Chapter 5
Five
Aesira
The Phoenix was raucous as usual as Aesira and two of her knights squeezed through the crowded tavern to find a spot at the bar.
“Any luck with the headliner?” Aesira snatched a pint from behind the counter and slid it to Nev, her second in command. Finally, the three of them had a night off, the first in weeks, and the promise of indulging in a foamy point had driven her through the last of her rounds at the wall.
Nev took a sip of the foamy ale, licking it clean from her lips. “Some young shit trying to make a name for himself. I shut him up,” she said. “I’d tell her Majesty not to worry.”
Aesira snorted and took a sip of the sour ale. “If only you knew my sister.”
Nora waved down the barkeep and ordered another round before she’d even taken a sip of her first drink.
Aesira and Nev shot her a look and she smiled, crinkling her freckled nose.
“What?” She shrugged. “If I’m being assigned to a perilous quest across the least charted land in the country, why shouldn’t I enjoy my last night off? It’s not like the Order will know.”
Nev tossed a broken piece of cracker at her twin before returning to her drink. Between the two, Aesira had chosen to take Nora with her, leaving Nev here to look after Kamari. She didn’t trust Lord Raffe for a second and if she couldn’t keep an eye on him herself, Nev was her next best option.
“And if the General finds out you two have left your station?” Nev asked, pulling her red hair back into a tight bun.
Aesira hid her flinch at the mention of the General, the Order’s highest ranking officer.
Her direct superior. The small wounds that lined her neck and arms ached, the memories of what she’d endured at the hand of the woman who was meant to be her savior rising to the surface.
“She won’t find out, we’ll be back before our official orders are up. ”
“When do we leave?” Nora asked.
Aesira took a sip of her drink, steadying her nerves and numbing the phantom pains in her arms and neck. “Just as soon as that smuggler fixes the ship.”
“Stone,” a voice came from behind them. Aesira let out a long sigh before Stone leaned between her and Nora, sliding a few coins on the bar top.
“My name is Stone, we’ve gone over this, Commander.
” A small smile tugged at his lips. “I’m wounded you don’t remember.
” He turned his focus to Nora. “Forgive me for the reach, I just need to pay my tab.”
“How civil of you,” Aesira mused. “Wouldn’t peg you as the kind of man to make sure his dues are paid.”
“Oh?” Stone crossed his arms across his broad chest. “And what kind of man do you peg me for?”
Nora coughed into her drink, concealing a laugh.
Aesira stood, abandoning her half-drunk ale on the bar.
“You think you’re clever,” she said, “but clever men don’t get caught.
And if my math is right–” She held up one, two, three fingers and smiled.
“You were caught three times smuggling durgi from the Outpost to both Novaria and Vargah.”
Stone’s smile widened, his hands raising in defeat.
“That’s fair,” he said. “I did get caught.” He stepped closer, invading her space.
Grease and oil still stained his shirt. He pushed his glasses up and Aesira’s eyes snagged on a pointed star inked to the side of his neck.
“I also got out,” he said. “I’m a free man now, Commander.
As much as I’m sure that disappoints you. ”
Aesira stepped back, creating space between them. “You would do well to remember your place, Stone Odega.” She spat the name like it was a curse, and to those who bore it maybe it was. A constant reminder of their past mistakes, branded into them for everyone to see.
Stone reached around her and grabbed her drink from the bar, sipping it slowly.
“That’s mine.”
“And where is my place, Commander? Beneath you?” Stone cocked his head to the side.
The sour smell of ale drifted from his lips and she had to wonder how many drinks he’d had tonight.
The first night they met, he’d been quiet.
Timid. But now he looked at her with the confidence of someone in power.
Maybe it was the deal with Kamari that fueled his swagger.
Maybe it was the drink he was steadily polishing off.
He swallowed back the rest of her drink and set the empty glass on the bar.
“Trust me, I couldn’t forget being beneath you if I tried.
” He leaned in and Aesira tilted back, though with the bar behind her, there wasn’t anywhere to go.
His lips brushed against her ear. “Admittedly, I haven’t tried very hard.
In fact, I’m picturing myself beneath you right–”
Aesira’s short blade was off her hip and under Stone’s chin before he could say another word. She pushed it into his soft flesh, not hard enough to mark him, but enough to silence him. “Finish that sentence, I dare you.”
“Stone.” A man wrapped his arm around Stone’s shoulder, pulling him back, away from Aesira.
“I think you’ve had enough.” His dark, angular eye swept over Aesira, then to Nev and Nora, his other eye covered with a dark patch.
Aesira dropped her blade. “Pardon my unintelligent friend, here. He’s had a few too many. ”
“Queen’s money burning a hole in your pocket, Odega?” Nora giggled, sipping her drink.
The man holding Stone turned his attention to Nora, his dark eye lazily taking her in from top to bottom. “And who pays you, sweetheart?” A flush of pink swept over Nora’s freckled cheeks. “Exactly. Queen’s money or not, it all spends the same.”
Aesira tucked her blade away. “At least our money has been earned,” she mumbled.
Stone opened his mouth, but the man stepped in front of him.
His dark hair was swept back, gathered at the nape of his neck, his frame much larger than Stone’s.
“I’m Patch.” He extended his hand, did he expect her to take it? Shake hands with an Odega?
“Aesira,” she said, ignoring his hand completely.
“Another ex-smuggler?” Nora sipped her drink, watching the man over the rim of her glass.
“What gave it away?” Patch asked through a smile. “We should go, boss.” He patted Stone on the back, gave Nora a quick wink, then wove through the crowd.
Stone leaned in towards Aesira again, “I’ll see you at the docks,” he said, before he left to join Patch at the back of the tavern where two others were waiting.
All of the criminals Kamari had released.
Aesira sunk back into her stool and ordered another ale.
“Well they seem fun,” Nev said through a smile.
“He’s a nuisance.”
“I don’t know,” Nora said, “he’s pretty cute. Don’t you think he’s cute, Nev? Not as cute as Patch, but cute.”
Nev stifled a laugh behind her drink and Aesira thought twice about leaving them both at the bar.
“Not my type,” Nev said.
“Right,” Nora said through a laugh. “We know your type.” She nodded to the end of the bar where a group of women huddled together, laughing and chatting. “At least be courteous and buy them a drink if you’re going to stare.”
“Fuck off,” Nev said before downing her drink.
Aesira listened to the sisters bicker back and forth but her mind was elsewhere. The memory of her and Stone’s bodies entwined together in the bathroom burned her cheeks. It was embarrassing. A regret she wished she could forget.
“He’s clearly taken,” Aesira said to no one in particular, brows pinching as she watched Stone from across the tavern.
He leaned into one of the women at the table.
Her face was slim and angular, short honey hair cropped blunt at her jaw.
She was whispering something now, making Stone smile, but what did it matter?
Stone Odega was the last thing she needed to be thinking about.
In just a few days, they’d leave Vargah and embark on a mission she wasn’t sure she believed in.
No, she was positive it would fail.
She’d never tell Kamari that. She couldn’t stand seeing her sister hurt.
Aesira had always done her best to avoid being the root of her sister's pain. She was determined to give this mission everything she had. She’d take all the years she spent under the Order’s boot, all the training and diligence and put it to good use.
She sipped from her fresh ale and couldn’t help as her gaze drifted to the back of the tavern again.
Stone and the woman sat next to each other and across from them, another woman with deep brown skin and the man who introduced himself as Patch.
The ale was bitter, not as sweet as the last one like she preferred, but she sipped it and returned her focus to Nora and Nev.
Nothing would stand in her way of helping her sister, not even a table full of Odegas.
“Are you sure you’re ready to go?” Kamari paced Aesira’s small room. She was biting her nails again, a habit their mother hated when they were children.
“I’m sure.” Aesira slipped her chestplate on, tightening the buckles. “Are you sure you can handle things here while I’m gone?” Kam stopped her pacing and her nostrils flared.
Shit.
Aesira was good at that. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. In fact, sometimes she wondered if it was all she was good at. But the heaviness of the sword at her side reminded her that she possessed more skills than being a shitty sister.
“I told you I’m not completely useless,” Kam snapped. “Plus I have Hanna. Nev. I’ll be fine.”
Aesira crossed the room and placed her hands on her sister's shoulders. “Am I not allowed to worry?”
Kam sighed and her face softened. “I’m worried too. About you. About Desmond. About this damn list and the people of my city.”
My city.