The Return of the Lifebringer (Children of the Sun Book 3)

Kaleth sighed as he stared down at the city around him. He was leaning on the thick, golden railing that surrounded the large balcony he was standing on. Even after two decades of dealing with politicians—particularly some politicians—he still needed time to calm down afterward, otherwise he risked a pointless, childish fight, which the other side would no doubt love to engage in.

Of course, the main sources of annoyance were the two Iritharian generals, but Kaleth decided to just group the two together. They managed to give him a headache with the same level of expertise.

They had apparently taken the stance of blaming Kaleth for the recent political turmoil, which he supposed was fair. What wasn’t fair was also blaming him for causing this newest conflict. If this truly was only about him—which it wasn’t—he would have dragged it away to a desolate island in the Abyssal sea.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t enticing enough of a bait to manage that—because this wasn’t about him, he was just an added bonus. And ultimately, this was Hidarion’s choice as well, no matter what Kaleth or anyone else said. Even though Kaleth seemed to have more of an influence than anyone else, he hadn’t managed to convince Hidarion to strike first, despite the call from Teran.

Kaleth realized that it was silly to focus on personal relationships right now, but he did find it a bit unsettling that Hidarion and Teran...communicated. Thankfully neither of them knew that they shared something, besides important political positions, so this was awkward only to Kaleth. And as bad as he felt about it, he was glad Hidarion was too busy to try and talk to him right now. There were only so many longing stares Kaleth could take. Though, to be fair to Hidarion, it had been mostly worried looks instead these past couple of hours. But those weren’t that much better.

Not to mention that even though Mel hadn’t said anything, their mental bond let Kaleth know just how miserable this was making him. Once this was dealt with, Kaleth really needed to tell Hidarion to let it go.

Not that he would…. He’d had five years to get over his crush. Or was it six now? Time was so hard to keep track of, especially now that he couldn’t die of old age. Walking through the palace felt uncomfortably familiar for the most part.

Kaleth frowned. Actually, thinking about it now, he was pretty sure he and Hidarion had gotten drunk on this balcony at some point. But then again, they had gotten drunk a lot, even if usually within the realms of responsibility. Or Kaleth had gotten drunk, anyway—he had had an impressive tolerance, even then, but Iritharian liquor was on a completely different level.

Kaleth swallowed thickly as guilt slowly began to flood his heart. He knew this whole thing was his fault, but at the time, he’d had no idea that he’d been basically leading Hidarion on. In fact, he’d stayed oblivious to the man’s advances for weeks. Until…the incident.

Kaleth shut his eyes, gripping the railing so hard it bent ever so slightly. He really didn’t like how most memories he fought so hard to forget always came back to haunt him.

“Are you okay?” a voice snapped Kaleth out of his thoughts. He immediately turned his head, his mouth forming a smile before he could do anything about it.

Mel. Of course it was Mel. No longer in the form of a dragon, the Eternal had stuck his head outside, his hand gripping the golden handle tightly, as if he was ready to close the heavy, black door immediately.

“Yes,” Kaleth replied immediately. He internally groaned at his instincts. It would take a while to get rid of this reaction, but Kaleth had decided to try—because Mel deserved better. “Well, actually, no, but it’s not important right now.”

Mel’s eyes widened, and he quickly made his way towards him.

“It’s always important,” he said firmly, taking Kaleth’s hand into his own. A second later, apparently realizing what he’d just done, he blushed and almost let go, but Kaleth wrapped his fingers around Mel’s before he could.

For a second they stared into each other’s equally surprised eyes before they both leaned in, sharing a short, sweet kiss. Maybe it was good that during most of today, Mel had either been a dragon or somewhere else, because the urge to kiss him had only really registered in Kaleth’s head right now.

All he could do for a moment was to grin widely, his face flushed, and his heart beating hard. That unmistakable jab in his heart was still there though—that fear that someone had seen…. But he was so powerful, why should he care anymore? No one could stop him from loving who he wanted to, except for himself. And himself was a very easy man to beat.

Mel’s happy grins usually did all the work there. Like the one he was giving Kaleth right now. The waves of positive emotion he radiated were incredible. Oh, how Kaleth wanted to just fly back to Enoria and spend the rest of eternity in domestic bliss. But he couldn’t because of that infernal blockade.

“Yes, alright,” said Kaleth, Mel’s hand still in his, “my happiness is important. As is yours. But there is a nation-wide threat endangering Irithara, so we’ll have to prioritize that.”

Mel actually pouted at that. Kaleth had to bite the inside of his lip not to grin at how adorable that was. “I know…. I’m just so tired of fighting.”

Kaleth grimaced, stroking the back of Mel’s hand with his thumb. “I know, love. I am too.” He paused for a moment as a question began to form in his mind. “I suppose we could fly north instead and avoid—”

“No!” Mel interrupted, his eyes wide once again. “No, we can’t leave these people to be attacked. I don’t want people to die.” His eyes were watery now. Kaleth swallowed thickly. It really hurt to see that. “I just.... I wish there was a better way.” There was a moment of silence before Mel continued. “But there isn’t, so we have to fight. Have you figured out a plan?”

It was truly incredible how much Mel cared. Kaleth just wished it wouldn’t end up destroying him. Though he had been alive for over four hundred years, so he’d probably learned to handle it.

“I suppose,” Kaleth replied. “There wasn’t much of a discussion. Irithara will move its soldiers to the southern coast, and hide most of them in the forests and mountains to gain the element of surprise, though I’m not sure how effective that will be against Eternals. And I…. We will be on the front line and hopefully put an end to this before there are too many casualties.”

Kaleth looked away for a moment. He really wished he could just leave Mel here, safe for now. “There’s a lot of ground to cover, so I’ll need you to fly as fast as you can.”

Kaleth could feel Mel’s concern and fear morph into something almost like smugness. He hadn’t been aware Mel was even capable of feeling that emotion. To make things even more shocking, Mel then buried his free hand in the hair on the back of Kaleth’s head and pulled him in for another quick kiss.

After they separated, Kaleth couldn’t help but grin at him proudly. Even though Mel now looked sheepish again and was looking anywhere but at Kaleth, it was nice seeing him get a bit socially braver.

“I…I won’t fail you,” he said finally, grinning nervously. Gods, Mel was so cute when he blushed.

“You can’t,” Kaleth replied, smiling softly. That only made Mel’s face even more red. “Just…please, listen to what I say this time. I’ll try my best to protect you, but….”

Mel looked down, crossing his arms over his chest. “Sorry. I just don’t want to see you get hurt. Or worse.”

“I know, Mel,” Kaleth said, putting his hands on the Eternal’s shoulders, which made him look up again. “I don’t want that happening to you, either. But you have to trust me to deal with these situations. I’ve been doing it for years.”

His smile didn’t seem to reassure Mel all that much, but he nodded anyway. “I know, I’m sorry. I do trust you.” Then he laughed quietly. “I’ve been a soldier for centuries, I should be used to following orders.”

Kaleth did his best to hide his discomfort from Mel in that moment. As much as he didn’t seem that way at first glance, Mel had a rebellious streak. Something that had most likely caused him a lot of trouble in the past.

Kaleth winced. They had been so preoccupied with their new relationship that they had swept the handcuffs incident under the rug completely. And Kaleth would have loved nothing more than to keep it that way, but he felt he owed Mel an apology.

“I’m…sorry,” he said, and didn’t continue for long enough for Mel to quizzically stare at him.

“For what?”

“You know. The, uh, event on the subway train,” Kaleth forced out. He really hoped Mel got it because he didn’t want to talk about it ever again.

“Oh, right,” Mel replied, his eyes widening.

“Erm, did you forget about that?”

“Uh, I guess? I’ve just been so happy,” Mel replied, grinning. “It’s okay, though. I mean, I’m not happy about it, but you did just want to protect me. But if we could not do that again…?”

If Kaleth was into bad, inappropriate, awfully timed humor—and if he weren’t embarrassed by what he was into—he’d make a joke about how he’d rather if Mel handcuffed him, but he was not, so he held his tongue. Not to mention that Mel would probably not understand, and Kaleth would rather go face that blockade alone right now than to explain it to him.

“Yes, of course. I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Kaleth said, smiling sadly. Mel smiled back, though his smile was much happier, and he leaned in, kissing Kaleth’s forehead. Dating someone a little taller was apparently very nice, as it turned out.

“It’s okay, I forgive you, honey.”

Kaleth’s whole face heated up as he stared at Mel with wide eyes. And then he grinned once again, even more widely than before. “So, you’ve settled on a pet name?”

Mel flashed him an embarrassed, adorable smile. “Maybe. Do you like it?”

Well, it was a bit basic, but Mel made everything a hundred times better, so who was Kaleth to argue? “Of course.”

“Yay!” Mel cheered, wrapping his arms around him. It was amazing—and slightly horrifying—that this sweet, happy-go-lucky man was actually an Umbra assassin who had presumably killed hundreds of people. Or was he with the Umbra still? He was wearing the uniform, but that proved nothing—it was simply convenient due to the protection the armor provided.

It was also entirely possible that the Umbra, as an organization, just didn’t exist anymore. Kaleth sincerely hoped that the Umbra in Enoria weren’t causing much mayhem. As unlikely as it was, especially given that they had been unsupervised for only a week or so, it was possible. Though most of them had been in hiding for a very long time, and they usually managed to stay undetected, despite all the hard work Luxarx had put in.

“Are all your suits this soft?” Mel asked as he nuzzled Kaleth’s shoulder, and Kaleth had to take a moment to laugh.

“No, this one is Iritharian. They’re made for the weather. It’s almost a coat.”

Mel pulled away with an air of disappointment. “Oh. Well, it looks great.”

Kaleth smirked. “Thank you, love. Though I will have to put on the armor instead soon.”

“Oh, that looks great too,” Mel blurted out, his face turning deep red once again.

“Oh, it does?” Kaleth asked, his smirk growing.

Still blushing, Mel smiled at him sweetly. “You look great in everything.”

Now it was Kaleth’s turn to blush once again. And he couldn’t stop grinning either. He was really starting to feel like a teenage idiot. He supposed he had to go through this phase at least once in his life.

“T-thank you, Mel.”

“You’re welcome!” he replied, his smile radiating even more happiness.

Oh gods, it was so difficult to handle these levels of Mel-ness. He just made it so easy for Kaleth to forget about any problems they had or might have soon.

“You as well,” Kaleth said before he thought about it, and he sighed internally at his lack of eloquence. “Look good, I mean.”

“R-really? You think so?” Mel asked in utter surprise as he patted his hair, as if attempting to fix it. Had Kaleth never complimented his looks before? That couldn’t be right. Could it? Sure, Mel wasn’t the most handsome guy Kaleth had ever seen objectively, but Kaleth would change nothing about him. His amber eyes were beautiful, the hair that always fell into them was just on the right side of messy, his annoyingly infections smile always so blinding….

“Yes, you are very handsome,” Kaleth got out, forcing himself to stop there before he started reciting poems about the warm blackness of Mel’s eyebrows. He cleared his throat and looked down at the city again instead, too embarrassed to keep eye contact any longer.

Thankfully, Mel didn’t seem to take any offense, judging by how he kissed Kaleth’s cheek and grinned at him so widely that Kaleth was certain that if he tried to do that, it would physically hurt him.

“Nobody ever said that to me before,” he said, clutching at his heart, that grin still in place. Kaleth wrinkled his nose, trying to resist the urge to hunt down everyone Mel had ever met and make them pay.

Kaleth blinked, pushing that reaction aside, and quickly smiled at Mel again. “Well, they should have.”

Then they just stared at each other for a while, both blushing and seemingly unable to look away. At least Kaleth felt that way. And he didn’t want to, he truly didn’t. Although his more rational side was trying very hard to ruin the moment.

Kaleth sighed. They needed to get going as soon as possible.

“I’m sorry, but we should—”

“I know, we need to leave,” Mel finished, nodding and talking Kaleth’s hands into his own. “Where are we going?”

“Directly south,” Kaleth replied, trying to push his emotions aside so he could get into his strategy mode. “We need to make sure the enemy doesn’t reach Aleara, and if Iritharian scouts are to be believed, the aircraft concentration is the highest there. Once we fight that off, hopefully we’ll be able to go further along the coast without worrying about the capital.”

“They still haven’t moved even a bit?” Mel asked, looking adorably confused. Kaleth tried to ignore his fluttering heart as he forced himself to focus.

“No, not significantly anyway. But their numbers have been growing. No one has determined where they are coming from yet, however.” Kaleth sighed heavily, squeezing Mel’s hands a bit more tightly.

“Enor’s dead,” Mel reminded him, giving him a small but powerful smile. “And even if he isn’t, you are now more powerful than he ever was. And you killed Irif, remember?” A trickle of doubt suddenly radiated from Mel’s mind, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

“You can do this,” he continued. “We can do this. Together.”

Kaleth smiled at him, a very fond, if slightly sad smile. “You are right, love. Of course you are.”

At least that was what his heart said. His brain—not so much.

“Come on,” Kaleth said, gently tugging on Mel’s right hand as Kaleth let go of his left. “We need to talk to a few people before we leave.”