5. Chapter Five
Istared at the bubbling foam at the top of my beer, the tavern’s merriment fading into idle murmurs as the night went on.
As promised, I’d brought Aurelie tea, but she was already out like a flame in the wind. I stayed for a long while—so long, I wondered if I’d fall asleep too. But visions of her luminescence marked the darkness behind my eyes, casting eternal daylight in ways that made me crave sleep in ways I’d never desired it before, and I’d spend half a century in a court that hardly let the guardsmen rest their eyes without risking punishment.
Cas hiccupped across from me. I lifted my stare through heavy lashes and smiled softly. He set his empty glass at the edge of the table and whistled, eyes averting to Sapphire at the other end of the tavern. I’d been watching her too, but she’d found comfort in the bard’s tune for now.
She deserved a night of normality.
“What’s got you down, sno-o-o-wman?” Casynox asked, his words slurring together so badly, it sounded like a jumbled pile of words rather than a refined thought. “Did Aurelie put you in y-your place?”
The grin on his face made me wonder if he was friends with me or with my lover. I snickered and swirled my cup around, watching the foam coat the sides of the glass. “Something like that.”
Casynox bellowed a laugh and leaned back, the bench creaking beneath his weight. He swung a leg over the side before stumbling onto his feet, twisting his torso so his back cracked. “Your patience hasn’t been this short since Sapphire’s beloved little sister took a stab at you.”
Literally. I slid the half-touched drink and stood, rubbing my face to try and ease my nerves. “Without getting into it, Aurelie’s sick.”
“What sort of sick?” he asked, giving me a sidelong glance. “The illness you get from rotten pork halfway undercooked, or the kind that follows one too many indulgent nights?”
I jerked my head to him and couldn’t help but grin, smacking a hand on his shoulder and shaking my head. “The sort you get when you bottle up all that magic in your heart and refuse to let it go.”
Casynox’s shoulders relaxed, and he let out the most dramatic sigh I’d heard since the first murmurs of the rebellion spread. He wrapped an arm over my shoulder and returned his focus to Sapphire, eyes hardening at the sight of the shrill lute bending toward her in a serenade. I could have only hoped she had better taste, but when your mate all but rejected you, where else could you go but the arms of an irritating bard?
“When are you going to give in and ask for that favor?” he said low. Casynox, drunk or sober, was rarely subtle—but he knew better than to speak of this person without fearing eavesdroppers. “Both of them could benefit from a bit of training.”
I cleared my throat and moved from his hold, aiming toward the stairs. “You know as well as I that their help would do nothing but cause issues.”
“Sure,” Casynox said, calling after me. “For you, maybe. Not for them.”
I frowned. I ascended the steps, ignoring how his words swarmed around in my mind more irritable than the bard’s hum of his lute.
“If you must know,” I hollered over the music, “it’s already in the works. Stop nagging.”
Casynox’s laugh cracked into the air. Come morning, I’d worry about getting us home. Then, we could discuss the involvement of my least favorite halfling in all the known realms.
Lyra would cause issues, but that risk might just be worth the reward if it meant keeping Aurelie safe.