Chapter 25 Cero #2
He took them into one of the little houses.
There was a generous bed in the large room, a settee, a small dining table, and two chairs.
Windows looked out at distant, fog-shrouded cliffs and the hot springs.
The lamps weren’t lit, but the fireplace was laid.
Again, distant recognition struck Cero. A memory that danced just out of his reach.
“Cero bet-Dafra, I leave you here. Karinna, Blood of Shatharin, your quarters and bathing pool are over he—”
“We’re not separating,” Karinna said. Not because of any sort of loyalty to him, Cero knew, but because Musa had told Karinna to stick to Cero like a burr.
“Of course.” Linh looked between them and there was a touch of disapproval in his expression. “Forgive me, I did not realize you wished to remain together. Our traditions are perhaps more…austere than yours, but if you are used to bathing together and sleeping in one chamber—”
Karinna’s face turned a fascinating shade of purple. “I—I don’t want to bathe with him, you boneheaded knob—”
“Spires, will you shut it,” Cero hissed in her ear at the shock on Linh’s face. “Before they kick us out.”
“Thank you,” Cero said to the man as politely as he could. “We’re very grateful. We’ll just—be in here. We won’t take up any more of your time.”
He kicked Karinna’s boot surreptitiously, and once she’d moved aside, smiled tightly at Linh, who still looked thunderous at being called a boneheaded knob. The Jaduna man turned away, and Cero closed the door, relieved that for a few moments, Karinna couldn’t offend anyone.
As she prowled around the room, Cero glanced out the window, catching a glimpse of fluffy brown fur flitting near the flat stone border of the hot springs.
He hadn’t seen Abzi come through the portal.
But then, he’d always wondered if cats had their own portals, the way they seemed to appear and disappear at will.
Cero moved to the other end of the room, as far from Karinna as possible, worried that if she made one more snide comment, his head might explode. He was tired and worried and deep down, he feared he was chasing a myth. He considered finding Linh. Demanding to speak to the Jaduna immediately.
Then he dismissed the idea for its impetuousness. Clearly, he’d been spending too much bleeding time with Karinna.
He unlaced his leather jacket and stripped off his shirt, which indeed was filthy from the road. Behind him, he heard an odd squeak.
“What are you doing?” Karinna said. “That is—inappropriate—”
“I’m taking a bath.” Cero tried not to laugh when he saw the blush flooding her cheeks. “If you don’t like it, don’t look.”
She turned back around, sputtering, and Cero spared her any more discomfort by stripping the rest of his clothes off outside. There was a screen of trees between each house, but in any case, Cero was too tired to care who saw him.
Wincing at the heat, he lowered himself into the spring. After long minutes, his muscles began to unknot.
Cero looked into the blue sky, spun the aaj on his finger, and considered the feeling that had grown stronger since being here. Like he’d seen it all before, in some other life. It could be the language. He’d heard Jadne spoken; Jaduna sorceresses had visited the cloister when he was young.
He considered this place: The scalloped tiles and glass lanterns. The peaked roofs and rounded windows. The way people talked to each other. The way they moved.
It wasn’t just the language that was familiar. It was everything.
A prickle ran up his neck, as if he were being watched. When he opened his eyes, he found Abzi staring at him from the damp stones bordering the spring.
She limped toward him gingerly, for she’d picked up a large thorn in her front paw.
“Ouch,” Cero muttered as he plucked it out, and the paw began to bleed. “Sorry, Abzi.” He pressed his hand over it, and Abzi growled, low in her throat.
“I’m trying to help you,” Cero chided gently. “Just give me a moment.”
“You stay away from my cat!”
Abzi bolted. Fists clenched, Karinna emerged from the room in just her undergarments, a towel over her shoulder. She must have been planning to use the spring after Cero.
Apparently seeing him lay a hand—even a helping one—on Abzi had robbed her of the modesty she tried to impose on others.
Cero had been aware of how striking Karinna was since the moment he met her.
He did not like this observation and tried not to think about it.
But his brain appeared to have forgotten this resolution, and he stared at the smooth brown skin of her legs, the soft curve of her hips, the way the fold of her arms fell just so—
No. Absolutely not. She was probably about three seconds from plucking his eyes out, and, in a panic, he ducked below the surface of the water.
His face burned from the heat, but it was probably less painful than whatever she would have done if he’d kept staring.
And it was a good distraction from the very stupid thoughts he was thinking about a person he didn’t much like.
When he came back up, he was red-faced and sputtering, and Karinna was still standing there; she was staring down at Abzi, the two of them apparently talking, though they made no sounds.
Cero had noticed that Karinna sometimes grew frustrated when dealing with the cat. But this time, whatever Abzi was saying made Karinna first startled, then horrified, then thoughtful.
Stop noticing her face, he told himself, but his brain refused to cooperate. She locked eyes with him, and her look was strange, almost appraising as her pale gaze traced his jaw, his shoulders, his chest.
It was possible she was admiring him. Cero knew well that he was not unattractive. But more likely she was thinking about how to embed a butter knife in his still-beating heart.
He wanted to say something cutting, but words weren’t particularly forthcoming at the moment. Still, he wasn’t bleeding afraid of her, so he held her gaze. She squinted, looking as if she wished to walk away. Instead, she dropped her towel.
“Turn around,” she ordered. As he did, Cero heard the whoosh of clothing coming off and a quiet splash as she entered the pool.
“I’m in,” she said, and he turned back around to find her on the other side of the spring, neck deep in the water and glaring daggers. “But if your eyes drop below the waterline, or if you come within three feet of me, I will make a necklace of your intestines.”
“Could you braid some silver into it so it matches my ring?”
“It’ll be for me, not you.”
Even tipping his head back, staring at the swaying treetops above, he could tell she was trying not to smile. “Better view up there, anyway,” he said.
“What did you see in the portal?” she asked after a moment. “What made you so…wobbly?”
He kept his eyes on the blue dome of the sky.
“I fell into a tunnel of night. But the darkness had teeth,” he said. “I saw things from when I was a boy. A strange voice and a yellow sky.” Cero grimaced as he remembered. “I was afraid, but it wasn’t just that. I think—I think I felt hopeless. Despairing.”
Around them, the wind picked up, and leaves scraped across stone. Karinna was silent. Briefly, Cero wondered why he’d been stupid enough to confide anything in her. She’d probably mock him with it until one of them was dead.
“If you felt frozen,” Karinna said quietly, “like your blood was ice in your veins and your body didn’t belong to you anymore, like nothing could be right again, then yes, it was despair. I would know. Ever since Ruh died, I…” She trailed off.
Even a few days ago, he could never have imagined her admitting such a thing. Cero fought not to look at her. He was rather fond of his intestines.
“Will you tell me about Ruh, rebel?” he asked. She was clearly carrying a great deal of guilt about her little brother’s death. Maybe she thought she should have protected him.
Cero waited for her to speak. When she didn’t, he looked over at her.
To find Abzi staring back at him from beside the pool and Karinna gone, not even a ripple of water to mark her retreat.
Karinna must have returned to the cottage later in the night, but Cero was too exhausted to notice. He’d slept on the settee, leaving her the bed, waking the next morning to an aching body and sunshine streaming into his eyes. Karinna was curled up under the bedcovers, fast asleep.
She arose when the Jaduna delivered their clean clothing and breakfast. Shortly after, Linh appeared, pronounced them presentable, and led them quickly to another portal. Cero hesitated as they approached it, but Karinna hooked her arm through his.
“Er…” He looked between them uneasily and Karinna snorted.
“Don’t flatter yourself, pilot. If you get lost in there, Musa’ll have my head.”
Then she pulled him through the portal so swiftly he hardly had time to take in the dizzying darkness, the strange images. The second they were out of it, Karinna shoved him away as if he were a particularly vile reptile.
Cero didn’t mind. At least she’d gotten him through the portal.
They’d arrived in front of a ramshackle wooden building tucked so deep beneath the trees that daylight hardly penetrated the canopy. Cero frowned at the sight—considering the intricate architecture he’d seen so far, he’d expected the Raanis’ meeting hall to be more awe-inspiring than this.
A pair of bored-looking guards waited outside, standing a bit taller when Linh approached.
“Raan-Ruku.” One of the women bowed her head before turning to Cero and Karinna. “Your weapons.” She held out her hands. Cero wore no blades, but Karinna handed over two daggers, a small brace of knives, a throwing star, her scims, a bow, and a quiver of arrows.
“Are you sure that’s everything?” Cero whispered to Karinna as Linh led them toward the building’s single door. “Don’t want them to find another weapon on you.”
“I don’t need a weapon, Kegari,” Karinna said with exaggerated patience. “I am one.”
Fair. He’d only seen her fight once, but it was enough.