58. Chapter 58
Chapter 58
A week later, I’m huddled in front of the fire with the book in my lap and my notes strewn on the couch around me. The setup is not exactly convenient, but I’ve barely slept, so I don’t have it in me to sit at a desk like a normal person.
I’m anxious, not just because I can’t seem to make any progress translating this goddamn book. I have another source of anxiety working out in the corner opposite from my spot. Dryden did manage to make the collar even stronger, and right now, I’m only feeling the regular pain from wearing the collar, but Cain has proven to be even more resourceful than we thought he was. So practically every time he moves, I almost flinch.
It comes as a relief, when I spot Raven enter the Main Hall. “Hey you,” I greet her as she walks up to me, her eyebrows pulling down as she glances between me and the papers around me.
I put the book down and free up some space for her next to me.
“I have half an hour before I have to go check on a blood sample and you look like you could use any help you could get.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Blood sample?”
“Shadowcursed blood, yes. Alaric brought some the last time he was here, so I’m running some tests on it.”
I just look at her for a moment, inspecting her pale skin and tense features. “Is he alright? Are you alright?”
Her eyes well with tears. “He’s barely talking to me,” she replies in a near whisper.
I take her hand in mine and squeeze tight. “What’s going on with him?”
“He thinks he’s turning into his parents. The whole point of him refusing to use his powers when I first met him was to avoid hurting anyone, to stay out of power plays, to repent for everything his family did in the Second World War, and now…”
“He’s not his parents,” I tell her.
“I know, but he doesn’t. And this is not something he’s told me himself, I’ve had to deduce it on my own. So how am I supposed to help him?”
I just look at her for a second, thinking. “We’ll complete the mission and he won’t have to be a double agent anymore. You’re being so brave, Raven, the both of you. You’re going to get through this.”
She pats my hand with hers, pulls the other one out and shrugs it off, putting on a smile. “So, anything I can help with?”
“In the next half an hour?” I ask with a bitter little laugh. “Doubt it. I’ve found less than a dozen symbols in the entire book that I can translate with any level of certainty.”
“Are you sure it’s the right book?”
I pick the book up, showing her the cover and tracing two of the four symbols with my finger. “This is ‘gods’, this is ‘men’. Prepositions and conjunctions are a huge mystery in this particular dialect of the old fae, but the title could probably be translated as Of Gods and Men . Furthermore…”
Catching a glance from Cain, I open the book to the page I’m working on, with the sentence I’m hoping to figure out.
“This is old fae for Baldur,” Raven says, pointing at one of the symbols in the sentence.
“Exactly, and the symbol it makes a whole with means mother. So yeah, I think this part of the book is about Baldur’s mother, but whether it would tell us anything we could use… I’d need to make a lot more progress to know.”
She thinks for a second, then points at the three-part symbol I’ve been working on, asking, “What’s this?”
“That’s the only other part of the sentence I have any hope of translating. This means house. I mean, at least it would , if it weren’t joined with these two.”
“That one looks a lot like ‘moon’,” Raven offers with hope in her voice.
I grin at her. “Look at you. Yeah, it’s similar-looking, but that’s where the similarities end. It could mean dirt, or something else entirely. If the text was written before the first century, then this is the house of washing or a laundry room. If it’s more recent… then it’s filth , not dirt. And when they’d say filth house, the old fae actually meant brothel. Although why a laundry room or a brothel would be in any way relevant…”
I let out a sigh and put the book down.
“Maybe Baldur’s mother was born in a brothel,” Raven says teasingly.
I laugh. “Baldur’s mother was a goddess. I don’t think there were any brothels in existence when she got… conceived? I don’t know.”
I grab my glass off the table and take a sip, but as soon as I do, both our heads snap in Cain’s direction.
He’s walking straight towards us, the act making me almost choke on the sip of water I just took.
Swallowing it down, I watch him come to a stop in front of me and throw Raven a hostile look. Squeezing my upper arm in greeting, she almost instantly makes herself scarce.
Once she leaves the room, there’s a moment of silence during which we just stare at each other, my heart pounding. Then I collect myself, put the glass down and smile. “To what do I owe the honor?”
“I want to bargain,” he says flatly.
I raise my eyebrows at him. “ Bargain , really?” I drawl, dropping my voice teasingly. “What is it that you want? Is it a kiss from your favorite witch?”
His jaw clenches, but he quickly collects himself. When he answers, his attitude and the tone of his voice are that of a general. “You will arrange for me to go for a run.”
I narrow my eyes at him. It’s not exactly hard to believe, that he’d try to get something for himself, but I can’t shake off this feeling that there’s something else going on here. Still, I choose to play along to see where it takes me. “Yeah? And what do you have to bargain with?”
He picks the book up, opens it to the bookmarked page and points at the first two parts of the three-part symbol. “I’ll tell you how to translate this.”
I blink then laugh at him. “ You will tell me how to translate this? I think you’ll have to excuse me for not believing you.”
His flat glare coupled with the way he just remains standing there tell me he knows I have no other choice but to explore this option.
But there’s still the matter of his increasingly dubious motives. Will this be another attempt to escape? I narrow my eyes at him again. “Why would you do such a thing? For a run at that?”
“I’m not explaining myself to you,” he replies flatly.
Frustration spikes through me. I collect myself. I lean a little forward, I smile and I use my most velvety voice to say, “Then you’re not going anywhere.”
At least that makes a muscle in his jaw jump. “Fine,” he bites out after a moment of pause. “There’s not a chance in the world you’ll end up using some sword to kill my father,” he recites, “you seem to be delusional and stubborn enough to spend the next hundred years working on it regardless, and I want my run to happen in a much nearer future.” He locks eyes with me. “There, is that clear enough for you or should I borrow your crayons?”
I tilt my head at him. “Delusional and stubborn enough? Thank you for believing in me,” I purr.
His jaw clenches.
I laugh and then get up. “Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
It makes me frown when he doesn’t follow suit. “Well? If we wait until the morning, you’ll see I can be grumpier than you are.”
He looks at me for a second. “You’re not having me fulfill my end of the deal first?”
Leaning a little forward, I smile. “I think I’ll trust you to keep your word, Hot Stuff.”
I see a vein in his forehead popping. “Don’t call me that,” he grits out.
I laugh again. “Oh I will. Now let’s get moving. There are grumpy vampires to be walked and ancient books to be translated.”