The rift that was kept open by Nua was only for special and emergency uses. Syryn's departure did not count as an emergency but considering what Nua owed to him, he was permitted to use it.

Riaku had just arrived at the Helios residence to bid goodbye to the group returning to Elysium.

"What'll happen to you, Riaku?" Syryn asked the prince.

"I'll live on. You've ensured my survival time and time again." Riaku had a wry smile on his face. Syryn and his brother had pulled him out of the mouth of death and now he owed a life debt to them.

"Nua is an ungrateful and selfish nation. You know that don't you?"

"Very much."

"You're a damn saint, Riaku."

"Not really. I wouldn't have a purpose to live for if I left Nua."

Syryn nodded and his gaze drifted to the sword. "That little bitch is what turned you into a demon."

Riaku lowered his head but didn't comment. It was enough confirmation for Syryn. "Will you ever be normal again?"

"There's no precedence for it," Riaku answered apathetically. "Like my predecessors, I'll die in a few years down the line."

That he could say something so depressing without a change in his expression, Syryn felt discomfited by it. 

"Fucking hell, Riaku. You're so morbid." Syryn was seized with the desire to kidnap the prince. Red was right. Oh god, he thought, one more point of similarity between them.

"It is what it is," the prince answered.

Syryn should have smuggled Riaku out immediately after the fight with the demons. He should have allowed the avians to believe that their prince was dead and consumed by fire.

"That's no way to live. You're a slave to Nua."

"Syryn, go home and worry about your problems," Riaku smiled. "I will worry about myself."

Riaku's gaze flickered behind Syryn and then back at the teen. "Why don't we take a walk?" His gaze was syrupy.

The teen was confused. "A walk?" Where? Why?

The prince who had been facing him came to walk beside Syryn. The teen felt Riaku's hand brush his and the realisation suddenly hit him. The dare. The prince was helping him carry out Artemus' dare. It meant that Rowan was behind them.

A thrill of excitement mixed with some small. amount of terror went down his spine. He was going to do it. Confidently, the teen slipped his hands in Riaku's. The prince cooperated by intertwining their fingers. They cut a picture of young love.

It felt illegal and wrong but oh so good. Syryn was keenly aware of a stare that was burning a hole at the back of his head.

"Your highness," Rowan's voice was a crack of a whip between the adulterous couple. "Let go of his hand."

Syryn dropped Riaku's hand like a hot cake. He had provoked the anti mage and now he wasn't brave enough to turn around immediately. What kind of an expression would Rowan have on his face? Could he just walk out of the door and disappear for a few hours?

"Turn around and look at me, Syryn." Rowan's demand shot that thought out of the air.

Syryn whirled around with a placating smile on his face and caught the pleasantly neutral canvas that was Rowan's handsome face.

"Why are the two of you holding hands like a pair of love birds?" He asked in a conversational tone but Syryn wasn't fooled by it. 

"It isn't what it looks like," Riaku answered.

Syryn gaped at the prince. That's exactly what an adulterous couple would say!

"Rowan, it's just a da-"

"Syryn," Riaku cut him off. "There's no need to explain ourselves."

The teen blinked in confusion. "There isn't?"

What was Riaku up to? Was he having fun playing games with Rowan? Did he want to get killed?

"We did nothing wrong. Does Elysium not allow hand-holding unless it's between lovers?"

Riaku was just doing as Sebastian had asked him to before the mage left Nua. Throw some fireworks between Rowan and Syryn, just enough to grease their gears. Make Syryn forget about the tragedy even if for a while.

An unnerving silence settled between them.

Rowan chuckled and it was a dark sound. "Syryn is mine. I would appreciate it if you refrained from touching him so casually."

"Is that true?" Riaku turned to the teen.

"Rowan doesn't touch me enough," Syryn said with a wicked lift of his lips. "I'm convinced I have to look elsewhere for-"

"That's enough, Syryn. We're leaving now." Rowan's words were clipped.

"No."

The anti mage raised his brows. "No?" It sounded like a threat.

Syryn was not going to tolerate Rowan's nonsense about waiting to remember the past before they did the deed. He wanted to get laid and he would get it even if he had to push the man with a bit of jealousy.

"You can't tell me what to do. I'm not leaving with you." His voice almost shook from his nerves when he said it. Rowan's expression was getting darker and darker. Bossy Rowan. Rowan who thought Syryn would obey him without question.

"If that's what you want, I won't stop you."

Syryn wasn't surprised by Rowan's declaration. He was the biggest vinegar pot but never a controlling partner.

"I'll see you in Elysium a month later, Rowan. Take Lucien with you. I don't want him to get in the way of my merry-making."

The anti mage had ceased all pretences of agreeability. His eyes narrowed. "Merrymaking with the prince of Nua?"

Syryn shrugged. "I have to get my honey from somewhere since you're not giving up any."

"You know how it is, Ryn. I can't."

"I don't care! What does sex have to do with feelings? Strangers fuck all the time and move on. I don't care what you did. While you fret about the past, your present Syryn is going to get some from another man!" The teen ranted.

"Fine."

"I knew you'd- what? Really?" Syryn's eyes went wide.

"Step into the room with me for a minute, Syryn," Rowan's smile was pleasant.