his feet in a sickening swirl.
“Yes, because unlike some people here, the safety and preservation of my country are my top priority.”
“And you call my people monsters?”
“Your people are thieves and liars!”
“We steal because your rulers forced us to, but we would never stab our family in the backs just to advance a political agenda.”
With each flung barb, Brandow’s temper rose along with his voice, but Eiri remained calm.
Crown prince though he was, Brandow had clearly never learned that the first person to lose their temper in an argument would be the one who lost. More than that, though…
just the knowledge that Brandow would let Syrus die just because the queen wanted to punish Eiri made him sick.
He couldn’t imagine turning on Akari like this.
“I will not stand here and trade insults with my brother’s whore,” Brandow sneered, and that barb actually slid under Eiri’s skin, riling his temper up in an instant.
Not because the man had insulted him, though.
He was used to that. But the way one word mocked and belittled the relationship he and Syrus had barely even finished the foundation of had him seeing red.
“Don’t. He wants to make you mad,” Xan whispered in his ear. “Don’t give him that satisfaction.”
Even with Xan’s encouragement, it took Eiri a moment to calm down.
It helped that getting worked up made him light-headed and he had to clutch even tighter to Ellis to stay standing.
Brandow watched him with a smirk, clearly thinking he’d scored a decisive blow in this ridiculous argument.
Eiri was happy to disabuse him of that notion.
“I’d rather be a whore than a lapdog. At least I get some pleasure from my work.”
There was a sort of twisted pleasure in seeing Brandow’s smirk disappear and his face go red with fury as Eiri’s words hit their mark.
The mages beside the prince edged away from him, their attacks on Xan’s ward flickering for a moment as they glanced over at Brandow.
Ellis’ eyes widened, but Xan outright laughed, a sound of pure delight.
“I knew I liked you,” he said to Eiri, wrapping an arm around his waist in solidarity while actually helping him stay on his feet. Unlike the two mages Brandow had brought, Xan seemed unfazed by the magic he was pouring into his ward to keep them safe.
“My mother wanted your execution to be private, since you fucked your way into our family, but I won’t rest until I see you hanged in the center of Lodie,” Brandow hissed.
There was no trace left of the aloof prince he’d pretended to be.
He reminded Eiri most strongly of Vonyers in that moment: arrogant, vindictive, and cruel.
A fitting heir to the throne of Vaetreas.
“Your interpretation of my marriage is the most interesting version I’ve heard.
Especially since I distinctly recall you being present when the contracts were signed that forced us into this.
” Eiri tilted his head, pasting on a concerned expression.
“If your memory is so bad that you can’t remember what happened just weeks ago, perhaps a throne isn’t the best place for you.
I wonder… did your mother drop you on your head as a child? ”
Xan outright burst into laughter, his messy curls falling into his face as he doubled over. In his defense, the look on Brandow’s face was truly a sight that Eiri would never forget.
“No one has ever dared to speak to me that way,” he snarled, and Eiri just rolled his eyes.
“Then clearly it was long overdue.”
Brandow’s temper snapped. Ignoring the warnings from his mages, he threw himself at Xan’s ward, his hard gaze locked on Eiri. The spell rebuffed him easily, only pissing him off further.
“Stop playing and break down this fucking ward!”
The mages exchanged wary looks before one, an older woman, finally spoke.
“Your Highness, if we try anything else, we could seriously injure Lord Cormyr, Prince Ellis, and Prince Syrus.” Unsurprisingly, Eiri’s welfare didn’t concern them.