Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Riley
I wake up and find Mickey wrapped around me, his head against my chest. He’s clinging on for dear life, like he’s afraid I’m going to leave him behind if he lets go.
It startles me that it’s not Torin before remembering where Torin is.
Carefully, I try to extract myself from Mickey’s arms, but he sure has me held tightly. “Don’t leave me,” he mumbles.
“Well… I have to get up,” I say, wondering whether he’s actually joking or not. I have my suspicions that he’s not. I know that Mickey isn’t always the happy-go-lucky guy he portrays in front of others, but he’s always been reluctant to open up, even to me.
Mickey sighs. “I’m still tired. We should sleep more.”
“We’ve slept for like ten hours straight,” I say. “And why are you cradled in my arms?”
“Because they seemed so comfy, and I could pretend you were a hunk.”
I push him off me as he turns it into a joke. “You’re ridiculous.”
Mickey laughs and claps his hands. Tommy rises up out of the ground—I guess there’s no point in restricting Mickey from having his undead with him now that the magic cat is out of the bag—and rushes forward to clothe him.
It’s really very ridiculous and even more so when Tommy tries to clothe me too.
“I actually know how to put my clothes on,” I inform him.
“Where’s Torin?” Mickey asks.
“Snuggling with Vero,” I say. “You didn’t hear them having a slumber party last night?”
“Oh no, I heard nothing once I fell asleep.”
I wander over to the other room and open the door before looking in at the two dead-asleep gods. They’re each huddled on their sides of the bed with their little scraps of blanket and no pillow.
Mickey snorts out a laugh. “What happened in here?”
“Fuck if I know. Hey, let’s get this day started.”
Torin groans as he opens his eyes and looks right into Vero’s eyes, who’s inches from him. They both jerk back in disgust and swiftly exit the bed like they’re embarrassed to have been found sleeping in the same bed.
“Looks like we missed out on a pillow fight and a slumber party,” Mickey observes.
“It was absolute torture and I have suffered greatly,” Torin says as he rushes over and wraps me up in his arms like he has to recharge. “Much better. So much better.” Then he sniffs me like he even missed my scent, which makes me laugh and shove him off while he chuckles.
“You’re such a weirdo,” I tell him affectionately.
The second Vero stands up, he whips his pants off and struts right on by us in order to reach the bag that holds clean clothes.
I think all three of us are startled by the sudden dick on display while he yanks on some clothes Kim had sent for him. Mickey’s eyes snap up from the dick, right to my eyes before flicking back like he could possibly think that I’ve missed any part of this.
“What are you waiting for?” Vero snaps.
“I don’t… actually know,” I say as I realize I’d been staring just as much as everyone else. The three of us hastily leave the room while feeling slightly uncertain what just happened.
“He’s trying to seduce you,” Torin announces.
“He can seduce me,” Mickey mutters. “Did you see that? Did you see that fine dangly-do?”
“You’re both ridiculous,” I say as I head to the bathroom with Torin trailing after me.
“Seduction tactic,” he grumbles. “His penis isn’t even as nice as mine.”
“You got a good look at it, eh?” I tease.
“I did.”
“I can compare if you’d like,” Mickey offers as he gestures for Torin to drop his pants. Torin reaches to do so without even thinking about it. I barely catch him, causing Mickey to get an eyeful of at least half of what’s going on down there.
“Oh,” Mickey says, evidently as startled as I am.
“Is that a good ‘oh’?” Torin asks. “Definitely better than that parasite’s, right? Riley, why did you stop me? I wanted to prove mine was better than his just for you.”
“Oddly enough, I don’t need you to do that,” I say before I hurry over to brush my teeth. When we’re all finally presentable, we head downstairs to find Lark and Story at the table.
“Good morning,” Lark says.
“Morning. Have you come to a decision about how to distribute the food?” I ask curiously.
“I think we have. We’re going to split it among twenty different groups.
Each group will quietly distribute it themselves.
There’s going to be no way to keep it quiet from the capital, but hopefully they’ll have listened and supplied us with mundane food that will keep the capital from throwing a fuss. ”
“We’ll help as best we can,” I promise.
Stealthily bringing food into the outskirts without raising the suspicion of the capital is going to be nearly impossible. There are too many variables. Too many people. Too many possible spies.
But the branded can’t just starve to satisfy the whims of those inside the walls.
Special Agent Kim did her best to supply food that would feed a large number of people without being too rich, just as Lark had asked.
Lark and Sterling’s hope is to avoid drawing the attention of those behind the walls if the food provided is of less value than what they already have.
Kim also supplied them with bags of rice and other grains that would feed many throughout the week as we’re left deciding what to do.
“I think this is going better than I hoped,” Lark says while she watches the line of people who each get soup ladled into their bowl. I feel like it’s not enough, but they seem more than happy with it, and the leaders have decided to hold some reserves for the following day.
“It feels like we’re still catering to them,” Sterling complains as she stares at those walls, a look of irritation on her face that she immediately covers up when she notices her people watching her.
“But it’s fine. The people are fed and we’re being careful not to upset anyone.
” She tears her eyes away from the wall to look over at us.
“Why don’t you wander the market? We need to repay you for your kindness. ”
I wave off the very idea of it. “No need to repay us,” I assure her. “I just… hope there’s a way to resolve this. I’m aware that this is just a temporary fix… but we plan to figure out a better solution.”
Sterling smiles at me. “We really insist. If only we had a god like him to save us,” she says as she eyes Torin who is helping fill bowls and is chatting with every person who goes by. He has Quill standing next to him, which seems to scare some people and fascinate others.
“He is one of a kind, that’s for sure,” I say. We both look at Vero, who’s scowling at us with his arms folded over his chest. The people are giving him a wide berth, like he might just start hacking heads off if they’re not careful enough.
He seems to think I want him to brood next to me because he moves closer. “Alert me when I can kill someone,” Vero orders, like the distance people are staying from him isn’t quite far enough.
“That’s so dark and kind of hot,” Mickey says.
Vero stares at Mickey for a second before leaning into me. “Is that one a serial killer?”
“I don’t think so,” I respond while Kit and I examine the peculiar necromancer. “He’s just… Mickey.”
Mickey looks over at me. “Are you talking about me? I was just noticing how Torin is being flirted with. Go be jealous, Riley. Show them who’s boss of that fine beast.”
I look over to see Torin is indeed being flirted with by two beautiful women. One smacks his arm with exuberance and laughs heartily at every word that comes out of his mouth. But eh, maybe if she believes hard enough, she’ll become another follower who boosts his power.
It isn’t much longer before Torin hurries over to me while the two women scurry after him. “Riley, they’d like to show me their store. Come along.”
“That’s not all they’re wanting to show him. Brawl them, Riley. Brawl them so they don’t think they can touch your man,” Mickey urges as he looks around for a seat. “I will sit here and watch with my eyes firmly shut.”
Tommy sits down on his left and Mickey just like… curls up on his lap while Tommy pats his head.
Vero’s eyes narrow even more now that he has someone else to glare at. “Lazy creatures disgust me. They have no use in this world.”
Then because he’s so disgusted, he stalks off to glower at some man who looks terrified. Vero seems pleased by this. He’s finally found a victim worth bringing a smile to his face.
“Please, enjoy our shops. Our people don’t have much to offer, but they truly would like to pay you back,” Sterling says. “Let them. This has been the first time in a long while that we’ve had hope.”
Catching up to Torin, I tell him, “I really hope that we can fix this.”
The problem is… this has been going on for hundreds of years, and I can’t imagine that Famine started this hundreds of years ago and has just been going along for the ride for that long. This world has done this to themselves… and Famine is just reaping the results of it and helping it along.
Torin presses a finger against my forehead. “Let’s get rid of those wrinkles of concern.”
I glance over at him and give him a smile. “I’m alright. I’m not fretting… too much.”
“These two lovely ladies work with textiles. They’re hoping to make us a little something. Isn’t that super sweet?” he asks.
I think they’re hoping to do more than make him something, but I don’t dare mention that out loud while they’re pressing in close to him.
“We’d love to make you something too,” the red-haired lady says as she leans into Torin to look around him at me.
Torin seems absolutely oblivious to the fact that she’s flirting with him.
He’s a god of love… does he just not notice these things?
Or is he just so used to hundreds of years of people doing it that he doesn’t care?
Yet he very much seems to care when I do.
I try not to feel too smug about that.
“Oh no, just something for Torin would be fantastic,” I say, waving her off.
Once we’re inside the store, I wander a bit so I can look around while they wrap uncut fabric around Torin’s shoulders.
“You’re just so big,” the red-haired lady says.
I’m waiting for an “Are you big everywhere?” comment as I lean against the wall and stare at them. They’re now holding a tunic and trousers up to him that they insist he should try on.
“Do you need help?” the other one asks.
“Nah, been able to put my own pants on and off for nearly a thousand years now,” Torin says before heading into a changing area alone, much to their disappointment.
It seems like everything in the store is handmade, and a lot of it is made from wool. I pick up a small bundle of dyed wool and examine the colors of it while I wait for Torin to return.
“It’s very pretty, isn’t it?” the red-haired lady asks. “It’s wool from my sister’s sheep. Most of our products are required to go into the capital, but sometimes we take a little for ourselves. We consider it ‘damaged’ and the capital ‘graciously’ lets us keep it.”
“It’s gorgeous.”
“Your friend is very nice,” she says just as my walkie-talkie crackles to life.
“Riley, there is an excellent bench in here that I would like to bend you over and enjoy every inch of you. We should have one made for home! Because my dick is significantly better than Vero’s. And your beautiful ass will look mighty fine—”
The women’s eyes snap over to me while I whip out the walkie-talkie and turn that fucker off just as Torin starts up again. But just because I turned it off doesn’t mean that Mickey and Vero have.
Vero has probably crushed the device… or maybe I just hope he has.
I drop the wool and scramble for the back where I jerk the curtain open and look at Torin in absolute horror before snatching the walkie-talkie from him.
“Are you here to examine the bench yourself?” he asks with a waggle of his eyebrows like he can’t see how appalled I am. How exactly am I the blind one?
I wave the walkie-talkie in front of him. “Everyone can hear this! It’s not like a cell phone where only I can hear it! You’ve just broadcast that to all of us!”
Of course Torin doesn’t look embarrassed in the slightest. “Ah, so I won’t have to tell anyone that I would like a sex bench, perfect.”
I’m dying inside as I somehow manage to avoid eye contact with the women who’d followed just to see the spectacle.
Since my walkie-talkie is turned off, only Torin’s crackles to life before I hear Mickey’s voice. “Please repeat. What kind of bench would you like? Over.”
Torin snatches it up. “A sex bench.”
Mickey immediately encourages Torin even more. “You crackled a bit there. What kind? Over.”
“A SEX bench.”
“Ah. Got you. Can you describe the bench, please? Over.”
I yank the walkie-talkie out of Torin’s hands, but before I can do anything, it jumps to life again.
“I will silence each and every one of you by reaching down your throats and tearing out your insignificant voice boxes and crushing them in my hands,” Vero proclaims.
“What was that? You have to say ‘over’ or it doesn’t work. Over,” Mickey says.
Torin jerks the walkie-talkie back. “I didn’t do that. Over. I want a sex bench. Over. To sex Riley. Over.”
“Copy that. Over,” Mickey says.
“How do you turn this fucking thing off?” Vero growls.
Mickey pops back on. “What was that? Over.”
“I’m going to walk over to you and crush your stupid machine in my bare hands.”
“You forgot to say over. Over,” Mickey helpfully adds.
I press the button on the walkie-talkie that’s still in Torin’s hands. “This is meant for important things… not whatever this is.”
“You forgot to say ‘over,’” Torin says, jumping on Mickey’s ludicrous train.
“Riley, Vero is heading toward me and I’m scared. Over.”
“You probably deserve it.”
“He’s getting closer. I can see my life flashing before my eyes. Over.”
“I really think we should get back on track. Over,” Torin says, surprising me that the one single person who has rejoined my side is the one who began this nonsense. “Mickey, do you have an undead carpenter? Over.”
“Torin, you’re not supposed to say over until you’re done. Otherwise I don’t know when I can cry for help. Over,” Mickey states.
“New rule. Walkie-talkies are limited to emergencies only,” I declare.
Of course Mickey is back. “Who made Riley boss? Over.”
“I like it when Riley bosses me around. Over.”
I scowl at Torin, who just grins at me before continuing. “His eyes are ripping right through me as we speak. Over. Making the bench is an emergency. Over.”
“Hey guys, there’s some scary-looking people heading this way. Over.”
I hesitate as I realize that maybe, for once, something of importance has been said. “We’re coming.”