26. Erik

Ihummed to myself as I woke early and scaled a palm tree at the edge of the beach. I ripped a few coconuts from the top, tossing them down into the sand. Hooking my legs around the narrow trunk, I slid to the ground and scooped up my hoard.

“Are you singing?” Clarice called to me, stepping out of Julius’s tent and sashaying towards the embers of the fire. She was definitely wearing his t-shirt.

I fell silent. “No, I was humming.”

“Humming is a form of singing,” she accused and I shook my head.

“That is wildly incorrect.” I dropped down to sit before the fire, giving her a bemused look. “Did you just walk out of Julius’s tent like it was completely normal?”

Clarice bit into her lower lip, her eyes igniting with so much passion and love that my brows lifted.

“Yes,” she whispered, tugging at the hem of Julius’s shirt.

My lips hooked up at the corner and as I opened my mouth, she cut over me.

“Don’t you dare say I told you so.” She pointed accusingly.

“I wasn’t going to.” My smile widened. “I was going to say I’m thrilled for you. He makes you happy, does he not?”

She nodded eagerly. “So happy.” She half moaned with some memory and I pursed my lips.

“I don’t need the details,” I added.

She sighed dramatically. “A thousand years with no sister to talk to, Erik. Only brothers. You always listened to me before.”

“True, but this is different. Back then, you were just complaining about how no man could satisfy you. But the look in your eyes says you’re going to tell me something else. And I’m not sure I’m prepared to hear it.”

She crawled closer across the sand with a mischievous grin. “Come on...you’re one of the few people in the world I get to share my secrets with.” She snatched my hand and I tilted my head to one side.

“You can talk to Montana and Callie, you know,” I pointed out.

“Alright,” she huffed and fell quiet. She glanced back towards the tents, her feet digging into the sand as she fiddled with her hair.

I sighed, knowing she was dying to say something. “Go on then,” I encouraged.

She lurched into my arms and pressed her hands down on my shoulders. “He’s everything, Erik. By the gods – argh - what he did to me-” She moaned again and I fought my instincts as I tried not to grimace.

“You know he can probably hear you right now,” I pointed out with a bark of laughter.

“I can!” Julius called from his tent. “Please keep going.”

Clarice laughed and I dragged her into my arms, squeezing her tight. “It’s good to see you like this.”

“I never thought I’d accept them, Erik,” she whispered, a line forming between her brows. “How did we get here?”

Montana and Callie exited their tents almost simultaneously and we both looked up, my sister and I sharing a glance that said the answer lay in them. The twins had come crashing into our lives and altered the entire face of this world, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the disruption.

They moved toward us, both yawning in sync with the other. Sometimes, they seemed so similar. They were weirdly tuned into each other, like two halves of one being.

They hurried over and sat either side of me as Clarice dropped back into the sand.

“Morning.” I leaned in to kiss Montana and she smiled sleepily.

I cracked one of the coconuts against my knee and it broke in half. Callie eyed it curiously and I passed her half of the fruit.

She frowned deeply as she took it. “What the fuck is that? It looks like a hairy-”

“Ballsack?” Julius offered as he stepped out of his tent.

Callie and Montana burst into laughter and I passed my wife the other half of it.

Clarice jumped up and eyed him as if she was unsure if he was going to approach her. He closed the distance between them in half a second, snaring her waist and dragging her into a kiss that was bordering on pornographic.

When they were done with their ungodly display, they dropped down side by side and their hands remained in one another’s. “You didn’t finish your sentence,” Julius teased her. “What exactly is it I do to you?”

Montana watched them with a smile, sharing a look with Callie that said they were fully on board with Julius and Clarice’s newfound relationship.

Clarice brushed her fingers down Julius’s face with a taunting grin. “You make me come twelve times in one night apparently.”

“Clarice,” I hissed, my brow furrowing. I did not want to hear about what Julius had done to my sister.

Julius smirked, glancing at the horizon where the sun was just cresting. “We have time to make it thirteen.”

Clarice gave him a hungry look but shook her head at him, rolling her eyes like she didn’t care to return to his bed, which was clearly bullshit.

“What is this?” Callie changed the subject as she gazed down at the fruit in her hand.

“I think dad told us about those once,” Montana said. “It’s a cockonut.”

“Close. It’s a coconut,” I said with a chuckle.

“That’s what I said,” she insisted, stubborn little thing that she was.

‘You definitely said cockonut,” Julius said with a matter-of-fact nod.

“Anyway, it’s a fruit. You can drink the milk.”

“Fruit milk...” Montana wrinkled her nose and I nudged her. “Shouldn’t we keep this for Callie and Julius?”

“There’s plenty for everyone,” I said. “Try it.”

She took a swig and Callie mimicked her. Their eyes lit up at the same time and I grinned in satisfaction.

“I want!” Julius lunged toward us, kicking up sand over our knees. He took his sword from his hip, swinging it down in a fierce arc and slashing another one of the coconuts in half.

“You’re spilling it.” I snatched up the two pieces before any more was lost to the sand and handed him one.

He drank deeply and I sipped from my own, the sugary taste floating across my tongue.

Magnar appeared from his tent as Clarice moved to pick up the other coconut, breaking it open on her knee.

“Ah...I remember these.” Magnar took a half as Clarice offered it. “We ate many when we first came upon this land.”

I eyed him intently, thinking back on those days. “It can’t have been far from here.”

Magnar nodded, his jaw tightening. “Remember the first time we found one?” he asked Julius.

Julius laughed, nodding enthusiastically as he rounded on the group to tell the story. “We made camp on the beach and Aelfric slept under a palm tree. A coconut came right down on his head in the night and he had a welt on his brow for days.”

Magnar laughed then looked out across the sea. “I miss him...all of them.”

“I’m sure they had a wonderful life,” Julius said, his eyes growing dark as his gaze swung to me. “So long as none of you got your teeth into them.”

“We avoided the slayers for a hundred years after Valentina brought news of your deaths,” I said in a low tone. “No more of your friends died at our hands.”

“That’s something at least,” Magnar grumbled.

“Where are Fabian and Chickoa?” I glanced around the camp, wanting to change the subject.

“They haven’t come back since they went to talk last night,” Clarice said.

“They seem to be getting along better,” Montana said with a smile.

My eyebrows raised at her tone, and I hoped Fabian had found a resolution with Chickoa. It had only taken him a thousand years.

I finished the remains of my coconut, rising to my feet and starting to pack up our gear. The clouds were out today so at least we wouldn’t have to carry anyone to the holy mountain. From the ring’s assessment, I’d estimated we were thirty miles or so from its location now. I remembered these lands well. The swamps were our next challenge, but we’d come this far, and so long as we continued to avoid Valentina, we should be fit to make it within the day.

I was sad to be leaving the beach behind, a part of me wanting to remain here and bask in its beauty a while longer. But we had a task to do. And it was time we completed it.

Four hours was all it took to reach the swamps. The heat in the air was thick and wafting, a dampness clinging to our skin as we forged a path onward. Julius and Callie were the ones who had to weather out the discomfort of it. If we did break the curse, I knew we were all going to have to face these trials on our way home too. But I would have taken any heat, any sweat and blister or bruise just to feel human again. To have my heart beat solidly in my chest, promising me growth and change with every thump. I wanted to age, strange as that was. But I’d lived as this same being for so many years and it was unnatural. I yearned for mortal flesh that tanned and burned and bled human blood.

With every stride we took, that longing in me grew more fierce. It was close now. Closer than it had ever been. To think I could ever have found the answer to the prophecy another way was delusional. It was always meant to be this way. Montana and Callie were supposed to be in our lives. And maybe the slayer brothers were too. I was bound to those two men; our fates had been entwined our entire lives and I was glad we finally walked the same path. No longer enemies, but friends. I was starting to think I’d never want them to leave when this was over too.

None of us had discussed what we’d do if we truly broke the curse. Would we part ways? And if so, I didn’t think Montana and Callie would choose to separate from each other for the sake of Magnar and me.

I gazed at the back of Magnar’s head as we charted a path through the swamp, vines hanging everywhere and dipping into the water we waded through. The persistent call of cicadas filled the air and it reminded me of the time I’d lived in a village south of here. The one we’d named ourselves after. Bel Vedere.

I moved to Magnar’s side and he nodded as he noted my arrival. The rest of the group had fallen behind but I was grateful for a moment alone with him, feeling it was time to voice my thoughts on our futures.

“I’ve been wondering...when this is done, what will you do? Where will you go?”

Magnar grunted, not looking at me as he used one of his swords to cut a path through the vines hanging over the murky water. “Wherever Callie goes.”

I rested my hand on his back and he stilled, turning to me. I gave him a hesitant smile. “I just want you to know, you have a home owed to you. From me. Anywhere you want. It’s done.”

He eyed me curiously then placed a hand on my shoulder, nodding in affirmation.

“I suppose we’ll not see so much of each other after this,” I said vaguely, wondering if he was going to contradict me, and kind of hoping he would.

He chuckled deeply, squeezing my arm. “Who knows, Belvedere. Maybe we’ll be neighbours.” He started striding away and I followed after him with a grin.

“You’ll be my brother-in-law if you marry Callie,” I said with a taunt to my voice.

He glanced back over his shoulder, his eyebrows lifting. “I never thought of that...we’ll be family.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “And if Julius marries my sister, you will be her brother-in-law too.”

Magnar released a laugh. “Damn, how am I to avoid it?”

“Do you wish to?” I asked.

He remained quiet in thought and I wondered if my jibing had gone too far. Maybe the slayer could never bear to join my family.

“Perhaps I’m starting to see you as a brother already, so it won’t be much different,” Magnar mused at last and I released a breath of laughter, unable to believe how far we’d come from pledging to kill one another.

“I’m not sure I’ll mind that at all,” I said, the amusement falling from my tone.

Magnar stilled, turning back to me with his brows pulled sharply together. “Me neither, brother.”

The day slid by and I took every final moment of our journey to enjoy Montana’s company. With each step we took now, instead of hope, doubt was blossoming inside me. What if this was all some big joke of the gods’ creation? Or what if we found the mountain and instead of the answers to our prayers, we only found more riddles and prophecies to drive us mad?

We’d reached drier land at last, moving through a forest so thick that the sun couldn’t penetrate it, even if it had been out. But the sun had started to set and we hadn’t stopped. We were too close. A mile or less now. There was no going back, no more nights under the stars, no more delaying the inevitable. The mountain was waiting for us and it was time we faced it.

Montana walked at my side, my hand around hers as we traversed the path that seemed to guide our feet, as if we were fated to walk it. And perhaps we were.

“I haven’t said I love you today,” I murmured, gripping her fingers tighter.

“That’s true,” she said with a teasing smile. “You’d better say it then.”

I brushed away the hair from her ear, leaning in so my mouth was right against it. “I love you.”

She released a slow breath as if my words caused a physical reaction in her.

“I love you too,” she said, her expression serious as she turned to me.

I sensed a tension growing between us and I tapped her on the nose to break it. No point dwelling on the impossible pressure of our situation. I just wanted to soak in her smile, her laugh, all the light in her.

“I don’t want to see a single frown on your face today,” I ordered and she laughed softly, her shoulder knocking into mine.

Callie glanced back at us from where she was walking with Magnar and I sensed they were having a similar conversation to ours. All the words that needed to be said...just in case.

“We’re going to call our first child Miles,” Montana announced and my heart ached at her words.

“What if it’s a girl?” I asked.

“I quite like Warren for a girl,” she mused.

“Well I certainly like the sentiment.” I dropped my arm over her shoulders, placing a kiss to her temple.

The group suddenly stopped up ahead and I realised why as Montana and I pushed through a wall of power hanging in the air around us. My mouth parted as I gazed at the sight before us, the strange bubble we’d passed into revealing it to us: the holy mountain. Rising high into the sky above the forest where birds circled and clouds clung to its peak, motionless.

“We made it!” Julius whooped, pulling Clarice into a fierce hug.

Montana jogged forward and crashed into Callie, the two of them hugging and jumping into the air at the same time.

Fabian pumped his fist above his head, turning back to catch my eye with a wide grin. “We found it, brother, after all these years.”

“I thought you liked being immortal,” I called to him with a note of teasing to my tone.

“I think I’ve changed my mind,” he laughed, turning and dragging Chickoa into his arms.

She tilted her chin up and their mouths suddenly met. Everyone fell still, staring at them in surprise as she clung to him, scraping her nails down his neck as if they didn’t have an audience. He groaned, grabbing her waist and I grinned at their display, so glad my brother had finally regained the love he’d lost all those years ago.

I watched as Magnar and Julius embraced fiercely then Magnar turned to me.

“Erik.” He beckoned me over and I moved to his side with trepidation and anticipation stirring inside me over what we were about to face.

“Yes?” I asked and he answered by dragging me into the tightest embrace of my life.

I was pretty sure one of my shoulders popped out of its socket, but the second he released me, I found I was alright. I patted his face affectionately. “Always knew you had a soft spot for me, Magnar.”

“Ah yes, when I was trying to rip your head off every time I encountered you over the years, all I really wanted was a kiss.”

“And you got a few in the end, didn’t you?” I smirked.

He thumped my chest and I stumbled back a step, but he was grinning from ear to ear.

“Right then, assholes,” Julius said to the group with a hungry glint in his gaze. “Who’s ready to break this gods-forsaken curse?”