Elysium

by Nora Sakavic

"Say that again," he says. I consider lying for only a second. "Pharaoh said he didn't care what Adam wanted, that he would kill me before he let me have you."

Sol's fuse is too short, though, and he screams wordless bloody murder at the open road.

he would find someone worthy of holding our brother's chain.

Fuck Adam x 2

Notte moved him to Elysium—right after he put Pharaoh to sleep for choosing Sol over the war.

I've always wondered why he backed us into a corner at a gate, why he took the time to break Elysium and steal Ciara but no time at all to protect me from the gatekeepers hot on our heels. Notte left me because he never wanted me for himself. He only wanted me to find Sol and take Pharaoh's place.

They are racing for each other knowing Notte orchestrated this sledgehammer to their bond.

"The master is a puppeteer," she says. She is still smiling, but this time it doesn't reach her eyes, and there's more venom than mirth in her voice. "He put his claws in the bright child's power and called it protection, and he used that foothold to strangle our brother as soon as they embraced. We tried to warn him, but he did not understand. All masters can control their children, he said to us, but he stopped pretending the first time the master made them dance. We tire of the taste of poison on our teeth when it is not poison of our own choosing."

"We will spare you a little longer then, sister not-our-sister, and see if you can live up to these expectations. It is not in our nature to be optimistic, but we are curious."

"If I was meeting Pharaoh for the first time today, what would you want me to know about him?" I ask. When he doesn't answer, I try a different tact: "What do you like about him?" "Everything." I forgo sarcasm in favor of a weary: "Sol." "Everything," Sol says again.

The tension's gone out of him as he considers his other half, and if I didn't know any better I'd think that was a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. For a rare moment he looks his age, and I'm reminded that he's barely older than Ciara would be. It

"Evelyn," Sol says in quiet warning. "I can't help it," I remind him. "You're—young." "I am not your child." "You're not my son," I agree, "but maybe I'll let you be my baby brother." "Gaia kill me now," Sol mutters.

His dour tone startles laughter from me, and I reach out to tweak his hair. "And here I was thinking you had no sense of humor. If I'd known Pharaoh would put more than just body heat into you—wait, that sounds completely wrong. Back up. Don't say anything." I stab a finger at him in warning, then chance a sidelong look at him.

"Pretty lucky, isn't it, finding a gay Dream?" "The odds were in his favor," Sol says. "Nightmares and Dreams are born for each other; we are what we need each other to be to survive. While the majority of pairs fall into bed with each other, there are pairs that are built on different needs. Tempest are brothers, whereas Shadow needed a father figure. I'd always assumed your Nightmare would be a grown man who would be devoted to you no matter the personal risk." Sol sends me a considering look. "Now I suspect it'll be a replacement child."

"Reassure me," I say. "How many can you fight off at once?" "Pharaoh's absence is crippling," Sol reminds me. "Without him, all I have is what the gate will let me draw from it, and I have to reach through the Lymanczyc to do even that. The further out we are, the harder it is." "Next time just lie to me," I say.

There is absolutely no way either one of us could have survived, yet here we are, unharmed and unhurt. "Oh my god," I say, as I let Sol peel me from the car. "Fuck the Nightmares' disapproval—that coat is amazing."