The Return of the Gods (Children of the Sun Book 1)

Nira couldn’t believe this. She was walking through a mansion owned by a Garen. Out of all the remaining noble families in Enoria, Kaleth Areon just had to be a member of that one. She doubted any two families hated each other more than hers and Kaleth’s. The fact that it had been him who helped her leave Irithara…. Nira didn’t believe that was just a coincidence. In fact, now that she thought about it, it almost felt like someone ordered Kaleth to get her here just to spite the queen.

“Who needs this much space?” Rayni commented, looking around as they came across yet another huge room. There was some furniture in this one, unlike the ones they had seen before, but it was just a few bookcases containing no books, a table with a few chairs, and a couch. At least half of the room was filled with cardboard boxes of various sizes, each one labeled. The words books and photos were on a lot of them.

“No one needs it,” muttered Kara, still sounding angry. She had been since Kaleth had left.

Nira couldn’t say she particularly enjoyed hanging out with secret agents, but so far they didn’t seem like they wanted to interrogate her, so she supposed she didn’t have to be so cautious. They had probably known about her for a long time anyway, so if they wanted something from her, she would have met them much sooner. Besides, from what she’d gathered, these people seemed to be fighting against the Umbra, which was still all kinds of crazy, but if dragons were real, she was willing to accept it.

“Let’s just wait here. I doubt we’ll have to stay here for long, anyway,” Alor said. When no one said anything against the idea, he sat down on the couch and rubbed his eyes. Nira was once again reminded that Alor hadn’t slept in over a day. How was he still functioning?

“All right. Maybe there’s something interesting around here,” Rayni said, heading over to the boxes.

Nira looked to her left when she felt a tap on her shoulder, knowing even before she looked that it would be Nef because he was the only person close enough to touch her at the moment. Her boyfriend nodded towards the door behind them.

Nef looked like he was trying really hard to hide that he was nervous, which told Nira all she needed to know about the conversation they were about to have. She’d been dreading this since she had met him, but she was trying to stay hopeful. After all, he hadn’t broken up with her yet. Maybe he wasn’t going to, and they would somehow get past this.

Nira nodded at Nef in reply and followed him outside the room, shutting the door behind her. She took in the almost bare corridor absently, not feeling up to looking Nef in the eye at the moment. The mansion had been making her feel a little wistful, but she only now realized why. Despite the many differences, in a lot of ways, the décor of the house was similar to what the royal palace looked like back home, and Nira would be lying if she said she didn’t miss it.

“I, uh, I think we got some stuff to talk about,” Nef said, although he didn’t sound like he wanted to talk about any of this. That let Nira relax, if only a little, as she finally turned her gaze to her boyfriend.

“Yeah,” she replied with a sigh. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before Nef coughed into his hand. After another moment, he finally spoke.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Nira winced and closed her eyes. He didn’t even look angry, just hurt and confused, like he couldn’t understand why Nira would keep her origin from him. She hated seeing that look on Nef’s face, but she didn’t know what to tell him without making it worse.

Nira sighed sadly. She couldn’t lie to him. Lies were what had started this whole dilemma, and Nef wouldn’t take some lame excuse for an answer, so the only thing she could do was explain to him as best as she could why she hadn’t told him who she was.

“If our situations were reversed, would you have told me?”

“Yeah, of course!’ Nef said immediately.

“Are you sure? If you were from Irithara and knew how much Enorians dislike your people and what would happen if anyone told the police, would you still tell me?”

Nef was quiet for a moment. “Well, sure, maybe I wouldn’t tell you immediately, but I would find the time to mention it over the span of five years.”

Nira didn’t let his accusing tone get to her and continued. “What if I didn’t like your people and didn’t exactly keep that fact to myself?”

“Well, then I would probably—wait, are you saying I’m racist?” Now he sounded offended. Nira wasn’t sure if she preferred that to the sadness.

“Not racist, just a bit prejudiced,” Nira replied, trying to soften the blow, but judging by Nef’s insulted expression, it did very little to reassure him. “It’s not like you’re wrong—there’s plenty of bad people in Irithara. But there are bad people in Enoria, too.”

“Okay, great,” said Nef sarcastically, running a hand through his hair, “so you didn’t tell me ’cause you thought I’d hate you, or something?”

“No, no, I didn’t think that, just….”

“Just what?” Nef exclaimed.

Nira sighed again. “I thought you wouldn’t want to be with me anymore.”

There was a long pause which Nef spent by staring at Nira with bewilderment and surprise. “What, that’s it?”

“Did you expect something else?” Nira asked, unable not to feel a little annoyed at his reaction.

“Uh, yeah. I guess I just assumed there was more to it than that,” Nef said, frowning in thought before his expression brightened again. “But we’re okay now, right? We don’t need to yell at each other anymore?”

You were the one yelling, Nira thought but was too stunned to say anything at that moment. Nef was okay with this. How was he okay with this?

“You’re okay with me being…well, who I am? You don’t feel angry or betrayed about being lied to?”

Nef shrugged. “Well, I can’t say I like being lied to, especially from you, but I lied to you about helping those guys,” he said, pointing at the door behind him with his thumb. “So, it would be pretty hypocritical of me to hold it against you.”

Nef was acting very mature about this. Nira didn’t get to see that side of him very often, and she was immensely glad to hear him say this.

“Besides, I think it’s kinda cool. I mean, how many people can say they’ve dated a princess?”

And the maturity was gone. Although, she supposed that Nef’s immaturity was a part of his charm and the main reason why he made her laugh.

He was grinning at her, and she had to grin back. She was hugging him before she even realized she had done so. Nira was just so relieved. It was hard to believe that it had been so easy after so many years of being too afraid to tell him.

Maybe Nef was right, and she thought about things too much.

“You realize I have like a billion questions right now, right?”

Nira chuckled into Nef’s shoulder. She was so happy she had to blink a few times to stop herself from crying. Nef knew who she was, and nothing had changed between them. Even after repeating that in her head several times, it still sounded unreal.

“Go on then, ask,” Nira said, pulling away, still unable to stop smiling. Not that she wanted to.

“Okay, first question, hm,” Nef muttered, apparently trying to decide what to ask about first. “Oh, I know. Why did you even leave Irithara? I mean, I can think of a bunch of reasons why a person wouldn’t want to stay there, but being royalty, that’s gotta be a pretty nice gig, right?”

She had seen this question coming, but she didn’t expect Nef to ask it this soon.

“I don’t think I’m cut out for it,” Nira replied after a small pause. “I mean, imagine me running a country.” She laughed a little at how absurd it sounded to her but stopped when she saw Nef’s confused look.

“Why would that be so crazy?”

“Uh, because I’m not a leader, for one thing?”

Nef didn’t seem convinced by that either.

“Sure you are. I’d follow ya,” he said, smirking slightly. Nira couldn’t help but smile, even though she was pretty sure he was only kidding. It was a nice thought, regardless.

“Even after I lied to you?” She had said it before she could stop herself and immediately regretted bringing it up again. That is until she saw Nef roll his eyes and smirk.

“You’re still talking about that?” he asked with mock annoyance, and Nira grinned. How could she not love this silly, brilliant man?

“Okay, so you didn’t want to rule,” Nef said, getting back to his question as he sat down on the carpet, leaning against the wall. Nira decided to do that as well because her legs have been aching since she had gotten out of the car and sat down next to him. “But why move to Enoria of all places? That’s like the most dangerous place you could have gone to.”

“I didn’t have much choice. I talked with Mr. Gar—Areon once, and about a month later I was flying away with fake credentials and a limitless credit card.”

During her explanation, Nef’s eyebrows slowly rose, until they went back down, forming a scowl.

“You have a limitless credit card? Y’know, you could have told me that sooner. I don’t like being financially responsible. Or having a job.”

And now he was pouting. Nira had to utilize all her willpower not to laugh at him. She supposed she did feel guilty for making Nef think that he had to do something he didn’t enjoy to get money, but she couldn’t have told him before now.

“If I told you, you’d want to know why I had it, and I don’t think I could talk myself out of that,” Nira replied, smiling a bit sadly. Nef didn’t say anything, which in these types of situations usually meant that he saw her point and didn’t want to say that out loud. “I’m not sure where the money comes from. Maybe it’s better that I don’t. Anyway, I don’t think it’ll work for much longer because I probably got it from that government agency, and they….”

She left the rest of the sentence unsaid, mostly because it was still so hard for her to accept the fact that the Flare was gone. So many people must have died. She just hoped her mother wasn’t behind it.

“Hey, it’s cool. Mr. Privileged gave me a bunch of money, remember? We’ll be fine.”

Nira watched Nef for a while, as she tried to decide if he knew who Kaleth was or not. She knew he didn’t know that much about history, but he had to know this, right? It was important.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Nef asked, raising an eyebrow. Nira looked away.

“Um, what do you know about the Garens?” she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible, but her boyfriend seemed a bit suspicious now. Like he thought she was testing him. Which she kind of was, to be fair.

“Just that they’re a noble family from Imbera, and they’re really rich. What else is there to know?” Then Nef narrowed his eyes. “Are they from Irithara, too?”

Nira snorted at how preposterous that was. If it were true, she’d pay good money to see everyone in her family react to finding out about it. She could almost picture their outrage.

“So not from Irithara. What then?” So he really didn’t know. Maybe Enorian schools weren’t as good as she’d thought.

“The Garen family ruled Enoria until you guys won the fight for democracy,” Nira explained and smirked a bit at how Nef’s eyes widened. He looked like his mind had just been blown. She felt kind of proud of herself. Putting such an expression on Nef’s face wasn’t an easy task.

“What? The kings didn’t have last names,” Nef protested, and Nira felt the urge to slap her forehead.

“What do you think their dynasty was called?”

He said nothing to that, just opened and closed his mouth a few times. “Wow. So, I know a princess and a prince. Awesome.”

Nef got over his shock sooner than Nira had expected, but she supposed after finding out about Nira’s origin and seeing an actual dragon, not much could stun him for long. The Garens technically weren’t kings or princes since there was no such thing in Enoria anymore, but Nira decided not to correct Nef about it.

Something was bothering her about the whole thing, though. She’d thought she knew everything about Kaleth’s family, but she hadn’t known Kaleth had existed. And he didn’t even call himself Garen. She wondered what that was about.

“So, what’s your real name again?” Nef asked, making Nira focus on him again. She shook her head a little, knowing that this wouldn’t be the only time he asked this question, but she didn’t mind. She’d had enough time to get used to Nef’s selectively horrible memory when it came to names to be able to deal with it without getting too annoyed.

“Niraderia the Fourth,” she answered, and he whistled, pulling out his phone. “If you’re trying to find me on the internet—”

“Nah, I’m just writing it down,” he said, cutting her off. Well, maybe she had been wrong, and this would be the only time he asked, but he could still lose the phone, so nothing was certain yet. Once he was finished with the phone, he put it away and looked at her again with a curious look. “Your name’s popular then?” Nira raised an eyebrow, not getting what he was talking about. “I mean, three queens before you had the same name, right?”

Nira let out a laugh, grinning at Nef fondly. “You don’t know much about Irithara, do you?”

“Why is that surprising? I don’t know all that much about Enoria either, Your Highness,” he teased, grinning back. Nira sighed. She had known Nef would start calling her that, eventually. It would be stranger if he hadn’t.

“Oh, shut up,” she muttered, laughing quietly and putting her head on his shoulder. It seemed it was up to her to educate him about her home. Nira couldn’t say that she minded that much. “My country is almost six thousand years old, so having four monarchs with the same name isn’t something rare. There have been fifteen Sidarias.”

Saying her mother’s name made her feel weird—fearful, resentful, guilty, but also kind of homesick. This was why Nira usually pretended that she hadn’t had a life before Enoria. Whenever she thought about it, she felt like the most selfish person in the world for turning her back on her home.

She noticed that Nef was staring at her, but before she could ask what was up, he told her himself. “The last twenty-four hours really happened, didn’t they?”

Nira wasn’t sure if the question was rhetorical or not, but she nodded anyway. Maybe Nef needed someone to tell him that all of it had actually happened and that it wasn’t just a dream, insanity, or whatever else Nef was thinking.

“Well, shit,” he said in reply. Nira had to admit that it was a pretty good summary of the current situation. “It’s just,” he spoke again, shaking his head, “two days ago life was so much simpler. All I had to do was study and show up at school from time to time. And now there are dragons, and my brother’s a secret agent which he forgot to mention to me, and you’re a princess, and apparently, someone wants to kill me!”

Nira hadn’t thought that her life was ever simple, so only after hearing Nef say this, she truly realized how much he was dealing with. She tried to think of something to say that would help him but gave up on the idea pretty soon. What could she possibly tell him? His entire world had just fallen apart.

So instead of saying anything, she hugged him. She smiled to herself when she felt Nef put his arms around her as well and put his chin on her shoulder. Nef had always preferred actions to words when it came to these things, so this was much more useful than anything she could say right now.

Since neither of them wanted to let go, they just stayed like this for a few more minutes until the door swung open. They quickly separated after that and glared up at Rayni who was looking at them with an amused smirk.

“Hate to ruin your moment, but we’ve got another problem, and we kinda need to walk through here,” she said, waiting for them to get up. The smile she had worn just a second ago had lost most of its sincerity. Nira had known her for only a couple of hours, and even she knew that the problem she had mentioned must have been really major to stop her from joking.

“Who died?” Nef snorted, folding his arms, obviously not realizing that it was kind of inappropriate to say right now.

“Like four thousand people,” replied Rayni, throwing her arms up and walking away. Kara soon followed, but she didn’t even look at them as she passed them. There was a scowl on her face.

“Um, Al, what’s going on?” asked Nira when the man in question showed up. Alor didn’t seem like he wanted to tell them anything, but then he just gave up and sighed tiredly.

“Just come with. You’ll find out.”

Nira watched Alor walk away from them for a few seconds before looking at Nef with a raised eyebrow. She was torn between wanting to know what had happened and not being sure if she really wanted to know it. Nef didn’t seem hesitant at all though and immediately went after his brother, looking intrigued. Nira shook her head before running after her boyfriend, unable to not feel at least the tiniest bit fond. Someone had to keep an eye on him in case he wanted to do something stupid, and she had taken up that mantle a long time ago.