A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

He’s even better at landing than us, and it’s his first time trying it, my dragon grumbled. That’s some bullshit.

I moved to step forward, but Nyfain held me fast. Those in front of me didn’t budge. Not until the phoenix shifted.

A swirl of color and light reduced the great fiery bird into a man again. Into my brother.

“Oh my—” I threw Nyfain’s hand off and then shoved my way through the people still standing in front of me. I threw my arms around Hannon, hugging him so tightly I wondered how he could still breathe. “You’re alive. Thank you, goddess. Thank you! You’re alive.”

He pulled back before wiping away my tears with his thumb. “I’m so sorry to have caused you pain. It was the thing I worried about most when they took me.”

“You were being taken to your death, and your biggest concern was the pain it would cause me?” I asked, touching his shoulders and then his hair, just to make sure he was really here. Just to make sure it was really him, healed and whole.

“Yes,” he said, as though that were natural.

“But you didn’t know you’d come back. Or did you?”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t know. I just knew I wasn’t worried about dying. I haven’t been for…I don’t know how long, actually. I never thought about it until I went to the demon castle. That’s when it occurred to me. I’ve always been worried about everyone else, not myself. I guess maybe I instinctively knew that I…”

He looked down at himself and then lifted his hands, shedding power easily now.

“Am I really a phoenix, Finley?” he whispered, his eyes widening. “Is this real?”

I laughed through new tears. “It better fucking be real, Hannon, because I don’t want to go back to a few moments ago when I thought I’d lost you.”

Nyfain stepped up then, supreme joy on his face and pulsing through the bond. He put out his hand for Hannon and then pulled him into a tight hug instead, pounding his back with a fist.

“You gave us a big fucking scare there, buddy,” Nyfain said, pulling back and clutching his shoulders. “A big fucking scare. I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you in time. I thought I’d let you down. That I’d let your sister and your family down.”

Nyfain blew out a breath, and I noticed that he was choked up.

“Glad to have you back,” he finished, stepping behind me a little, apparently using me as a shield against showing his emotions. “Please don’t challenge me, though. I don’t think I can back down, and you can’t die. So…”

“Oh, I can die,” Hannon said, running his hand through his wild red hair. Hair that looked like the flaming feathers of his mythical beast. “Dying is not at all pleasant.” He chuckled. “I was still alive for the stomach strike and then riding in the mouth of a dragon. I really don’t wish to do either again.”

“Hello?” Hadriel had his hands on his hips and was tapping his bare foot. We’d all put on slips to make the faeries less uncomfortable, but no one had bothered with slippers or shoes. “Hell-fucking-o?”

I stepped to the side with Nyfain, clearing space for Hadriel.

“You bastard,” Hadriel said, launching himself at Hannon. He hugged him as tightly as I had. “I thought you’d fucking died, you asshole.”

Leala piled on. “I’m so glad you’re back, Hannon. I’m so, so glad.”

Calia stepped up next, her expression grim. “I’m going to just go ahead and be the bearer of bad news here.” She swallowed and lifted her chin before turning to look at Nyfain. “He is going to be the focus of the entire magical world. They’ll want to coax him to their kingdoms for his status and power and bloodline. If he won’t take their very generous bribes, they’ll try to take him by force. He has the gift of healing. He has the gift of agelessness. The gift of long life. He can bestow these blessings at will, and a certain magic exists that can force him to do so. That magic, thankfully, is just as rare, but it exists. He has the power to destroy the world—”

“Okay, okay, whoa, whoa.” Hadriel waved his hands. “Let’s just pull our hysteria back a little, shall we? The guy barely even knows what he is. We have no idea what’s true and what’s not. I mean, fuck, he literally just came back from the dead. Let’s give the poor fucker a glass of wine or something before we start tearing into him about destroying the world.”

“Hadriel is right,” Nyfain said, but unease filtered through the bond. “Hannon needs to see his family. They’ll want to know he is okay. As for the other…” Nyfain paused before meeting Hannon’s eyes. “You know I’ll do everything in my power to protect you. If you are taken, I will make sure you are recovered, no matter what it costs.”