Rain began to fall the moment they reached the mountains, but Tissaia and Talarion didn't let it deter them. They had weathered many of Lochren's brutal coastal storms during Talarion's training, and they couldn't afford to waste time. They had to keep as close to their father and Kaius as possible so as to not lose Kaius's trail.

    Tissaia already suspected parts of it had been washed away by the rain and they couldn't let themselves become lost. But on the same hand, they couldn't afford to be reckless either. She had already heard several landslides in the night, and she knew Talarion was keeping an eye out for any signs of the Mountain Fae.

    Most of their Clans dwelled in the western and central parts of the Donoa range as she understood it, but they would take no chances. If Kyrgan's Clan had heard of his death and who had taken his life, they would seek retribution and that was another fight they didn't need to be caught in. They were having a hard enough time keeping their heads attached to their shoulders anyway.

    Tissaia spurred her mount forward and caught Talarion by the arm as his own horse stumbled on some loose soil. The beast managed to recover itself thankfully, though the ground around it remained crumbling. Talarion shot her a grateful look as she withdrew her hand.

    "Do you think we should continue on foot?" Tissaia asked hesitantly. "The horses just kept struggling. If we turn them loose now, they might be able to find their way back home."

    Her brother shook his head and sodden hair plastered itself to his face. "We can't afford to slow down." He guided his mount forward and it slowly picked its way over the terrain. Tissaia followed close behind.

    "How far do you think we'll have to climb?"

    "I don't know. Kaius only described the temple to me a little bit. He said it looked like it had been carved into a cleft in the mountains and the entrance protruded from it. It was domed, with several columns supporting it."

    "Similar to buildings from the Elder Age," Tissaia gathered.

    "Like he told us, he thinks it's a temple. I wonder if it isn't one of the first temples that were built in Asterria. Maybe one of the ones built by the gods themselves."

    Tissaia pursed her lips, mulling over the details. "What about the sky? Could he see the horizon or the coast?"

    Talarion shook his head again. "It was surrounded by mountains on all sides."

    "So it's in a valley somewhere." She squinted against the rain and observed the stony fortresses that loomed above them. "If Kaius's trail remains the same, it looks like we're heading to those two mountains." She pointed to a pair in the distance, one larger than the other, and the dark gulch where a valley would spread between them.

    "Maybe. If we lose the trail, we'll try to keep moving towards them. It's as good a guess as any."

    Tissaia nodded, but another thought pricked her mind, wedging a cold chill into the pit of her stomach. "What if Father already has the artifact? What will we do then?"

    Talarion's eyes narrowed. "We'll rescue Kaius, kill Father, and take it back. Either way, he's not leaving these mountains alive." He glanced at her and took in the pensive expression on her face. "What is it?"

    "What about Mother?"

    "What about her?"

    "Do you think she's in Lochren?"

    Talarion shrugged. "She's either there or still in Arcan. Father wouldn't have brought her along. Why?"

    Tissaia gritted her teeth and breathed a faint sigh. "What will we do about her?"

    "She can do whatever the fuck she wants as long as she stays away from me. I owe her nothing, and neither do you. She never tried to help us. You know as well as I do that she didn't care what Father did to us as long as it took his attention off her."

    "I know," Tissaia murmured.

    Her heart had been hardened against her mother years before Talarion's, but his had become more bitter still. When they were younger, he was the one who had tried to get their mother to express an interest in them. He had tried to love her. He had even tried to shield her from their father too.

    But Astara had never returned the favor. She had never shown them even a fraction of affection, and she had certainly never tried to defend them. Once, Tissaia had empathized with her mother. She had experienced an even different kind of horror from their father.

    But then she had let that violence and brutality fall onto her children, always turning her face away from the sight of their wounds to spare herself the guilt. Their meek, silent, broken mother, who had sacrificed her children to spare herself. Tissaia didn't empathize with her now. She only pitied her, and hated her.

    Talarion had begun to hate her after the very last time he had tried to defend her. They had been twelve at the time, and Tissaia couldn't remember why their father had been so angry. But he'd taken a small marble statue off a table and raised it to strike their mother.

    Astara had only sat in her chair, listless and dead-eyed as she watched her husband. Talarion had pulled her chair out of the way and Roshan broke the statue over his head instead. Her brother had been unconscious for two days, bleeding profusely internally and externally.

    And when he finally recovered and sought out their mother, she hadn't said a word to him. She had only seemed to stare right through him. And Talarion had spat in her face, swearing he wouldn't bother trying to defend her again. Even if she didn't need him, his sister still did. Astara hadn't even reacted to that.

    "She can stay in the manor or disappear somewhere," Talarion muttered, pulling her from her memories. "Kaius and I won't be living there."

    "Me neither," Tissaia firmly agreed.

•༻☽☾༺•

    They sheltered in a cave that night. Talarion had begrudgingly allowed Tissaia to build a fire in the very back of it when he saw how violently she was shivering. She had stayed awake long enough to let her clothes dry out before falling into a fitful sleep. Even now, she was tossing and turning, and still shivering.
   
    Talarion moved from his perch near the entrance of the cave and grabbed his own cloak from where it had been spread on the ground to dry. Only the edges of it were damp now as he draped it over his sister and tucked it around her as tightly as he could without waking her.

    Then he resumed his watch, ignoring the cold that penetrated his own body. It was both within and without, telling him of Kaius's own miserable state. He knew his father wouldn't grant his mate any semblance of warmth. He'd do the bare minimum to keep him from freezing to death before they reached their destination, and that was all.

    Talarion closed his eyes, curling one fist against his chest as if he could will away the waves of fear and pain that echoed from the tether binding him to Kaius. Even before the bond, he had always known what Kaius was thinking and feeling.

    From the day they first met, he'd seen that he was a male who felt and acted with all his being. He remembered the first time he'd caught Kaius's hazel gaze and seen his eyes grow wide, a faint blush creeping into his cheeks.

    Eventually Kaius had told him that it was because of how intimidating, yet beautiful he appeared. He had been envisioning a certain scenario involving one of the daggers he was wearing when Talarion had looked at him as though he knew exactly what he'd been thinking.

    And after Queen Elwyth's death, when Kaius had been sick at the sight of her and shut himself in his room, Talarion had known that he shouldn't be alone, so he'd gone up to him. Kaius had told him everything that he hadn't included in his letters then. Everything about his past and his parents' own deaths.

    He had let him see the scars the Blood Fae left on him and how they matched those left on the Queen. Talarion had been surprised at how open he was, as his letters had been somewhat guarded. Then Kaius said those simple words that changed their lives forever.

    "I want to tell you everything. I always have. But I didn't want to give your father a reason to hurt you." He could still feel the ghost of his mate's fingertips brushing against his cheek, hesitant and shaking, as though he'd been afraid to touch him. "I'm in love with you."

    And then Talarion had kissed him, and they spent their first night in each other's arms. Every night they'd been apart since had been a form of torture all its own, but nothing compared to this. Knowing that Kaius was in his father's grasp, and there was nothing he could do to protect him. His eyes burned and he blinked it away swiftly.

    Talarion rested his forehead in his palm, threading his fingers back through his hair. Gods, he wanted his mind to stop. It was spinning and spinning, telling him of every way in which his father and the Deimen could be hurting Kaius. Every way in which he might fail to rescue his mate. Every way in which Kaius might die.

    He could barely think past the hounding thoughts, and yet he had to figure out a way to save Kaius and keep Tissaia safe. She was right. They shouldn't have left the others behind. They needed help, and they wouldn't have it because of him. If Kaius suffered for his own choices...

    He lifted his face to the sky, pleading with any god who might be listening. "Please," Talarion rasped. "Please let him be all right."

    He had done so many terrible, unforgivable things in his life, and perhaps he didn't deserve happiness because of it, but he couldn't let Kaius take the consequences of his actions. He wouldn't. Not alone.

    Talarion glanced at Tissaia once more. She wouldn't understand. She would try to stop him. To keep him there, because she needed him too. But as selfish as it was, he wouldn't care. If Kaius was gone, he wouldn't care about anything any more, as long as their father was dead too.

    He would make sure Roshan didn't walk away alive, and then he would save his mate, or he would die trying. And he would make sure there was nothing left for his sister to try to heal. No way of dragging him back to this world that had given him only misery and one sliver of light.

    But he prayed it wouldn't come to that. He prayed that they would be enough, and that for once in their lives, the gods would be on their side.