"Glad you're back," Kiki said the moment Rhyn stepped through the portal back into the Immortals' fortress in the French Alps. The modern stone castle was warmer than the underworld had been. Cheerful, bright sunshine drifted through the windows of the study where Rhyn routinely went to meet his brother.
"What's up, Kiki?"
"Do you, uh, want to change first?" Kiki asked.
"Nope." Rhyn sheathed the sword at his back and placed his hands on his hips, waiting.
Kiki, the most practical and semi-loyal of his half-brothers, carried his usual iPad and was casually dressed in jeans and a sweater. He looked over Rhyn's bloodied, torn clothing critically but said nothing else about it.
"There have been a couple of changes while you were gone," he started.
"Changes? In what? Three days?" Rhyn asked skeptically.
"It's been eight here. The first is … well, you were voted off the Council."
Rhyn stared at him.
"Second, you were also voted into exile," Kiki continued with his normal crisp, factual delivery.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Rhyn demanded. "How can you vote the head of the Council out when he's not even there?"
"That's precisely why you were voted out," Kiki replied calmly. "The Council felt you were abandoning your duties to the Immortals by going to the underworld for a friend. There were convincing arguments about needing someone here who was more stable."
"Wait a minute. There were two members of the Council that stayed behind. You and that chicken shit, Tamer, who was supposed to be in the underworld with me! You both were here while Andre and I were in the underworld, which means at most, the vote was tied two-two. You can't kick me out with a tied vote."
"It was three-two," Kiki said.
"Three? Did Erik come back from the dead-dead?"
"Wynn."
Rhyn went still, senses heightening. "I knew I should've killed that fucker when he showed up here."
"That fucker is our father," Kiki reminded him. "He brought up some good points about needing to rebuild the Immortal warrior corps and reclaiming the territory we lost recently because of the demon attacks."
"Tell me you didn't turn it over to him."
"He should make a good leader." The words sounded forced, and Kiki appeared uncomfortable uttering them.
Something is really off about this. "What the fuck is going on, Kiki? Really. Exile?"
"Temporary exile, if you prefer to call it that."
Coldness slithered through Rhyn. He'd left his mate and hatchling here in the fortress, the safest place for them to be.
Unless Wynn was in charge.
"Where's Katie?" Rhyn took a step towards him.