Chapter 44 #5
“And to Lyra lasting till now. For a Hollowborn she has done pretty damn good.” Dax tilted his glass to my own.
I raised it to his and the others, “To my friends.” Everyone’s voice sounded at once as they all repeated the toast.
I turned my glass to Kieran’s. “And to the grumpy Shadowwielder who never gave up on me, even when I refused to try.”
His hand gripped the skin of my lower back once, “To the stubborn Menace who made it impossible to walk away.”
We drank. The wine was too sweet and heavy with cinnamon.
Dax made a face, and Lidia immediately took his cup. “That solves that.”
“I wasn’t giving it to you.”
“You weren’t drinking it.”
“I could have.”
“You don’t even like it.”
Dax looked at Emrin for help.
She turned away.
Eiryx leaned toward Raiden and murmured a comment too low for me to catch, and Raiden laughed. Vareena slipped her arm through mine.
Dax began telling a story about a Tharellan Solstice when he had apparently fallen into a frozen horse trough at fourteen.
Emrin interrupted him halfway through. “You fell because you were drunk.”
“I had one cup.”
“You were fourteen.”
“It was strong.”
“You cried half the night.”
“I was freezing.”
“You woke crying for Mother in the night”
Dax stared at her. “You are inventing details to embarrass me.”
“I was there. I don’t need to invent anything.”
Raiden laughed hard enough to nearly spill his drink.
Lidia leaned against Emrin’s shoulder. “You have to tell us everything.”
Emrin looked delighted. Dax looked betrayed. Even Eiryx was smiling, faint enough that I nearly missed it.
“Aha!”
The smile vanished. “What?”
“You smiled.”
“I did not.”
“You totally did.”
Dax immediately forgot his humiliation. “Lark smiled? I didn’t think that was included in his prototype.” Eiryx looked at me with genuine betrayal. I could do nothing but laughed.
The room was warm, too warm after the wine. Someone opened the western terrace doors, and cold mountain air poured into the hall.
Vareena shivered once and Raiden moved closer without thinking, and she slipped beneath his arm.
He looked down at her, visibly pleased.
“You’re unbearable,” she told him.
“You came back for a second dance.”
“That was pity.”
“You kissed me out of pity too?”
Silence. Perfect, catastrophic silence.
Raiden’s face flushed as he heard himself. Vareena was just as red. Dax’s mouth dropped open.Lidia bent at the waist. “Oh, that is painful.”
Raiden covered his face with one hand. “I forgot all of you were standing here.”
“How?” Emrin asked. “We’re six feet away.”
“I don’t know.”
Dax clapped him on the uninjured shoulder. “I respect you more than I did ten seconds ago.”
“Please stop talking.”
Vareena’s face had gone bright red now. For two seconds, I thought she might kill Raiden. Then she laughed. She tried to hide it. Failed.
Raiden lowered his hand. “That could have gone worse.”
“It may yet.” She caught his sleeve and pulled him away before Dax could ask a single question, the ribbon streaming behind her.
Dax looked at Emrin. “Do you think—”
“Don’t finish that sentence unless you want me to continue the horse story.”
Lidia stole my wine. I let her. I laughed until the ache in my ribs reminded me they were bruised. Kieran’s hand remained warm against my back.
When I turned, he was watching me. “What?” His mouth curved. Then he leaned down and kissed my temple. The touch lasted a second, public enough that I knew Vareena had noticed from halfway across the floor without needing to check.
I closed my eyes.
Tomorrow, breakfast. The lower market. Vareena and I would eat something awful from a stall and spend money on things we did not need.
Raiden would endure whatever Dax had planned for him.
Lidia would complain about the wine she kept stealing and deny she had a headache.
Kieran would sit at our table and hate every second of Dax speaking before sunrise.
There was so much tomorrow that I could almost believe in it.
A lantern above the western arch flickered. I only noticed because I happened to be facing it. Its silver flame dipped and recovered. The terrace doors were open. I thought the cold air had disturbed it.
Then Kieran’s hand left my back. I turned and whatever softness had been in his face was gone.
Across the hall, Eiryx lifted his head at the same instant.
The music continued. Another lantern dimmed. Nobody stopped dancing.
Vareena had one hand in Raiden’s and was laughing while he tried to recover the step he had missed. Her pale gold ribbon moved through the crowd. Dax was reaching for another drink. Emrin had turned toward Lidia. Damon was speaking to one of the Elyndorian delegates near the eastern gallery.
No one seemed to notice the thin black current threading through the old ward lines beneath the western arch.
Kieran did.
His body went rigid beside me.
“Kieran?” He didn’t answer. A third lantern went out. Eiryx was already moving. Kieran caught my arm, not hard, but enough to pull me behind him. “Lyra.”
The way he said my name emptied every trace of wine from my head. “What is it?” His Shadow spread beneath his boots. Across the room, the western ward flashed once. Then went black.