Maya paused.

Then, with perfect softness and absolutely no loyalty whatsoever, she shook her head.

Phei’s eyes widened.

Maya moved to Phei’s side, slipped her arm around his and hugged it with the innocent confidence as though she was about to commit social murder in public.

"He hoards all your affection," she said, tilting her face toward Mother with a tragic little sigh. "He did not want to share your affection with me."

Mother’s eyes narrowed.

Phei stared down at the traitor attached to his arm.

Maya shrugged, then snickered softly against his side.

"Young man," Mother said.

Phei straightened.

That tone was lethal.

That tone had probably disciplined kings in another life.

"Tell me Maya is lying."

"Of course she is lying," Phei said immediately, with the confidence of a man choosing survival. "I told her exactly as you said."

"Liar," Maya said.

"Liar," Mother said at the exact same time.

The word landed in perfect unison.

Maddie burst out laughing — and the sound, when it came, had an edge of relief under it that only Phei was close enough to catch, it was like Maddie was grabbing onto something warm because the cold thing she could not name had just walked too near.

She covered it well. She always did.

But she pushed off her car and came toward the group as she laughed, as if proximity to the noise and the light might keep the wrongness behind her where it belonged.

Brian, who had finally recovered enough from losing the race to enjoy someone else suffering, leaned against his blue Perrari with a grin so wide it deserved punishment. Diana covered her mouth, eyes curved. Cassiopeia’s smile was small but unmistakably entertained. Even the airport staff, trained by money to become furniture when necessary, suddenly found the polished ground fascinating.

Phei looked betrayed by the universe.

"Mother," he said, pointing at Maya with wounded dignity, "are you seriously siding with Maya just because she bought you a car?"

Maya’s eyes sparkled.

Mother lifted her chin. "She was thoughtful."

"What about me? Your son?" Phei spread his arms. "I bought you a car too."

Mother looked unimpressed in the very specific way mothers looked unimpressed when sons tried to bring receipts into emotional court.

Phei turned desperately. "Maddie."

Maddie did not disappoint.

"Oh, he did more than that," she said brightly, stepping closer with the joy of a woman throwing oil into an already excellent fire. "He bought you a mansion too."

Phei pointed at Maddie with victorious relief. "Yes! See? I not only bought a car, I bought a fucking mansion too."

"Language," Mother said.

"Language," Maya said at the same time.

Phei slowly turned to look at both of them.

Mother’s expression was firm.

Maya’s expression was sweet.

Too sweet that it deserved investigation, trial, and perhaps imprisonment.

Phei’s mouth opened, closed, opened again, then he let out a long, disbelieving groan, that seemed to begin somewhere in his soul and travel through all the unfairness civilization had ever produced.

"Aigoo..." he dragged out, one hand lifting to cover his face. "What happened to fairness?"

Maddie laughed harder.

Brian slapped the roof of his Perrari once, nearly choking on his own amusement. "Young Dragon defeated by two women and a language warning."

"Three," Diana corrected softly.

Phei lowered his hand and looked at her.

Diana bowed her head with calm cruelty. "Maddie participated."

Cassiopeia added, serene as a blade wrapped in silk, "And Maya did not deny bribing Mother with a car."

Brian raised a finger to add his own contribution, opened his mouth, and Cassiopeia, without even turning her head, said, "You came third." Brian closed his mouth. The two of them had never been friends, exactly, but in the matter of tormenting Phei they had discovered a brief and beautiful diplomatic alliance.

Maya hugged Phei’s arm tighter, peeking up at him with eyes so innocent they were clearly armed. "It was a very thoughtful car."

Phei looked at her.

For a moment, beneath the banter, beneath the laughter and the absurdity, the earlier horror tried to return. The memory of forgetting her, the black hole in his soul and the fact that some force had taken Maya Scarlett from his mind and dared to leave her absence sitting inside him like a wound without a name.

His smile thinned.

Maya felt it.

Her fingers tightened around his arm, not teasing now. Reassuring. Silent. A small pressure that said, not here, not yet, I am here now. And under that, so quiet he almost missed it, a second message in the way she leaned her weight into him: she knew.

Not everything, perhaps, but enough.

She had walked through that glass door already aware that something had unmade her, and she had chosen to arrive smiling anyway, to spare Mother the fear and to give Phei one ordinary evening before the hunt began.

The girl who nailed coffins shut for a living had decided the coffin could wait until after the reunion.

Phei’s gaze lowered to her hand.

Then he exhaled.

Not all the way or enough to relax.

Somewhere behind his eyes, the dragon had awakened and turned its head toward a new enemy. But for the moment, Mother stood before him, alive and smiling. Maya stood beside him, returned to his memory and clinging to his arm as if she had never been carved away. Maddie watched them with laughter softening into something more observant and so did his Cassiopeia. Diana waited and the night around them still glittered with runway lights, expensive cars and unfinished questions.

So Phei chose, for one more second, to play along.

"You all are bullying me," he said.

Mother smiled. "You deserve it."

Maya nodded. "A little."

"A little?" he repeated.

Maddie tilted her head. "Generously."

Brian raised a hand. "For the record, I also think you deserve it."

"You lost the race, stand pretty and quiet." Phei said.

Brian’s grin died.

Maddie immediately brightened. "He did."

Brian pointed at her. "You are not involved in this."

"I won," Maddie said. "I am involved in everything."

Cassiopeia nodded once. "That is true."

Mother looked between all of them and sighed, though her eyes were shining. "I can see I arrived in chaos."

Phei glanced at Maddie.

Maddie smiled like a criminal angel.

Then he looked down at Maya still holding his arm.

Maya smiled up at him, gentle and treacherous.

Finally, he looked at Mother.

"You have no idea," he said.

Mother reached out and pinched his cheek again. "Then behave while I learn."

Phei groaned.

Maya laughed softly at his side.

And for a fleeting moment, despite the terror crawling beneath the reunion, despite the impossible question of who had erased Maya Scarlett from their memories, despite the shroud that had wrapped itself around his soul until Mother’s voice broke it open, the airport filled with warmth.

Fragile warmth.

Dangerous warmth it made Phei smile even while a promise formed in the coldest part of him.

Whoever had taken Maya from his memory would answer for it.

But not yet.

Not in front of Mother and while Maya’s hand was still wrapped around his arm and everyone he loved was laughing.

Not while the night, after so much speed and madness, had finally given him one more precious thing back.