"When did you stop?"
"No more getting blotto. I'm responsible now, didn't you hear? I got hitched."
Rydstrom raised a glass. "Congratulations, brother," he said, relieved that things had worked out between Cadeon and his female.
"That's why I haven't answered. Been keeping time with the missus at the new estate I just bought her. Nïx informed me that I couldn't keep living in my 'pool house man-cave' I shared with Rok, not if I was going to have Holly."
Rok was a smoke demon, Cadeon's second in com­mand, and a fine soldier-except for the fact that he continually disappeared. "Where is Rok? I haven't seen him by."
"Told me cryptically that I might not be the only one settling down, then he blazed. Haven't seen him since." Rydstrom would relish seeing the bed-hopping demon domesticated.
'" I want you to officially meet Holly," Cadeon said. "So I figured I'd come by to see if you were up for company. It looked like you had some things to work through."
No kidding. "Why don't you tell me what happened when I was . .. gone."
"All right then." With his usual excitement, his brother told him of the journey to Groot's, details about checkpoints and near-death escapes, battles with rev--enants and fire demons.
But when Cadeon talked about his new wife, his entire demeanor changed. His glass of liquor went for-
gotten on the table. "We knew how smart she is. But who knew how sexy a mathematician could be?"
"How did you get the sword?"
"I had to give her to Groot for it. Thought you'd be proud of me for making a sacrifice for once in my life. I thought of you, of the kingdom, and the people. Still, I was planning on taking her right back, but the bastard tricked me...."
After Cadeon relayed everything that had happened. Rydstrom could hardly imagine how painful it would've been to see the betrayed look on the face of the woman he'd fallen for so completely.
Even though Cadeon had a plan to save her, Ryd­strom didn't know that he himself could have done the same.
Cadeon said Holly had . .. cried.
My brother's a stronger man than I am. It was difficult to swallow that truth, but Rydstrom was craven with his need for Sabine-the thought of even parting from her for a day made his fangs grow. "Holly's forgiven you?"
"Almost mostly. But she still gives me slack about it when she's sick. I take it as a husbandly badge," he said, puffing out his chest.
"Sick? You told me she was fully immortal."
"Yeah, but she throws up some, because, well, the thing of it is . . . Ah, f**k, Rydstrom, I knocked her
up."
"You're going to be a father?" Gods help the world.
I'm going to be an uncle?
"I got Holly, like, on the first shot. Nïx is calling me Bull's-eye and the Womb Raider."
"Nïx is nothing if not subtle." A month ago, Rydstrom would've been uneasy with the idea that his brother had gotten a babe on the Vessel. Now he felt confident the female would bear a warrior of ultimate good.
"That's why I'm on my own tonight-cause Nïx and Holly are out shopping for baby swords or something." He scratched his head. "I'm kind of hoping they were joking about that, but with Valkyries, how can you know?"
"How do you feel about having a babe?"
"At first, I was happy, because I thought it'd mean Holly'd have to forgive me, like I'd smuggled an ally on the inside who'd help me," Cadeon said, still every bit the mercenary. "Then I got excited. If Holls thinks I drive her crazy, imagine little Cadeons running around all over the place."
"I have firsthand experience with one. And that was plenty."
An awkward silence fell over the room. Rydstrom took a drink, muttering over the rim, "Make sure you have wainscoting."
"What?"
Rydstrom shook his head. "Nothing."
"No, tell me."
"When you were little and your horns were molt­ing, they itched so bad that you'd run them against the walls. Nylson and I used to burst out laughing to see every new three-foot-high gouge running the length of a hall. We wouldn't let anyone repair them." His lips curled until he noticed Cadeon's expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You're talking about me. And it sounds . . . fond." What the hell did Rydstrom have to lose? "It nearly broke me to send you away."
Cadeon scowled. "So much that you visited all the
time?"
This much resentment?. "I did every chance I could. At least once a week in the beginning." At Cadeon's dis­believing look, he said, "I was there watching over you, making sure you had everything you needed. I stayed out of the way because Zoe and Mia said I would inter­rupt your bonding with your new family."
"How about not sending me away at all?"
"After Nylson and our father had just been slain? Because they broke the custom? When you were little, I was still adjusting to being king. I'd just lost my older brother, who was my best friend. And my father, as well. Then you were to be in jeopardy, too? I couldn't stand the thought of it. I was tempted to take you and our sis­ters and start anew, turn our backs on wars and killing."
Cadeon gaped. "You considered giving up the
crown?"
"If there'd been a worthy replacement for me. Yes. Then, just a few years later, I lost the kingdom to a vicious murderer. I'd wondered if I'd fought hard enough, or if I'd let go too easily. The guilt was unre­lenting, is unrelenting."
"But the crown was everything. That's why you've hated me all these years."
"I never hated you. And the crown had nothing to do with why I've been hard on you." At Cadeon's raised I brows, Rydstrom said, "All right, that was part of it.
But I was also angry because of the way you were liv­ing your life. You were selfish and uncaring." Rydstrom knew Cadeon wouldn't argue that. "Sabine's since told me that you would've been assassinated if you'd gone to Tornin. Omort had five hundred troops waiting for you."
"Sabine told you that?"
"She wanted to ease some of the strife between us."
"Kind of nice, for an evil bitch."
"Guard your words carefully, brother, that woman is going to be your queen." Just when Rydstrom thought they'd have another row, Cadeon raised his palms.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry. But don't forget that she's part of the reason I gave up Holly. I thought if I got the sword, I could free you. It ate at me, thinking of you in a dungeon. Nïx told me the sorceress would ... use you."