Gabriel needed out. Out of these fancy halls and tame gardens, out of the room where the Queen he had searched for was sitting vigil by the bedside of his uncle, and out of sight of all the people he had failed to protect. He wanted to see Saiph, to hold the sane and not mortal-danger-prone of his two Queens. More than that, he wanted to see his son. These last months were the longest Gabriel had ever been without the boy and after so much loss he just had to make sure that he hadn’t lost that which was most precious to him. The weight of anxiety would not lift from his chest, he was sure, until he could bury his face in those sweet curls and hug the boy until Sam managed to wiggle out of his grip.

There was little more he could do here. They would be leaving in a few days for Askavi and Gabe needed out for long enough to hopefully, work up the nerve to tell Elenor that he couldn’t stay by her side. With her, everything he had promised himself he would never do again was just too easy and in a way, the arrival of that Ebon Gray bastard had made Gabriel’s decision easier. He wasn’t the only one standing between Elenor and death… only miles and ignominy would do that now.

She had lost… and that was the end of it.

Hopefully, Elenor realized it too.

Gabriel’s steps towards the Landing Web slowed as he saw the familiar form of Cassius standing on a street corner by the Landing Web with a pack over his shoulder. The Warlord Prince’s brow furrowed and he walked towards the other man. “Going somewhere? I thought you were just waiting for the right time to go see your Queen..”

What other destination could the Prince have?

The ache in Gabe’s own chest answered. “Oh,” he said, taking the next logical step. “You’re going for your daughter, aren’t you?” When Cas confirmed his suspicion, Gabriel came to a snap decision. “I’ll come with you. A father shouldn’t be parted from his child. I know how much that hurts and it’s about time that something good come of this… year.”

After all, wasn’t this all his fault? Hadn’t it all started when he had pinned Aurav up against a wall and told him to never hunt Elenor down? Wasn’t that why he had contracted someone even Darker than Gabe to do it and unknowingly given Shira the very tool she needed to win the war? Gabriel would never be able to pay that Price but perhaps he could do a little good and when the time came for Mother Night to weight his soul she wouldn’t be… quite so pissed.

“Elenor has a lot of people to protect her here and as far as we know no one is coming after her because they all think she’s dead.” He had to, for half a second, and the way his heart had all but stopped in that moment was enough to fuel at least a thousand years of nightmares. While part of him desperately wanted to glue himself to her side, especially now that it was confirmed that she was pregnant, he needed air more.

Because Kia was by Elenor’s side, and because it was Michael in that bed.

“You’ll need someone to watch your back and I can get you there and back fast if something goes wrong. We can do in hours what it would have taken you weeks to accomplish and I’ll be able to burn off at least a little steam. Besides… I didn’t like the people she was with and I don’t like the thought of them telling her lies about her dad. You’re a decent fellow and that’s… well, it’s just a shitty situation. She cares for you and should know that you do in return and that you didn’t abandon her.”

Gabe would never be able to forgive himself if his own child ever thought that, how could Cas? “I was already headed out of here to go see my own spawn. We can hit Hayll first, then I can either drop you off back here or you can come and meet the surly demon I love with all my heart.”

Because Sam was many things, most of which, at the moment, were teenager.

Gabe nodded at the wisdom in Cassius’s way of seeing it. It was true, there was a measure of rebirth in all this destruction, at least as far as Elenor was concerned, though it worried him that of the two men who were most likely the father of her child one was unconscious still and the Healers weren’t sure he would wake and the other… well, Matin had made a choice to stay behind for the boys who had been kidnapped and to protect his betrothed. It was an honorable choice Gabriel would not fault him for, but it was also a foolish one. The boy would get himself killed and might never even know about Elenor.

But that was a problem for another day.

For now, Gabe got them to the Landing Web and took to the Winds. The roar of them was a soothing comfort to the Warlord Prince and did more to ease his nerves than any amount of booze (which would have been the only other reasonable alternative today).

As soon as they stepped onto Hayllian soil, Gabriel called in his long, worn and patched brown leather coat and slipped it over his shoulders. It was cool here unlike Pruul where even the winters were warm in the middle of the day. He had felt naked without it but now that it was on his shoulders and he couldn’t feel the blistering heat through only thin linen on skin marred with burn scars it was easier to relax.

“Alright, so what’s the plan? This is her estate, right?” Gabe had erected sight and aural shield before he had dropped them from the winds so none of the people working near the Landing Pad had noticed their arrival.