Chapter Nine #2
He waved at the other three to shut up. “The Leviathos will ship off soon,” he said, although he wasn’t sure anymore when soon was. “Suffer it for now. If it helps, I’m suffering right along with yous.”
The far door creaked open. Etan lumbered in, captain and fearless leader; the noise and energy rose like smog as his men greeted him, invited him to sit for a round of cards.
Suddenly alert, Lina cleared her throat, whispered to Ione, “I’m not feeling well. I think I might lie down.”
Ione touched her hand. “Do you need a healer?”
“Will I find Mikau?” Ami asked.
Lina shook her head, paling when Etan shouted something at one of his men. She curtseyed clumsily and all but fled, leaving the rest of them bewildered.
“Huh.” Kai scratched his jaw, thinking. “Your one’s afraid of Etan. Why’s that?”
He would’ve been shocked if Ione told him anything, but from the way she frowned and gazed after her, he surmised she didn’t know, either.
“Obviously,” Ione said, petulant, “she is just as uncomfortable as the rest of us with men like yours nesting here. Make them leave.”
Kai barely heard her, his mind still on Lina.
Whatever she was hiding might be worth checking into after all. He was going to leave it, monitor it, but having his brothers here put him on edge, made him paranoid. He hated what his brothers did to him, but as long as Saros liked them, they were untouchable. Kai couldn’t do a thing about them.
But he could do something about a suspicious attendant.
Lina apparently felt well enough to leave her room in the acolytes’ building the next day.
She was shockingly easy to follow. She kept her head down and did nothing out of the ordinary, far as Kai could see, which was both frustrating and somehow even more suspicious to him.
As Ione’s attendant, she did have tasks to manage – a surprise to Kai, who had thus far only seen her sewing and unconsciously encouraging Ione to doss around.
He listened in on messages she conveyed to priests, watched her pick up a box of Ione’s favourite tea cakes or buy a bouquet of flowers for the sick child of a priestess.
“Lady Ione only specified daisies and carnations,” Lina said to the florist, putting far more thought into this than Kai ever would.
She riffled through her coinpurse, oblivious to Kai’s presence just on the other side of the market stall.
“But I’ve more to spend. How much extra for some sunflowers? ”
Kai muted his magical signature as much as he could, his pulse spiking when she briefly faced his way with the bundle of flowers. A couple of Leviathosi swaggered past her, cadets buying some supply for the ship; Lina did not break her stride, but she did hide her face behind the bouquet.
What are you running from?
Kai couldn’t help but daydream – his daydreams were nearly as vivid as his nightmares these days – as he spied on her the next day from beneath a willow tree.
He envisioned finding some unforgivable sin of hers, something to bring to Saros, to exchange for renown.
It had been months (probably; Kai wasn’t quite sure anymore, time was funny) and Ione still treated him like a bag of spiders, so to hell with that plan.
Perfect Etan and formidable Nalu were too close by, ready comparisons, more impressive counterparts.
The ward wasn’t enough. Nothing Kai did was ever enough.
It was harder to tail her after she’d visited the library.
She started up the hill towards the plaza, a narrow, seldom-used dirt path lined with trees that forced Kai to stay far behind and hope she didn’t hear whenever he nearly tripped on a root.
Which he did. He clamped a hand over his mouth and let himself fall against a tree for support.
He looked ahead. Good: Lina didn’t turn, hadn’t heard him. He looked behind, then, half-expecting to see River, the good seleneschal, a spy spying on a spy. Nothing. The disappointment surprised him, made him feel like laughing.
He wasn’t well. He needed sleep, a healer, something. River was right. Fucking stupid River.
“Well, hello,” came a voice that made Kai’s blood run cold.
He fell like a stone, his knees crushing the leafy undergrowth. Kai peered out from behind the tree, his face twisting with fury to see Nalu ahead.
Go away, he willed with every inch of him. This is my ward. My island. My property.
Nalu stooped – which was rich, considering Lina was his height – to see Lina’s bowed face. He chuckled when she turned away from him.
“Don’t be shy,” he said, all affectionate. He curled a strand of her hair around his forefinger. “I’ve seen you once or twice. Lady Ione’s attendant, are you? What’s your name, little bird?”
Lina murmured something. Curtseyed, turned again. Nalu stepped in front of her and leaned against a tree, the predatory glint in his eye a sharp contrast to the lazy, casual grin.
Kai crept forward, still concealed by the trees and undergrowth.
Mine, he thought, his gorge rising when Nalu grabbed Lina’s arm, stopping her from skirting past him. Oseidos is mine. Lina, whatever she’s hiding, is mine. It’s all mine.
“Please,” Lina snapped, her free hand fisting at her side. “Lady Ione is expecting me.”
Nalu didn’t let her go. “Then we’ll meet after. Tonight. You’re staying in the acolytes’ building?”
Closer, closer. Close enough to see the muscle in Lina’s jaw ticking. She squared her shoulders, sounded nearly like Ione, proud and grave, as she whispered, “Unhand me.”
Nalu laughed. “Or what?” A huge hand wrapped around Lina’s jaw, forced her to face him. He frowned, his eye darting, taking her in. Whatever he saw amused him, made his mouth widen into a slow, vindictive smile. “Who are you?” he asked, although his tone told Kai that he already knew.
Lina lurched away, out of his grip. “No one,” she said, striding around him.
A trunk of water formed at Nalu’s raised hand, whipping after her. It twined around her wrist, hauling her back; Lina spun on her heels, one hand lifted, fingers splayed like a claw. Painted on her face was a sightless, thoughtless terror that Kai knew too well.
And then, fire.
There it was. Kai beamed, vindication warming his thundering heart.
Nalu dropped the water and staggered back, hollering, one hand flying to cover his face.
Lina too careened a few steps, sheet-white, looking down at her own hands and then hiding them in the folds of her dress.
She said something Kai couldn’t hear and looked this way, that, still retreating step by trembling step.
Nalu straightened. Released a ragged, livid breath.
Leaves rustled and a branch snapped, and suddenly Kai was in the middle of the path. Distracted, Nalu turned and lowered his hand, a patch of skin from his face sticking to it. He grinned – ah, back-up! – and Lina bolted.
Kai moved automatically. Icy wardstrings rose up, tangling around Lina’s arms and legs, pinning her in place. She struggled, sparks bursting from her fingertips, but Kai tightened the ward until she stilled.
“Good work.” Nalu’s hands shook as he washed the blood from them. Although Nalu still smiled, Kai could almost taste the agony of the oozing burn shooting across his brother’s cheek. “Help me bring her to Archpriest Saros.”
He threw his shoulders back and strode up the hill, taking his time, making Lina suffer the fear of his approach.
And gods, did it feel good when Kai’s wardstrings trapped him, too.
A snare ward this absolute could only be held for a short time, so Kai buried his nerves, buried the knowledge of what Nalu would do after, and rushed to him.
He grabbed Nalu’s forehead in one shaking hand and held him still, peering into the burn, studying the curling, melted edges of flesh. He summoned a wisp of water.
Kai’s healing ability was the root of the deep, vicious hatred between them.
He was careful, then, and held his breath as he soaked the wound with his magic, let healing water seep into every crevice of it.
He squinted, scanning the mending flesh, pouring every ounce of concentration into preventing a scar.
“There.” Thrill and fear rose in his lungs. He bit back a mad grin. “Healed.”
Nalu choked on a response. “What – ”
“No scar.” Kai opened his arms, gesturing out at the empty path, the silent trees. “No witnesses. No proof.”
Nalu visibly processed that. “Are – are you insane – ”
He didn’t have much time left. Before Nalu could free himself, Kai withdrew his knife, gratified when Nalu’s eye locked onto it.
“I am the Warden of Oseidos,” Kai said, in a voice reserved for the lowliest, most insignificant scum. He had never used this voice before. He drew the knife against his palm and gritted his teeth at the sting, the heat of his own blood.
Nalu struggled harder, knowing from experience what Kai was going to do.
“Oseidos is mine.” Kai clamped his hand over Nalu’s mouth. “All who walk upon it are mine.” He gripped, prising Nalu’s jaw open and forcing his head back. Nalu sputtered, bit him, but the fear in his eye told Kai that he’d already drank enough blood for a binding ward to hold.
Kai sheathed his knife and drew the ward in the air before Nalu’s face, quick and messy, but more than enough to allow for one command.
“The Moth, too, is mine. Mine to imprison, mine to deal with.” He stood back, his heart racing as the binding ward, invisible to all but him, locked into place around Nalu’s neck.
“You will not speak of this,” Kai told him. “Not in words nor writing. The Moth is mine, and you will not interfere.”
“That’s all?” Nalu huffed out a laugh, his mouth smeared with blood, although rage beyond measure smouldered in his eye. “You’re an idiot.”
Kai straightened to his full height, only an inch taller than Nalu, but his brother despised that inch. “I know, I’m sorry. It’s not as fun as when I made you dance.” He smirked, even as Nalu freed one arm. “But as long as it stops you from running and tugging on Etan’s apron strings – ”