Chapter 47
Altair
Although he was searching through the forest for her, Altair sensed Iyana’s return as a small sense of relief filled him.
Sullane crashing through the forest to return to the clearing only confirmed that his intuition was correct.
Altair sprinted back to the giant, magical tree in time to see Sullane crash his lips against his astalle’s.
It was Altair’s first time actually seeing them together, and he had to hold himself back from ripping the other man off of her.
Of course, he’d long ago realized they had been fucking, and he’d seen it in Iyana’s eyes that she was attached to Sullane as more than just her Kanaliza.
Altair had expected the anger, but he hadn’t anticipated how hurt and sad he would be when he finally saw it right in front of him.
She was supposed to be his. His astalle. The love of his life.
But Altair could finally acknowledge that he had fucked up their relationship beyond repair. And loving somebody meant wanting them to be happy, even if it wasn’t with him. So Altair turned and allowed them to have their moment—instead of murdering Sullane like he desperately wanted to.
“Altair,” Iyana called to him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, relishing the sound of his name on her lips, not knowing many more times he’d have the privilege of hearing her say it.
After a second, he turned and strode towards the couple.
Sullane was cradling Iyana to his chest and carrying her out of the clearing.
Altair realized the reason was because she wasn’t wearing shoes again and her toes had turned a bright red after being exposed to the snow for so long.
The woman was a menace when it came to being barefoot.
“We need to find the others,” she continued. “There are things we need to discuss.”
Altair nodded curtly and led the way back to the cave. The sun was just beginning to rise, and the last vestiges of the strange fog were dissipating.
They found Kaz and Okab sitting next to each other at the mouth of the cave.
Their bodies sagged with the remnants of whatever the mist had done to all of them, and their eyes were tired.
Kaz scrambled to her feet as they approached.
She appeared more concerned than Altair had ever seen her.
Usually the shifter was carefree and without worries.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “When we woke up, and you were all gone, we thought…” Kaz trailed off.
“We thought the gods had taken you,” Okab finished.
Iyana nodded towards the cave entrance. “We have some things to talk about.”
Everyone entered ahead of him, and Altair took a deep breath before following them into the cave.
The opening was small, and he was larger than Okab and Sullane.
For a fraction of a second, he thought he was going to get stuck, and he almost panicked.
But then he was through, and he could breathe marginally easier.
The ceiling and walls were still far too close, in his opinion.
They started a fire to warm the space while Iyana told them about her encounter with Ciri, ending with the need to enter the Everlands to talk to the original Aztia and Kanaliza. When she was done, they all sat in silence for several seconds.
“Was Yrza there?” Kaz finally asked.
Iyana gave her friend a soft smile. “She was sleeping. She’s okay.”
The shifter nodded, a tear streaking down her face before she could dash it away. Iyana was with her in a second, holding Kaz close.
“You’ll see her again,” she whispered.
“I know,” Kaz mumbled. “It’s silly to miss her. I’ve only ever spent an hour with her, and it wasn’t like it was quality time.”
“It’s not silly at all. I know there’s a lot of history there.”
Altair narrowed his eyes at the comment. There was something involving the Nyr princess that he wasn’t privy to. He glanced over to Okab at his side, but his brother only shrugged.
Okab cleared his throat. “How are we supposed to travel to the Everlands?”
Iyana let go of Kaz to fiddle with her fingers, refusing to look at anyone and being frustratingly silent.
“Iyana,” Altair growled. Her head snapped up, guilt etched into her features. “What are you planning?”
Her gaze traveled to Sullane, where it stayed. “I need to die.”
“No,” Sullane said immediately.
“Not forever!” Iyana added. “Just for long enough that I can ask them the question and then I can come back. I can mix a potion that’s reversible with an antidote.”
Sullane shook his head. “What if it goes wrong?” He wrapped his hand around the back of Iyana’s neck and leaned his brow against hers. “I can’t lose you. Not when we’ve barely found each other.”
Altair glanced away from the sight, his stomach souring. Okab was looking at him with a mixture of pride and pity, and that was almost worse than seeing his starheart in love with someone else.
“I’ll come back,” Iyana was murmuring. “I need you, Em. Please. I can’t do this without you.”
“I can help,” Kaz said.
Altair tilted his head back and sighed loud enough that the chatter stopped and everyone stared at him. “I don’t think there’s any getting around it.”
Sullane frowned at him. “You’re that eager to try to kill her again, are you?”
Anger made his golden eyes spark. “I’m as against this plan as you are. But you do know that if you refuse to help, she’s going to do it anyway, right? So the question really is, are you going to be by her side when she dies, or not?”
The Kanaliza opened his mouth, then closed it again. They both knew Altair was right. Iyana was a stubborn little thing, and if any of them absolutely forbade her from doing this, she and Kaz would simply run off and do it, regardless.
“Let me do it, then,” Emmeric said, a desperate edge to his voice.
Iyana shook her head. “It has to be me. I’m the one with magic, and I’ll need it to find my way back.
But I need you here as my anchor, so I have something to latch onto in case something does go wrong.
But Altair is right”—her gaze flicked to him—“I’ll do this with or without you. We need answers.”
“So send this asshole.” Sullane waved his hand at Altair.
“There’s multiple problems with that plan,” said Iyana. “One, do you actually trust him to get the information we need?” Ouch. “And, two, he may not—” She paused. Altair knew what she was about to say.
“I may not end up in the Everlands when I die.”
Sullane pursed his lips, appraising Altair like he’d still ask him to try in place of Iyana.
And he would, without hesitation, if he thought for one second that he would go to the Everlands.
No, when he died, his soul was bound for the Nine Hells, if not Phaedros’ pit. Sullane seemed to realize this, too.
“Fine,” he sighed, defeated.