Uriel and Dazien were still awake in their inn room having an emergency Heart Check. After Uriel recounted the rest of his ascension with the Destroyer’s visit, Daze surprised him by going into much more detail about his own time in captivity.

  He wasn’t sure if he should be proud or concerned about his partner for doing that so soon. It had been months before he had been able to talk with Priest Jacob about what he had gone through in more detail, but Dazien was talking as if saying it aloud was expelling the memory from him.

  Uriel struggled to keep his emotions under control and had wished the anger regulating item had been in that dimensional bag Teal had made for him, but the merchant had been clear that some things would take longer to make than others simply because of the workload Miss Teal currently had on her plate.

  Listening to Daze recount how they had cut his hair, drugged him, and forced him to bed with and feed that Vampire cultist made his blood boil. His partner didn’t seem as phased by it though, reciting events as if he was giving a report and Uriel couldn’t help but wonder if Daze was actually disassociating from the events.

  Priest Jacob had talked with him about that kind of thing. He had a working theory that Uriel would do it when his berserking Talent triggered like it often had when he fought in the Rings. When he described not being in control and feeling like he was watching from a distance, Jacob had mentioned it was a coping mechanism for traumatic events.

  The way Daze looked like he cared more about Uriel not sitting next to him instead of the vile things that had happened to him, helped support Uriel’s own theory on it. He wasn’t a mind mender, though, so he silently listened to the summarized list of events before asking, “Are you sure you’re okay now?”

  Daze finally seemed to sink slightly and quietly say, “No, but I don’t want to let them win. I agree with what Phoenix said, I need to remember that I survived instead of dwelling on being a victim.”

  “That just makes me feel like I need to apologize for my own years of dwelling,” he replied with a poor attempt at levity.

  “Honestly, I think being there beside you to see exactly what that road looks like is what’s giving me the strength to try a different path,” Dazien said, smiling softly as he stood to sit next to him instead of across on the other bed.

  Daze took his gloved hand and squeezed it tightly as he added, “I don’t want to be a hypocrite and not follow the advice I’ve been pouring on you for years. I won’t let this define me. I won’t let it keep me away from the people I love and care for.”

  Uriel frowned and lowered his hood with his free hand to get a better look at his partner, “I get that, King. I do understand that you want to stay together, but to be honest I just don’t see how things can return to how they were. Not because of you but because of my power. I don’t want to hurt you and I know how important touching is to you in your relationships. Unless that has changed, you won’t… I don’t think you’ll want to be with me anymore.”

  Dazien frowned at him, “I’m not going to leave you over that. We can figure it out—”

  He scoffed, “You’re starting to sound like Phoenix.”

  “She’s right in this case.”

  “I don’t think—”

  Their conversation was interrupted by a soft knock at the door that made both of them tense but Phoenix’s aura coming from the other side of the door had them both relax a moment later. Uriel glanced at his partner and asked, “Should I tell her we’re still busy?”

  “No. We can talk more later. Like Emrys said, there’s no rush, right?”

  “Right,” Uriel agreed as he stood to go open the door but paused as he glanced back and admitted, “You know, it’s odd, but now that you mention Emrys I wanted to ask if you got good vibes from him, too? He made me feel strangely comfortable around him.”

  “He seemed nice,” Dazien said, getting a thoughtful expression, “He’s definitely well off, and I get what you mean about the good vibes, but I don’t think I know enough about him yet to say what I think definitively.”

  As Uriel opened the door, his eyes went wide as Phoenix stood there, wild curls everywhere, and barely dressed in a plain white nightgown that barely fell to her thighs. “Um, Princess?” he asked, averting his eyes to glance back at a confused-looking Dazien, “Is something wrong?”

  She gave an annoyed huff, before stalking through the entrance to take the place he had been sitting to hug Dazien as she mumbled, “I just had the weirdest dream and panicked slightly that I might have dreamt finding Daze, too.”

  Dazien chuckled and wrapped his arms around her in return. “I’m really here,” he murmured into her hair, and Uriel took the chance to sit on the other bed away from the pair.

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  They fell into a comfortable silence as the siblings simply held each other, and Uriel was simply happy to see both of them again. Despite all of their worries and problems still needing answered, for now everything felt better simply because they were together.

  “Hey, I had an idea earlier,” Phoenix finally said, “I was wondering if we could go back to see Teal and ask if she could put some gold thread in Uriel’s torc? That way he’s recognizing your relationship while also warning other people not to touch him?”

  Dazien glanced over at him, a mixture of hope and caution as he said, “That’s up to Uriel. I’m not going to tell him what to wear in this regard.”

  Uriel contemplated that for a moment, wondering if it might be better to try distancing himself from Dazien in this way just to dissuade him from trying to touch him again and getting hurt, but the look that had been on Dazien’s face earlier from him pushing him away had him say, “We can do that. I’m not trying to abandon Daze; I’m just trying to keep him safe.”

  The thought of that odd tailor reminded him of another thing he needed to talk with both Waylands about, “By the way, we all need to have a bit of a Heart Check regarding finances specifically.”

  Both of them looked at him in confusion and he clarified, “I don’t feel comfortable with either of you outright buying me expensive items. Daze, I know you and I have already had this kind of conversation when we started living together, but we were always making roughly the same amount of Bits as each other. You’re a noble now though and making quite a bit more than I am but also Phoenix doesn’t seem to have any concept of managing spending habits.”

  Dazien slowly turned to look at Phoenix and seemed to gulp as he asked, “You told me to blame Rayna for the rooms, but exactly how much have you spent since arriving here?”

  “Oh come on, I haven’t even bought anything to do with crafting this time,” she retorted gesturing towards Uriel, “He suddenly and urgently needed clothes and a whole bunch of other Void-resistant stuff that we only found a single Tailor in the entire city capable of making!”

  “That bag is worth at least ten Emerald Bits, Phoenix,” Uriel stated flatly, “That’s not including all the bedding and casual wear that was in it.”

  Dazien looked almost horrified by the statement before schooling his expression and pulling away to try and help him explain, “Okay, while I agree with you that he needed the clothing, we need to have a talk about financial codependency and how being too generous can actually make the other person feel worse.”

  “But you get him gifts all the time!”

  “Yes, but I’m not skewing the balance of our relationship by doing so. I’m not buying him all of his equipment or—”

  “Gifting me a bag full of Spirit Gems?” Uriel interjected, leveling a pointed gaze at Dazien instead.

  “Hey, that was Patricia—”

  “I’m still going to refuse it unless you let me pay for it, King,” he stated, not planning to be swayed on this point. “I have been working and fighting and saving up my Bits to be able to take care of myself and earn my place. I don’t want either of you trying to take that away from me. I understand that you both are just trying to help because you care about me, but I’m going to limit you both to only appropriate holiday gifts and loans for more time-sensitive things like the Spirit Gems, just like you helped with Daze’s shards to summon Rex earlier on.”

  “I need to summon him again,” Dazien said, obviously just reminded of that, “I really hope the shards are cheaper here, but I shouldn’t need a loan this time either way.”

  He leveled his gaze on Phoenix, and offered a gentle smile as he said, “I’m grateful that you wanted to help and I’m not angry at you for it this time, but it won’t make me happy if you keep doing it, Princess. You understand that, right?”

  She nodded and asked, “Another one of those boundaries you have?”

  “Exactly,” he replied, and Daze smiled at that as well. “So, I’m going to pay you back for the bag and clothes, and I don’t want you to complain about it… or go off and spend it on more things for me.”

  She gave a heavy sigh, but thankfully agreed. “Fine, but then you need to explain what counts as an ‘appropriate’ holiday gift, because I’m totally going to use that and say the bag was for Winter’s Break, which we all missed spending together.”

  He and Dazien glanced at one another, realizing that they had lost track of the date, and he wasn’t sure if he should spoil the surprise by asking Daze if he still had their gifts in his [Armory]. Cautiously, Dazien asked, “Exactly what date is it? Some of my time was… well I was unconscious for quite a bit of my journey here, so I’m not exactly sure how long it’s been.”

  “It’s the 6th of Covlun,” Phoenix answered for them and they both winced at the knowledge they had both missed another important life milestone.

  “Just wait right here for a few minutes,” Dazien quickly replied as he stood and conjured his [Armory] door a couple meters away. Before entering he turned and warned Phoenix with a raised finger, “And no coming in to peek!”

  She just stared after Daze in confusion before vanishing through the portal and turned back to Uriel to ask, “Is there something about today that I’m forgetting?”

  He smirked and shook his head. “No, we just realized we’re late.”

  “Late for what?”

  “For giving you this,” Dazien answered as he returned and sat back down beside her with a small box. “This is for you from both Uriel and I. We both pitched in to get it made for you.”

  She raised a brow and asked, “For Winter’s Break?”

  Dazien shook his head. “No, we’ll do those gifts when everyone is together. This is to celebrate you.”

  When she still looked confused, Uriel smiled and said, “Happy nineteenth birthday, Princess.”

  Phoenix blinked at them for a moment before chuckling and admitting, “I totally forgot that was on the 1st of the month. I remembered beforehand but have been so busy since arriving in the city that it totally slipped my mind.”

  “Well, now we get to surprise you at least. So open your gift,” Dazien said. Both Uriel and Phoenix chuckled at his obvious excitement that he knew they had both missed.

  She opened the box, giving a small gasp, before rolling her eyes and saying, “You two seriously bought me a tiara?”

  Both of them grinned broadly as Dazien proudly exclaimed, “A magical one befitting our Princess.”