Chapter Twenty-Four #3
Mid-morning light shone in from the windows lining the hall the next day, bathing the market, nearly empty during lunch hours, in watery tones.
Kai stalked past bolts of silks and wool, the pathetic display of root vegetables and canned goods kept under lock and key, thinking for the first time in days of something other than Moths, war, how exhausted he was.
Lay low, Mam had said. A fair piece of advice. But Kai couldn’t get Llyr’s journals out of his brain.
If he could just get into Saros’s room again. But the old man kept his quarters warded shut, and Kai hadn’t the strength right now to break through.
Something knocked into him. Or rather, he’d bumped into someone, the resulting surprised yelp startling him back to the present.
The hooded figure pivoted, ivory hair cascading down her front, a cross look on her face. Until she saw Kai, and her eyes widened, her shock mirroring his own.
Ione. He hadn’t so much as laid eyes on her since Soliz, over a week ago.
She looked the same, and yet different, her usual haughty expression dimmed somewhat by the ill-fitting grey coat she wore over her dress.
She gazed up at him like she didn’t hate him.
But also like she didn’t know how to feel about him.
Silence stretched between them, everything Kai had wanted to say dying before he could give it breath.
Are you well?
Are you happy?
I hope so. Genuinely I do.
Ione pursed her lips, quick to recover. “Usually I’m the one bumping into people,” she said neutrally. She lifted a hand to her neck, pushing her hair out of the way and revealing the abalone necklace Kai had given her.
His breath caught when she unclasped it and held it aloft between them. “I meant to give this back to you. It was a wedding gift, and…” She winced, apologetic. “I shouldn’t keep it. Especially since it belonged to your mother.”
The pendant glimmered blue-green in the light. It had been dazzling against Ione’s skin – perhaps too much so, for someone who preferred to wear more muted colours.
Even so, Kai couldn’t take it. He pushed her hand gently away.
“Mam wouldn’t mind you holding onto it,” he said.
“I gathered from her multitude of sons that she might’ve wanted a daughter.
” He shrugged, hoping he sounded careless.
“You can still, uh, be part of the family. Dunno why you’d want to, but jump on in. ” A pause. “Lina, too.”
Ione rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of affection there. “She’ll be overjoyed,” she said, pocketing the necklace.
“How is she?”
How are you?
Ione lowered her face, smiling shyly. “Well, if anxious,” she said.
“She still finds it uncomfortable when you’re nearby, but she’s gotten good at tolerating it.
” She went quiet, the smile fading as she turned her gaze back up at him.
“I’m sorry that bringing her here has caused you a lot of pain. But I’m still glad I did.”
Kai couldn’t help it. He opened his arms, and when she didn’t step away, he pulled her into him. “Ineen, I was so fucking proud to hear how yous made it up here,” he whispered into her hair. “And happy, knowing yous could finally be together.”
Finally she leaned into him, her arms hooking around his waist. “And you?” she asked, sending a knowing smirk up at him. “I’ve never seen River so relaxed. You’d nearly forget we might go to war soon.”
“We won’t. I won’t let it come to that.”
Ione stepped out of his embrace, her eyes grave. “You sound awfully sure for someone too afraid to harness Menon’s powers.” She tilted her head, some of her old smugness returning when Kai didn’t respond. “I can feel you, casting wards all over the place. You haven’t relied on Menon once.”
Kai mustered a smile. Only River had figured that out. “I’m not you, unfortunately. If you still had Menon, we’d all be dead so you could get a moment’s peace.”
Ione sighed. “If only. Saros took Her from me before I could succeed in ridding myself of you all.” She blinked when Kai’s mouth fell open. “Oh, please tell me you already realised. I’ve had enough terrible revelations recently.”
Kai rubbed his face, the relief unimaginable that he didn’t have to break that to her. “Who told you?”
She placed a hand over her heart, looking important. “I knew all along.”
“Bullshit.”
A small smile. “Lina told me, more or less. I’ve only told Cynthia.” She straightened, sombre again. “I don’t want anyone else to worry. And I don’t want you to worry, either. But I will deal with Saros.”
She turned, but Kai caught her and braced his hands on either side of her face, holding her like this one last time. “Let me deal with him.” He brushed his thumbs against her cheeks. “Please.”
A muscle in her jaw ticked. “It’s… as much your right as mine, I suppose, but – ”
“We’ll go halfsies.”
She cracked, lowering her face with a muffled laugh. “Stop,” she managed, still sniggering. “It isn’t funny.”
“All the same. Just… whatever you’ve planned, wait. Until this is over.”
After a moment, she nodded. Kai pressed his lips to her forehead and released her, his gut twisting, feeling like this was goodbye.
But it wasn’t. Not yet, not until Saros was dead, and Menon was gone, and the parley over, and the Moths – he wasn’t sure, but he’d sort that, too.
Somehow, on the far side of things in his mind, everything would be fine, although right now he felt like a juggler rapidly losing control of everything he’d launched into the air.
Caelos’s west wing was dark at this hour, the sun not yet having risen high enough to throw light into the airy halls.
He passed the closed door to Saros’s quarters before the last hall leading to his meeting room, the wards locking it zipping against his skin like thorns.
Not much longer, Kai promised himself, rubbing his arms.
The latch clicked, panic spearing through him – and then Saros appeared, his face grey and eyes shadowed.
“There you are, lad.” He wiped his forehead, his free hand gripping the door handle like it was the only thing supporting him. “Good timing. I need you.”
Don’t you dare, Etan’s voice nagged at him.
Lay low, his mother had warned him.
But just the sight of the old man made his blood boil. You, he wanted to scream. He felt his limbs shake with rage, every muscle in his body tightening. You did this to us.
Saros summoned a wan smile, although the haunted look in his pale eyes showed that something was still very wrong. “I see,” he said. “Finally figured it out, have you?”
That smile, the smug edge in his tone. He’d smiled the same way after Oseidos burned, when he talked about how Menon had left Ione. The secret, vindictive pleasure of it, even after so many people had died.
“The wardstone,” Kai breathed, hauled back to that night. “You shattered it.”
Saros tapped his chest. “I was running out of time, and I had it on good authority that the Moths planned on trying something on your wedding night.” He huffed out a frail laugh, a cough.
“A hydromantic prodigy – but still so arrogant that you wouldn’t even dream of an old man besting you. Are you very angry with me?”
Kai’s hands twitched. He could almost feel Saros’s neck between them, hear the cracking of bone, the final wheezing breath.
“Ah-ah,” Saros interrupted before he could even open his mouth. “Down, boy.”
“I will kill you,” Kai whispered, trembling. “I will fucking kill you, Saros.”
“Oh, I daresay you’ll be more efficient than this disease.” Unafraid, Saros moved aside and beckoned. “But first, have a cup of tea with me. I’ve one last gambit to see through before I can meet my wife and son again.”
Although every cell in his body screamed at him to run, Kai moved, one foot after the other, over the threshold. Past Saros, past his library, his ugly potted plants, his upright piano, and towards a steaming pot of tea sitting at a table before the ceiling-high windows overlooking Lodestone.
Behind him, the door creaked shut, shrouding them both in autumnal dark.