Chapter 27 #3
Sully wholeheartedly agreed. Before his stint in the trenches, he wouldn’t have called himself superstitious.
It was there he’d learned to be. A man could only spend so much time around people convinced they were kept alive by the grace of their rituals or the lucky thing they carried into battle without absorbing the mentality.
He’d had a letter from Anne and one from Edie folded into his chest pocket every single time he’d gone out.
Like the power of their written words could keep him safe.
He had them now, stuffed into the pocket of his pants.
“What did he say to you that made you laugh?” Sully asked, thoughts still on the odd exchange.
A grin twitched at the corners of Elliot’s lips. “Oh. He told me I had excellent taste in women, but I needed to cut my hair.”
“You do,” Bellona agreed absently, still working at getting her own hair free. Jeez, how many pins did she have in there? “Need a haircut that is.”
Elliot’s eyes flicked to Sully, seeking his opinion. Sully pinched his lips together to keep from smiling and minutely shook his head in the negative. He liked Elliot’s hair longer than regulation. Elliot’s smile shifted into a smug smirk he hid by taking another sip from his canteen.
“Do you think he’s gone to sleep yet?” Sully asked, pretending nothing had just happened. “Or is it still too early?”
Elliot inclined his head a fraction to the right. “It is early, but I don’t want to miss the opportunity when it presents itself. It might take me some time to fall asleep after all the hubbub anyway. I’m still nervous as a hare.”
“You hid it perfectly,” Sully said, meaning it. “Both of you were impressive actually.”
“Why thank you, Sullivan,” Elliot said, beaming as he rose. “I did always love the dramatic arts. It could’ve been my calling if it weren’t for my horrid stage fright.”
“You?” Bellona asked, the last twist of pinned hair falling free to curl about her shoulder. “With looks like those, a fear of attention must be awfully inconvenient.”
Sully smothered a choke of laughter with his hand as Elliot grinned and left them to their watch, retreating up the stairs with one of the two lanterns that had lit the room.
Several quiet moments passed as Sully watched the flickering flame of the remaining lantern on the table. Orange and blue wavering together, chasing shadows.
“You two seem to be tolerating one another,” Bellona said, keeping her voice quiet. Her lips curled upward in a knowing smile.
He hesitated a moment, then nodded. He wanted to trust her. Needed an ally here who wasn’t Elliot. “We figured it out.”
“Good, I’m glad. It’s my firm belief that whatever happiness you can find in this godforsaken war, cling to it.” She was sincere, and there was something lonely and sad in the way she felt.
Wanting to distract her, Sully cast about for a suitable question. “I’ve been wondering something, and it’s really none of my business but…how did you end up here? Were you drafted too?”
“No,” she said, pride seeping into her voice. “Not at all. I volunteered.”
Sully blinked, attempting to process that. She’d come voluntarily. To join an army that would treat her with the lowest levels of respect because first and foremost she was a woman. It was bad enough for him, it must be doubly so for her. “You volunteered?”
A bittersweet smile crossed her face. “I did. I’m the oldest of my siblings, the only girl.
My father was widowed and never remarried.
For all intents and purposes, I raised my brothers, Edmund and Peter.
They were always in trouble of one sort or another, fiercely independent.
But they loved when I read them stories and tucked them in at night.
And then they were sent away to school, Edmund first and a year later Peter.
It left me bored to tears most of the year, but I found pursuits to entertain me where I could.
And we all grew up. My father died. And then the war started. ”
“Are they…?” Sully didn’t detect grief, but people could hide it well sometimes. It was often an instinctively protected sore spot, especially if it wasn’t fresh.
“As far as I know, they’re all right. They send me letters.
Edmund was so eager to join the war effort that he joined the French Army because America wasn’t planning on going over.
He’s cavalry now. He always loved horses, so there was no surprise there.
It’s a miracle he’s survived, but he’s had luck on his side for as long as I can remember.
I have often wondered if it was a skill manifesting.
If it is, he’s shown no other sign. Peter followed him as soon as he was of age, and now he’s a decorated pilot. ”
“Which leads us to you,” Sully said, beginning to understand her feelings. “Two younger brothers in this war, worried at home I’m guessing.”
“Going out of my mind with it,” she confirmed, leaning an elbow on the table and propping her chin in her palm.
The lantern light made her skin glow, the shadows of her lashes long.
“I raised those boys and they were risking their lives for some silly European disagreement? They didn’t even really understand what they were signing up for, nor do most of the boys dying by the thousands. ”
Bellona shifted back in her seat and crossed her arms, still defensive about this.
“And there was nothing I could do to talk them out of it. Our youngest cousin, Johnny, had come to stay with me after his mother passed two years prior, he was thirteen when she died, fifteen this January. Taking care of him gave me something to do at least. Then a man from our army came looking for my brothers and found them gone. When none of his veiled threats about our family’s magic would produce them, he wanted to speak to Johnny.
He’s still a child. And hardly skilled. He can manifest a wisp of fire.
He can’t even burn anything with it. So, I offered myself instead, showed him what I could do and told him I could help.
” She laughed, a bitter edge to it that Sully understood immediately.
Once you saw the depth and scale of this war for yourself, the casualties and carnage up close, there was no room to believe any single person could make a real difference, no matter how skilled.
“But at least I saved Johnny. At least he isn’t here, and as long as I am, they won’t touch him. ”
“You’re brave,” Sully said. “Braver than a lot of people to do that.”
She shrugged. “Children don’t belong anywhere near war. It shouldn’t touch them.”
No, it shouldn’t. But too often it did. Destroying their homes, killing their loved ones, stealing their innocence. It wasn’t fair.
“If you could’ve stayed home and saved him, would you?” he asked.
Would Sully have, if he’d been given the same reprieve?
Before Elliot had plucked him from heavy fighting, he would have answered that question with a resounding yes.
But now? He didn’t think he could give Elliot up in exchange for safety and home, even with the obligations he had there.
Not after realizing how in love he was. Not when Sully needed him like his whole life he’d been struggling to get a lungful of air and the second those blue eyes focused on his, fresh oxygen flooded his system.
He’d seen so much death and despair, his mind was full of images he’d never be rid of, faces he’d never forget, but he wouldn’t trade it.
Without missing a beat, Bellona shook her head.
“Because I might not make a difference to the war or the Generals or most soldiers most of the time, but I do make a difference here. To my boys.” The fierce protectiveness in her voice was matched by the warm possessive feeling she exuded.
“I take it you didn’t have a choice, though. ”
“No.” Sully offered a wry grin. He raked his hand through his hair.
“It wouldn’t have been on my to do list. Got a cousin back home who relies on me.
I’m all she’s got. She puts on a brave face in the letters she writes, but I know how sensitive she is.
She cried the night I left. Could barely stand the sight of me.
I wouldn’t have left her if it was up to me. ”
“I’d wager she’s stronger than you think. But I understand how she must feel,” Bellona said and they lapsed into silence for a while.
Once they grew bored, they searched the sitting room and discovered a pack of cards in a drawer.
Time passed as they played, talking about whatever passing topic caught their attention.
Sully told her about Edie and the agency and she excitedly inquired about the cases he’d worked.
He didn’t usually have the chance to talk about them with people, so he got caught up in telling her stories.
Sully wasn’t sure how long it went on. The sun hadn’t quite risen yet when Elliot finally stumbled downstairs, sleep lined face grim in a way that turned Sully’s blood to ice before he even opened his mouth.
“The bad news: two towns have been targeted for simultaneous tests and we've only a few days to plan a counter mission. The good news: We can stop them from creating any more of the gas. Their whole production process is dependent on two skilled scientists, and I know where they’ll be. If we put a stop to one of them, we end this experiment.”