“He will be back soon, I’m sure,” he whispered and offered her a faint smile. To everyone else in the world, the brothers maintained an act of hating each other, but Jala knew the truth. Sovann loved Finn as much as she did and she doubted he had slept much last night either.
“I wish I could contact him,” she whispered back glancing up at Neph’s face to make sure she he was not awake.
“I’m not asleep, Jala, and neither is Jail,” Neph said quietly, his pale blue eyes cracking open. “It’s meditation, resting, but not sleeping. You know that thing Sovann tried to teach you?” he added.
“It seems like I spend all of my time worried sick, waiting for him to return,” she whispered, ignoring Neph’s taunt completely.
“Did you think he would be calm and boring when you married him?” Neph asked with a snort of amusement.
She shook her head slightly and sat up. “No, but I thought I would be with him, not waiting for him,” she replied and rose slowly from the couch. She lifted her arms and stretched and then crossed to the window to stand beside Sovann. He offered her another faint smile and draped an arm across her shoulder.
“Welcome to the family. I’ve been waiting and worrying since I was old enough to walk,” he said quietly. “First it was his slipping out at night through the window for whatever mischief he could find, and then it was him slipping off with Havoc. Then he left home and the worry didn’t end until he started at the Academy,” he said with a sigh and then chuckled. “Well, I suppose it didn’t end. There were just a few pauses in between,” he added ruefully.
“He has Valor with him,” Neph said, as if that should cease her worry completely.
“And I can’t contact Valor either,” Jala replied leaning her head against Sovann’s shoulder. She was tired but she knew she couldn’t sleep without knowing what had happened to them.
A loud bang sounded from the front of the warehouse, causing both Sovann and her to jump. Neph stood casually and his fingers flexed as he readied a spell. Jail’s eyes had snapped open at the sound and Wisp was sitting up now as well.
“Finn, Val, if that is you, better speak up now,” Neph called.
“It’s us,” Valor called back and Jala felt her body go limp with relief. There was a sound of scuffling from the hall and then a figure came stumbling through the door to fall on the ground before them. Finn stood just behind and from the way he was lowering his arms he must have propelled the man into the room.
She stared mutely at her husband for a moment, taking in the soot covering his bronzed skin and his torn and bloody clothes. He nodded to her and offered a grim smile before looking back down at the man. Her gaze followed his and she realized with a start that it was Madren crawling away from him toward the wall.
“I didn’t think you would want me to let him die,” Finn muttered and stepped out of the way so Valor could enter the room. If anything, the knight looked to be in worse condition than Finn. His long silver hair was tangled and matted with blood and his normally pristine armor was battered and filthy.
“Although we should have, for all of the trouble he has been,” Valor growled.
Neph raised an eyebrow at the two of them and looked back to the cringing form by the wall. “Too much for you?” he asked his tone mocking.
“He hid under the fucking bed and then started screaming ‘Murderers’ at the top of his lungs when we drug him out,” Valor said with disgust glaring at Madren.
“Which wouldn’t have been a problem if it hadn’t drawn the attention of the Academy guards as well as the Justicars that were looking for me,” Finn added and then cocked his head looking at Jala. “What happened to you?” he asked with a frown.
Her eyes widened slightly and she raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” she asked innocently looking down at herself and then back to him. “You seem to be the one in rather tattered states.”
“Your hair is burnt short on the right side,” he began and looked around the room then back to her. “Were there riots here? Are you OK?” he asked.
“There were a few riots by the gates to the inner city but Neph and Jail took care of it,” she replied, hoping to evade the topic of the duel until later.
“Neph set her on fire before the Barrier went up,” Wisp offered, earning glares from Jala as well as Neph. The fae shifted slightly and shrugged her delicate shoulders. “He was going to find out anyway, Neph. Jala doesn’t lie to him,” she added quietly.
“You what?” Finn demanded rounding on the big mage.
“Her shields dropped during a duel. She is fine. What the hell took you so long to get here? She was worried sick,” Neph replied, his voice calm.
Valor looked between his furious friend and the mage and cleared his throat quietly. “We had to evade the guards and the Justicars and ended up getting caught in one of the riots near the market square. They killed Finn’s horse and drug me from mine before we managed to break free of it.” He rubbed his face, wiping some of the grime from his pale skin. Looking down at the filth on his hand with disgust, he sighed again. “We went through the closest gate we could to get away from that mess and ended up in the Avanti quarter,” he added shaking his head.
“Did you know Cassia is back in the city?” Finn asked, his tone cheerful but filled with bitter irony.
“Hadn’t heard that yet,” Jail said with a snort of amusement. “Did she offer you Sanctuary from the Justicars?” he asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Hmm. What was it she said, Val?” Finn asked raising an eyebrow at the knight.
“I believe it was Kill those fucking bastards now! in a screeching voice,” Valor replied.
“So, the Avanti guards swarmed us and in the midst of the fighting Madren took off on Jala’s horse,” Finn said, glaring at Madren who cringed closer to the wall. “We broke free of the guards again and had to chase him down.”
“While riding double on Vanguard with two different sets of guards hunting us as well as the bloody Justicars,” Valor added wearily.