“I didn’t ask to be saved!” Rao roared, his lion firing his blood. “I didn’t tell him to pick me. He destroyed our family.”
Riley absorbed his outburst just like an older sister would … with no reaction at all. She shook her head as she reached for her coffee, taking a long sip. “Put yourself in his position,” Riley said.
“Why?” Rao muttered. “I know who I would have chosen.”
“Do you?” Riley asked, her eyes coming up to fix on Rao’s. Her gaze was hard, her expression unyielding. “Are you sure you know what you would have done?”
Rao hesitated. For the first time in his life, he thought about it and really tried to imagine the details. It had always been too traumatic for him to contemplate. Seconds were ticking by, and the lives of everyone you love were hanging in the balance.
His fight with the crab added an edge of immediacy to his thoughts.What would I have done?He really didn’t know.
“It doesn’t matter what you would have chosen,” Riley said gently. “Just understand how difficult that decision was for Jagi. Then, after he saved you, you pushed him away and never wanted to see him again. Imagine the pain he’s in. He lost his mother and father too. Then he lost you, the one person in the world who was so important to him. He chose you over his own parents.”
“Why do you have to make so much sense?” Rao muttered.
Riley laughed softly. “It’s what I do.”
Silence fell between them as Riley helped herself to more coffee. Rao took a few cookies, the sweet, buttery flavor calming his nerves.
“You shut your heart away so you wouldn’t have to mourn,” Riley said. “Holding on to Jagi was too frightening for you. I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, Rao, that this is really stupid. Your brother is alive and right here on Nova Aurora. Both of you are suffering, and you don’t have to.”
Riley paused for another sip of coffee, making sure that Rao was paying attention to her. “You’ve wasted so much time, Rao. Please don’t waste any more.”
Rao felt a powerful wave of emotion flow through him. There was regret in it, and also grief, but it was also somehow sweet. He’d been grieving this whole time for Jagi, and Riley was right. He didn’t have to. Instead of protecting his heart, he’d imprisoned it.
He could free them both. He could end the pain if only he had the strength.
“You can’t help Lexi overcome her fear of Nova Aurora until you face your brother,” Riley said. “You need to be brave and truly put yourself out there. You have to be willing to heal the wound, Rao … only then can you help her with hers.”
“What if it doesn’t heal,” Rao whispered. “What if he wants nothing to do with me, and all these years between us have left too much hurt for us to ever reconcile.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Riley said. “You just have to be willing to heal it. That’s where the courage part comes in. I really doubt that Jagi will turn you away, but you have to be willing to accept the possibility that he won’t reciprocate.”
“Well, this sucks,” Rao muttered, frowning. Riley laughed softly.
“It will help Lexi, I promise you.”
“I don’t see how. Reconciling with my brother is very different from getting attacked by a crab monster.”
“Is it?” Riley asked. Rao thought about the emotional implications and realized talking to his brother was potentially a lot more painful.
“I’ve been avoiding talking to him for so long,” Rao said, sighing. “The longer I went without doing it, the less likely it was that I’d ever do it. The chasm between us grew until it was so wide and deep that it looked impossible to cross. You think that’s what’s happening with Lexi?”
Riley nodded. “She’s reluctant to leave the castle now, but if it goes on, she’ll be just as trapped as you. For the same reason too. Unfounded fear.”
Rao didn’t want Lexi trapped like that, not ever. Even though his brother and a crab monster were very different, the prison of fear was exactly the same.
“Okay,” he said, nodding. “I’m ready to do it. It’s time to face this. Can I put you in charge of organizing the visit and inviting Jagi?”
“Why don’t you travel to him?” Riley suggested. “Take Lexi with you. Tell her that there is something you need to do. Something that scares you, and you’ll need her by your side. Then she’ll have to be brave enough to leave the castle.”
“I think that could be a waste of our final date,” Rao said doubtfully. Riley shook her head.
“No, trust me. It’s perfect. I know it’s exactly what you both need. It will be better than any fireworks show you can put on.”
“Really?” Rao said, cracking a smile. “There might still be fireworks.”
Riley wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “The good kind, I hope.”