The home of the Great Dragon Ares and his dragonkin mate Keoni had been built right on a white sandy beach barely a hundred and fifty kilometers west of the city of Alexandria. Rhia had been there only twice before. The first time was to check on Keoni while he was still in a coma. The other after he'd awakened barely a week after Nolan's death.

The single-story building was made of smooth sandstone in a U-shape around a small courtyard garden open to the road leading to the rest of the dragonkin community. Around the back to the side facing the ocean was a covered terrace where the two spent the majority of their free time.

As she crossed into their territory, Rhia felt the layers of magic that protected the property from storms and unwelcome guests, making doors entirely unnecessary and therefore had not been included. It gave the whole house an open feeling and the dragonkin were welcome and encouraged to drop in on their leaders whenever they wanted.

Ares stood waiting for her halfway down the beach from the water, having felt her approach long before her arrival. His intimidating presence made her hesitate. She'd been doing her best to avoid him since their first meeting after the battle in Tahoe. When he had business with Nekros, she went to Paris. When Nekros went to see him, she made an excuse not to go as well. And when she'd come to see Keoni, she made sure he wasn't going to be there.

Rhia didn't have that luxury now and could only try not to show how nervous she was around him. It didn't work. Ares was a lot older, a lot stronger, and a lot more dragon than she was.

Without exchanging pleasantries, he turned and walked back to the steps to the terrace where Keoni sat leaning back amongst a pile of pillows and a thin sheet tucked around his legs to protect him from the temperature. From where she stood, he looked tired and worn out. "Maybe now's not a good time," she stuttered. "I'll... I'll come back later..."

"Rhia Kincaid," Even through the link, Keoni's voice sounded hoarse. "Get over here so I can get a look at you."

She couldn't help rolling her eyes, and walked forward and up the stairs. "You sound like an old bat who hasn't seen her grandkids in decades."

"Maybe I wouldn't have to if you came around once and a while," he smiled.

Ares rested a heavy hand on Keoni's shoulder for a second before retreating back into the house to give them the privacy to talk alone. Rhia wasn't looking at him, her eyes focused on the bags of medications still being pumped into his veins. "They still have you on T.P.N.," she muttered more to herself than to him. "Diuretics, too. Have you started any P.O. nutrition?"

"Old habits die hard, I see. Still thinking like a doctor."

"I was a paramedic, not a doctor," she shrugged, and tilted the bag slightly and squinted at the Arabic script as if she could read it. "Big difference."

"Well, that is not my area of expertise so, tell me. What do those letters all mean?"

Her mouth twitched up. Slowly, her shoulders relaxed, and she backed up to sit down in the chair next to him. "Total parenteral nutrition," she explained, still avoiding his gaze. "Basically, how patients eat when they can't tolerate anything by mouth. Or, per os. I... sort of assumed that they would have started to introduce at least fluids by now."

"I did lose several feet of my intestines. All the magic in the world won't heal that right away."

"Yeah, well, that's why I got paid minimum wage to plug holes with duct tape, not hundreds of thousands to treat long-term patients. How are you feeling?"

"Rhia, look at me, please?"

There was a second of hesitation, before she raised her eyes to his. He saw the same, scared little girl he'd met back at the compound hospital. The haze of glamour over the beautiful green she'd inherited from Nekros would have given her the appearance of normal, human eyes to most creatures. But to someone who had lived as long as he, the magic made them look blurry and dull. There was also no hiding the heavy shadows of little to no sleep and heavy drinking from the last four and a half months.

On her side, she saw a mutated form of the man that tried so hard to reach out to her. His entire left side was covered in scars, from burns to surgical. Both his luminescent violet eyes were still intact, but the one on the left side would start to drift when he got tired. The kin once thought his many injuries would heal over within the year. But as time progressed and seeing the scars persisting on Nekros, no one knew what would happen. It was a downright miracle he was even alive.

"Do you still think what happened is your fault?" he asked gently.

A ripple of tension passed through her, and she looked away again. "Yes."

"Why?"

Rhia took a few minutes to think on her answer. Talking to Keoni was a completely different experience than she was used to. He expected a carefully considered answer and would not fall for her usual method of deflective babbling. But he was also respectful of the time she needed to come up with an introspective response. So, she took that time, leaning back in the chair and pulling her knees to her chest, and considered the endless tangle of guilt in her stomach.

"When the Organization came to the gala," she said slowly. "They came with the plan and equipment needed to capture me and whatever dragonkin were there. When they went to the compound, they went to kill everyone with capture as an afterthought. The only reason I was at the gala was because I refused to come see you and talk to you for five minutes. If I had given you that chance, I would have known what I was sooner, and I wouldn't have gone. I would have stayed on the compound, and they wouldn't have come with as much intent to kill."

He nodded slowly as she spoke, all while never losing that patient smile. "That is an insightful analysis. However, I think it is much simpler than that."

Keoni opened his hand and extended it towards her. He waited patiently and eventually Rhia reached out and took it, still not looking at him. A low pulse of magic rippled up her arm and sank into her. A soothing sensation washed through her chest, easing the near-constant ache... yet the tears started sliding down her cheeks again.

"I can't imagine how hard and terrifying all of this has been for you," he told her gently, his voice resonating in tune with his power. "But I do know how easy it is to believe that you don't deserve the love and acceptance we are trying to show you. I know how tempting it is pull away and hold onto those feelings of guilt."

Her grip tightened around his hand and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to hear any more, but she couldn't make herself get up and leave either.

"You know there is only one person who blames you for what happened that night."

Another wave of grief completely took over. But, for once, her tears came easily without as much pain as before, and her lungs didn't restrict quite so much. Keoni gave her all the time she needed to cry and let out all of the pain she had been holding in for months. She didn't even realize how badly she needed that.

A heavy hand gripped her shoulder, making her jump and look up to see Ares standing over her. Instinctively, she shrunk under the intensity of his cedar-brown eyes. But then the warmth and magic from the other dragon mixed with that of his mate, and a whole other level of comfort that she really wasn't expecting swept through her. She had been so sure for so long that he hated her for what happened to Keoni.

A moment later, he dropped a bottle of icy water in her lap and left again. "Now, I think I know why you're here, and it isn't for a heart-to-heart about my condition," Keoni said as Rhia scrubbed her face dry and drank half the water in a few gulps. "Juniper told me you were asking about Nolan's dragonkin family."

Rhia's brow furrowed at the bottle. She'd already completely forgotten about that after what the demons told her. "Right, yeah, I was. I guess I owe her an apology for snapping, don't I?"

"If you think you must, but I'm not going to scold you like a hatchling for biting back when you were already overwhelmed."

"Appreciated."

"But I am going to caution you, once again, against keeping company with Dáithí."

"I know, I know. You don't like him, but-"

"Dislike is a negligibly light term to describe my opinion on the man. I despise him."

Looking up again, she found his eyes. After spending the last year almost exclusively in ancient company, she'd gotten used to the flare of magic when they got emotional about something. So, she was ready to see a glowing ring of violet around his slit pupils. But Keoni was nothing if not famous for his ability to keep in control, and the only light in his eyes were reflections from the sun. That did not stop the hard line his mouth had formed. "Can I ask... what did he do to make you hate him so much?"

Keoni remained quiet and still for a moment. "Summarizing a story as long as this one will always sound childish and petty," he explained. "But when Dáithí decided to begin his campaign of 'liberating' the kin from the bond, he frequently used my relationship with Ares as an example of the manipulation the dragons 'inflicted' upon us."

Rhia shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She had thought the very same thing once, but Juniper had set her straight along with seeing the evidence of their love herself. There was an obvious power dynamic there, but it had been quite clear that the kin more often turned to Keoni for guidance than Ares. "I... feel like I have to say that I-"

"I'm aware of how things appear from the outside, Rhia," he cut her off again. Once was odd and uncommon for him, but twice in a row was alarming. "The assumption that I have 'slept my way to the top', as humans have crassly put it, or that Ares was manipulating my emotions through the bond was not the core of Dáithí's argument. That is an opinion that we have faced and managed for the entirety of our lives together. No, it was the very nature of our mating that he put on a stage to demonstrate the degeneracy and the perversion of the dragons. Because, as he put it, why else would two males engage in what is exclusively reserved for breeding pairs?"

Rhia's jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock. "He thought you two being gay was the problem?"

"I cannot speak on his opinions on homosexuality within the dragonkin or any other breed," Keoni sniffed in disgust. "For all I know, he does not have an opinion at all. But he did use it to play on the political scene at the time. Humans see Ancients as advanced when it comes to social issues, but it was not always so. Every breed must face its struggles, and this was at a time when it was neither acceptable nor unacceptable among our kind.

"The way Dáithí brought it into the light was in such a negative context that it took a toll on Ares and me. It took us many centuries to move past it, and I am not ashamed to admit that I took my frustrations out on that snake. He is lucky to be alive today, and he knows it.

"You should know that the only reason I did not chase him off the North American continent during your awakening is because Nolan and Sophie both advocated for him. They claimed you found comfort in his presence. But I will not lie to you, Rhia, I am furious with Nekros and Luna for allowing him such unrestricted access to you since your relocation. And I am disappointed that you have continued your friendship given Nolan's history with him."

Rhia bristled defensively and the words came pouring out of her mouth before she could stop herself. "No one told me what he did that was so bad! I thought he was just against the bond, and, let's be honest, I still think it's pretty sketchy that they can have that much control over the kin. And Nolan wasn't exactly open with what his life was like back then. He didn't tell me anything except that he and Dáithí used to be friends and then weren't after he was turned. You can't blame me for giving him the benefit of the doubt when no one explained anything to me, and he's been nothing but supportive through my awakening and all this other bullshit.

"I asked, Keoni, every damn time Nolan got upset that Dáithí was around, but he wouldn't tell me, and neither would Nekros or Luna. I wasn't blind to it, but I'm not going to base my friendships on what other people want if they don't explain why. I've been down that road before, and I swore I wouldn't do it again. I'm sorry, but 'trust me' hasn't been enough for a long time."

Keoni's expression softened. "Yes, of course," he sighed regretfully. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget that physical violence is not how the abuse began, but how it ended with your situation."

"Me too," she groaned back, and rubbed hard at her temples. There was another headache brewing, and she was growing more and more consciously aware of how long she'd gone without a drink. "It's just... frustrating. Everyone has an opinion on who I should and should not interact with, or how I should or shouldn't think or act. I'm constantly in a back and forth of being treated like a child and too naïve to know how the world works, while also being told that I'm a dragon now and should know better and be better. It's exhausting. At least with Nolan and Dáithí, I can be just me. I'm not expected to be anyone or anything else."

There was a long moment of silence between them again. Rhia played their conversation over again in her head and considered her options. Finally, she let out a long sigh and asked, "Would you judge me if I said I needed to talk to him about this before I made a decision?"

"Rhia, I would expect nothing less," Keoni chuckled and nodded. "But we got off topic again. We were supposed to speak of Nolan's family."

"Yeah. Dáithí mentioned someone called Erebus, but Juniper said he was a story. They both got pretty worked up about it."

"Understandably so. Erebus of the Western Sky is to the kin as Cleopatra is to the humans."

"What?" Rhia burst out laughing in surprise, and Keoni gave her a wry smile.

"The story of Cleopatra has been told and retold so many times both as a historical figure as well as a caricature of the real thing, that she is in somewhat of a limbo between myth and reality. Erebus is much the same way. He is a contentious figure in dragonkin history and is known both for his benevolence and violent depravity. Until you, he was the only other creature to have independent control over hellfire, and of all the hatchlings that generation, he was one of two true black kin."

"Is that... significant?"

"There is a belief that kin who hatch with black scales are destined to be named as dragons in their own rights. I don't know if that's true, personally. But there are only a handful of black kin, and all of them have been extremely powerful. And there are only two pure black dragons out of the ten."

"I'm pretty sure it's just genetics on my end. Who was the other black kin in Erebus's generation?"

Keoni's eyes twinkled, and his smile turned mischievous. "Me."

"You two grew up together?"

"No, Erebus was from another clan. But we both trained under Phoenix for a short time, though I was not blessed with hellfire. He was a genuine prodigy, and it was awe inspiring to watch him. But he was prideful and arrogant. His and Phoenix's personalities clashed and, eventually, he turned away from her mentorship, and his relationship with most of the other dragons turned sour. He and Quin, in particular, despised each other."

"Can't imagine why," Rhia scowled at the mention of the golden prick.

"They lived in hostile, yet silent acknowledgement of one another. Much like you do, I think. But Erebus and Lysander were very close for a long time. He would know more about what happened to his mate and remaining children after the fall."

"Fall? What happened?"

"It is a kind way of saying that he is no longer active in this world. Shortly after Nolan's transition, Erebus broke every law made by the dragons, and Quin, Ares, Phoenix, and Lysander were forced to seal him away."

"Seal him? Like in a dragon prison?"

"Yes."

"So, he's still alive?"

Keoni's eyes narrowed and darkened. "Rhia, I know you want to feel close to Nolan again. But on this I will insist that 'trust me' should be more than enough. Erebus had to be sealed because four dragons together could not kill him. He vowed to kill every single one of them when he escaped, and we have spent the last eighteen thousand years fearing that day. The location of his cage is hidden for a reason. He would kill you without thought or consideration for merely being a dragon.

"His remaining family disappeared afterwards. While I encourage you to speak to Lysander about them, I would not get my hopes up. All respect his family had for Lysander would have been lost after his participation in bringing Erebus down, and none of them had particularly high opinions of the dragons prior to the fall. You may be young and innocent of the conflict, and you and Nolan may have loved each other, but all they will see is the dragon child of Nekros and Phoenix."

"Thank you. I appreciate you telling me everything."

"I would have told you sooner if you came and saw me more often."

Rhia rolled her eyes again but returned his smile. "There is... one more thing I wanted to talk to you about. It's why I came in the first place."

"Really? Must be important if it wasn't about Nolan."

"It... is, actually. I... I think Nolan might be... alive."

She waited for Keoni to roll his eyes. To sigh in exasperation. Anything to show that she was downright insane. But he did none of those. He just blinked once and asked, "Why do you think that?"

Out of nerves or restless energy or pure desperation, Rhia put her legs down and immediately started bouncing her knees. "That demon girl everyone's been looking for contacted me and Bastian. She told us what she knew about the Organization, and that she's a... She's another entity, Keoni. She went through exactly what I did, except she remembers what they did to us. When she gave me the information, she... she felt my soul. She said... she said Nolan and I are soulmates, and-"

"Soulmates?!" Keoni sat up suddenly and inhaled a sharp gasp of pain.

Rhia shot up and pushed him back down. "Stupid," she snapped, and rejoiced for a moment at how easy it was to slide back into her medical training. "You're being held together by a few stitches and a prayer, don't get up!"

"You sound like Ares," he chuckled, before starting to cough.

"Okay, okay, easy. Here," she dragged the oxygen tank out from behind his chair turned it on and pressed the mask to his face. "Deep breaths. Just relax."

Ares appeared in the next second to sit on the edge of the bed next to him. One hand took the mask from Rhia while the other supported the base of Keoni's head to tilt it in a way so he was in the best position to take deep, unobstructed breaths. The look Keoni gave his mate was one of pure adoration, and Ares's mask of quiet stoicism softened. He even smiled.

Rhia looked away from the tender moment and focused on finding and measuring a rapid pulse at the base of his wrist. A second later, her temple tingled as Keoni tried to make a link and she scowled at his stubbornness. "Stop using your magic, you dumbass," she scolded. "This is how you get worse, not better."

"Are you sure she said soulmate?" Keoni asked anyway, forcing the link, and Ares looked up at her.

"Yes. She was very clear."

"You don't know how special that is, do you?" Ares asked. She'd never heard him speak before. His voice was softer than she expected.

"I've heard about it. It happens all the time, doesn't it?"

They both laughed, Keoni somewhat breathlessly. "No," Keoni continued speaking through the link. "It is exceedingly rare. Think about it; Nolan was born twenty thousand years before you. He had to survive all that time and go through all he had just to be at the right place in the right time to meet you. And you had to survive all those years in the hands of the Organization, end up in the same city, and take your brother to the same hospital to meet him. What do you think are the chances of that?"

"Well, when you put it that way... I guess, small, but-"

"For every year that passed after Nolan hatched," Ares cut her off, sounding unusually patient. "The odds of you two meeting grew exponentially smaller. The average person has a better chance of becoming a billionaire than you and Nolan had of finding each other."

"If it's true."

"Do you not believe what she said?"

Rhia scoffed and threw herself back in the chair now that Keoni's heart rate had slowed and was breathing steadily with the oxygen mask. "I don't know. She has a real chip on her shoulder for some reason. Like all her issues are my fault. That baby daddy of hers is a piece of work, too."

Keoni and Ares exchanged a look, and she knew they were talking about her through the link. It was irritating and reminded her of when Madeline sent her to her room so she wouldn't hear her and Richard fight about her. But instead of interrupting, she waited, her foot bouncing at a rapid pace no matter how hard she tried to keep still.

She didn't know what she wanted anymore. The whole time travelling here and talking to Keoni, she'd been trying so hard to keep her hopes from getting too high. It would only hurt that much more if she was told that Kate was wrong, that Nolan was gone, and never coming back. She wasn't sure if her heart could handle that again.

"Rhia," Keoni asked gently, drawing her attention again. "What were you hoping to get from coming here and telling me this?"

Rhia swallowed hard and looked down at her hands clasped tightly in her lap. "Is it... possible for demons to feel people's souls? Or was she lying about that part?"

"Demons can feel souls. And if she felt Nolan's as well, it is more than likely that she can feel the bond between you. Even if she didn't, she would be able to tell if you met your soulmate."

"And she would know if my soulmate was dead?"

"Yes," Ares answered. "When soulmates meet, the bond is sealed, and they become one. Demons cannot touch their souls and involving themselves with another romantically becomes physically painful. If one were to die, the other's soul shatters."

Physically painful. Like the twisting in her stomach and the sharp pains in her head and heart when Dáithí kissed her. She thought she had just been grieving. "What happens to the surviving partner?"

"They kill themselves within a year." Keoni gave Ares a disapproving glare, and Ares rolled his eyes. "Fine. Most kill themselves within a year. Happy?"

Keoni shook his head and turned his gaze back to Rhia, who continued to stare at her hands. "If the demon is telling the truth, then the only question that remains is how is it possible that he survived?"

"No," Rhia's voice shook as hard as her hands were. She could feel Ares and Keoni watching her, and it took everything she had to keep it together and meet their eyes. "I have spent the last four months testing the limits of my liver. I have spent four months praying that I'm going to wake up from this nightmare with him beside me again. I'm at the end of my rope. I don't need to know how. I just need to know if.

"Keoni, if you tell me right here and now that Kate was lying to hurt me and he's gone forever, I... I'll accept that. But if there is the slightest chance that Nolan is alive, I will fly to the ends of the earth to find him and bring him home. I will spend the rest of my life looking, and I will never stop. But I need you to tell me if there is any point in holding onto that hope. There is no one I trust more. No one Nolan trusted more."

After a long, silent moment where Keoni gave her an unreadable, assessing look, he reached for her hand again. She took it without hesitation this time and waited. Then, he pushed Ares' hand away to lower the mask and said with the conviction she needed to hear and said, "I believe he is alive, Rhia. You will have our support until the very end. We will bring him home."

~