Chapter 7
Chapter seven
A Proposal
The lights are already shifting from the sunshine yellow of first shift to a dusky rose gold, preparing for the gentler pink hues of second shift when I arrive home in Eztia sub-cavern.
Caius and I had taken our meal in the commons.
Having made it in time for butter chicken, Caius insisted we eat the meal while it was hot.
He selected a table in the corner, away from the crowd and the barely veiled whispers, and though he refused to speak a word, I felt his eyes inspecting me, dissecting me, trying to decipher the truths I refused to share with him.
After a silent walk home, I told him I’d see him at first shift, to which he simply grunted and walked away. Exhausted and confused, I want nothing more than to curl up with Bat and sleep through a shift or two. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me.
“Oliviana Ryū Lux, if you think you are sneaking upstairs before talking to your mother, you have another thing coming.” A strong voice calls after me.
I release my hold on the ladder and duck behind the cloth curtain to my mother’s home.
It's a modest dwelling with one main room and a curtain at the back leading to a bedroom.
It's warm in a way most dwellings are not, with every surface covered in tapestries.
Each stitched by my mother's hands, depicting fantastical scenes from our history. From Xiakibǎoshí’s jeweled cavern, where every wall is encrusted in shining gems, to the mystical azure pools of Sorkuntza—the birthplace of humanity—deep beneath the surface, close to the breathing core of the world; where source is rumored to gather, the magic that fueled our cities…
that had fueled our cities for centuries… until now.
Dismissing the thought, I ask, “How do you do that?”
My mother stands at the back wall, placing heated stones into an iron kettle to bring the water to a boil. Her dark blond hair pulled back into a bun that’s streaked with more white than it should be for her age. Deep creases edge her face, reflecting the weight she's had to bear.
“A mother knows. Now take a seat.” Is all she offers in response, her focus on preparing the tea.
I slide onto a stone bench at her small table next to Dom. “What are you doing here?” I knock my shoulder into Dom’s.
He smiles back, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “There was a disturbance today.”
“The alarms.”
Dom nods. “The horde attacked the southern tunnels. I was worried about you.”
The blood drains from my face. The cut over Caius’ eye. I thought it had been from our brush with death, but it had the look of a blade. “Was anyone hurt?”
Dom drops his voice low. “They broke through with zhìsatorras and an explosive that sent the caverns shaking. There were injuries, but nothing life-threatening. Rumor has it your captain came like a demon from Oinarriajī and single-handedly held back the southern hoard until the rest of the guard could arrive. I heard he killed twenty of them himself.”
“Not my captain,” I mumble.
Dom quirks a brow. “Is he not your keeper?”
“My jailer, perhaps.”
Dom shakes his head. “Regardless, Ollie, I saw him fight. The skirmish came through the Lorategián caverns. He looked more monster than man. I saw why his men call him the prince of darkness. I don’t like that he is alone with you in the far caverns for—”
“What are you not saying?”
Dom blows out a heavy breath. “I have never seen a man move the way he did today. It wasn’t just that he killed without remorse.
He moved faster than any man has a right to.
Speed and brutality. He moves like he doesn’t have a soul, Ollie.
Like his purpose in this world is to be both jury and executioner. ”
“You’ve let your imagination run away with you, as usual.”
Dom digs his fingers into my biceps. “I’m serious, Ollie. I don’t trust him alone with you.”
“Okay, Dom. I’ll be careful.” I’m not sure what else he wants me to say. I don’t have much choice in the matter. If Caius is to be believed, the council is working to set me up, while he may just be evil incarnate. Prime…
Dom gives me a long, hard look before finally letting go.
I sigh. “Well, if no one else needs me, I really need to get some sleep before the demon himself comes to collect me at first shift.” I give a sardonic salute and move to rise, but the look my mother gives me is enough to plant me back in my seat; it’s that same look she gave Dom and me when we were eight and had broken into the central commons store house and pilfered an entire jar of honey.
My mother may be a gentle soul, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t rain down the wrath of Iāngsua when it was warranted.
She places three steaming cups of tea on the table before joining us.
“I don’t like this assignment the council has you on,” she begins. “And I like you spending time with the Amarala boy even less—”
“Mama, it’s not like that. It’s not like when we were teenagers—”
She cuts me off with the raise of a hand. “I don’t like any of that. But that’s not why I needed to see you tonight. It’s not why Dominic needed to see you tonight.”
I shift my gaze between the two of them, squinting as if it would help me uncover their secrets. “What are you two up to?”
“Ollie, did you get topside during the commotion?”
I cock a brow. “You know I did.”
Dom lets out a breath. “Good, that’s good. And my plants?”
“Thriving! They are even bigger than the controls you have growing in the cavern. It’s amazing, Dom! I don’t know what you plan to do with them, but they are thriving.”
Dom nods thoughtfully, and my spirits fall. I had expected my friend to be ecstatic, ready to plan his next experiment or ask me to do another secret topside mission for him. Instead, he looks to my mother as if asking permission, and it isn’t until she nods that he finally speaks.
“The magic is dying, Ollie,” he whispers.
“What do you mean the magic is dying?” My grip tightens around my earthenware mug until my knuckles ache.
“I think your father knew this day was coming,” my mother whispers.
“Somebody better start explaining themselves,” I shout, slamming my fists into the stone table, rising to my feet.
“Shh, the neighbors will hear.” There is no privacy in the caverns. My mother clutches my wrist, then withdraws as if she grasped a flame. Her eyes go wide as she snatches my elbow and turns my arm to expose the inside of my left forearm.
“Where did this come from?” she whispers, tears welling in her eyes. I have watched my mother grieve her dead husband and lose the functioning in her hands that allowed her to weave master pieces, and yet the words she speaks to me are more filled with heartbreak than any I have ever heard before.
My gaze finally drops to my arm. I pull back on instinct, as if I can escape from the brand etched into my skin, but my mother tightens her grip.
“Where?” The word is but a whisper on her trembling breath.
“I—I—” I stammer because there are no words.
The brand glows gold on my skin. An outline of a dragon, twisted in a knot that symbolizes infinity.
I have never seen the mark before. I’m certain of it…
except I have. I have seen it every night in my dreams. I saw it just today as my body pressed into an iron door that would not open.
“What is it?” I whisper.
My mother shakes her head. “We do not speak of such things.”
“Mama!”
“Oliviana, you can tell no one of this. No one can see the mark. Do you understand me?” My mother’s eyes lock onto mine, and she does not look away until I repeat the words.
“I understand.”
She then looks at Dom, her brow furrowed in worry. “She may need your protection more than I thought. You have my blessing.”
Dom goes deathly still, and my gaze passes between the two of them, trying to untangle what is left unspoken.
“Dominic, what is my mother giving you her blessing for?”
Dom pushes a long, slow breath through his pursed lips, then slowly, tentatively, he reaches out to take my hand in his.
He moves like I’m a wild animal, and any sudden movement may scare me away.
His caution rings warning bells in my mind, and my pulse pounds in my ears louder than the alarm horns from the caverns.
“I came here tonight to ask for your mother’s blessing.”
“For. What?” I bite out each word.
His grip tightens on my hand. “It’s the only way I can protect you.”
I shake my head, refusing to accept what I know he’s saying. No, if he hasn’t said the words, then it isn’t true.
“My gods, you are going to make this difficult, aren’t you?” He looks deep into my eyes, a shy smile spreads across his lips, and my heart stops. How I wish I wanted him to say what he was going to say next. How I wish he wanted to say it for the right reasons. But we were not that type of match.
“Ollie Ryū Lux, will you do me the honor of uniting your life with mine? From now until eternity?”
“Dominic—” I bit back tears. This isn’t what either of us wants.
“Ollie, I know. I know…” he lets the words fade between us, his gaze dropping to the stone table beneath our clutched hands.
When he speaks again, it’s in a hushed whisper.
“I know that this isn’t what we planned.
But you are my best friend in The Below and The Above and the stars beyond.
That is more of a foundation than most have.
You are my family, and I would do anything to keep you safe. ”
“But this?” I know Dom hears the words I don’t say.
If he chooses me, he is sacrificing love.
He is sacrificing his chance of finding the person he burns for with a passion.
The kind of love that invades the mind and drives you mad.
Dom is a romantic. I know how badly he wanted to find that kind of love.
And he’s offering to give it all up. For me.
Tears streak down my face.