Kingsbane

Chapter 34

Siva wasn't even sure this was all happening. Half of him felt as though he'd wake at any moment to find his brother still gone and Gray laying dead beside him. Still, he moved forward, into the courtyard and past the curious guards. He thought he heard Raff bark an order to stand down, but he couldn't be sure.
His siblings walked on either side of him, lending him their strength, knowing he had little of his own left. He felt Sverre's confidence, his pride and authority radiating from him, giving him the push he needed to do the right thing. Avalbane surrounded him with her calming influence, and her warm, loving essence that no one would have thought she possessed by simply looking at her.
"Here, wrap him in this." Sverre instructed as they arrived before the Circle, handing him his royal robes. "It will likely be winter now in his realm."
Siva nodded and stepped into the ring of energy. A rush of power ran up his legs as soon as his feet made contact with the sacred soil. Air swirled around them, the powerful magic causing it's own breeze. Gray's hair blew across his face, and the sunlight shining in through the translucent green mist around them made him appear more exquisite then ever before.
Already his bruises were all fading and the color was returning to his face. His eyes flitted beneath their lids and he made a small, weak sound so similar to that first groan he'd made the night they'd met. Falling gently to his knees, Siva touched the boy's cheek tenderly. This was goodbye, the true, final, end of their brief romance.
"Siva." Sverre urged softly from outside the portal, his voice distorted by the whirling energy and his form blurred by the spinning mists.
"Alright." He breathed, leaning over to lay the boy down. Just as he was about to slide from his arms to the dirt, Gray's hand shot out and attached purposefully to the collar of his shirt. He didn't open his eyes, or speak, but he clutched so tightly at his clothing that his knuckles whitened.
"You can't stay here." Siva growled, fighting back a sob. "I'm sorry. You can't. It hurts now, but it won't for much longer. I promise. It'll all go away."
As he pried Grayson's fingers from his collar, he placed a rough kiss upon his forehead and then hurriedly rose and stumbled backwards out of the Circle. Sverre caught him and spun him around, his blue eyes intense and teary.
"Sv-"
His inquiry was interrupted by a strong embrace. "Live well." He murmured into his hair. "I'll see you again someday, on the other side."
"What?"
The air was thrust from his lungs as his brother pushed him back into the portal, just as it was sending Grayson home. There was a flash of light and then all magic faded. Avalbane cried out at her king, and Rafferty cursed.
"What did you do?" His sister hissed, "Now he can never come home!"
"He loves that kid." Sverre defended. "His home is with him."
"How could you make that decision for him! He was going to stay here, with us! We could have all been together!"
"I know the pain of being separated from the love of your life. I can not let him go through that."
"We were going to be a family again!" She hit him in the chest, "I've waited so long and now-"
"Avalbane." He sighed, looking sadly down at her. "You know as well as I do, the Siva we love would have died the moment that boy left. He was staying because he felt he needed to. He couldn't have been happy here."
"How do you know?"
"Because Siva is selfish. What he was doing was completely against his nature. I want him to always be true to himself, even if he's a spoiled brat. That's the way we love him, and that's the way I always want to know him. Not as some bumbling shadow of a man, faking a smile for shitty nobility and crying himself to sleep every night."
"How's be going to survive?" She whispered, "How's he going to make a living?"
"Oh, I think he will figure it out."