Chapter 10 Broken Promise
brOKEN PROMISE
Kalypso
Purple leaves and dark violet branches cast shadows over Kalypso, the daymoon offering illumination between the demonlight lamps along the winding path.
A couple walked their definitely-not-a-dog along the path across from the collection of stone seats and tables where she sat.
Public, but nearly empty, so as not to scare her sister off.
Or be the center of a spectacle should Kaly prove untrustworthy. The council’s words, written much too boldly to be considered anything but a threat.
She brushed a thumb over her knuckles, a whisper of an ache from the morning’s training session with Ozirax where she’d barely spent her jittery energy. Or perhaps it was the reminder of how the tile in the shower had felt splitting her skin and the lack of a note in her palm so many days ago.
But it wasn’t just counting in days anymore, was it?
They’d been in this demon city for two fucking weeks, and she hadn’t seen her sister since the glimpse in the slavers’ cart. Her limp body in a pile with the other women, a dark monster separating them as he held a blade to her throat.
A demon they were meant to hate.
A demon she’d fucked.
All part of her plotting, she lied to herself.
Because a quick hate fuck didn’t matter.
In fact, it worked in her favor, distracting him from her intentions that could never change.
She’d train, she’d go along with all their stipulations, make a few of her own, and the moment she understood the carved ways—wearing new armor sans noxscant piss—she’d be leading Kat out of this cursed forest.
That in mind, Kalypso was grateful for the distance Ozirax kept in the park. Close enough, she knew, that he’d be able to stop her if she tried to run once her sister arrived, but far enough he wouldn’t be able to hear her whisper any plans to Katarina. At least she hoped.
Still, she had to get past this meeting first. Had to make sure she explained all of her instructions and emphasized there was no margin for error. Had to figure out what possible reason Kat would have to send Brioni with messages instead of writing her a note in their code.
Something had to be wrong. It was the only reason her sister wouldn’t write to her. Would be so late to visit when they hadn’t seen each other for—
“Kaly?”
That voice nearly broke her. Kalypso leaped from her seat without a second thought, sweeping Katarina into her arms and crushing her sister into a hug. Too forcefully, because Kat hissed out a breath.
“Sorry, sorry,” Kaly muttered, giving one last squeeze before holding her at arm’s length. “Let me look at you.”
Head to toe, she studied her sister, checking for signs of harm.
Boots and a long dress, normal. Little embroidered patterns on the hems of her long sleeves that were too small for Kaly to decipher, also normal.
A long curtain of tawny hair falling over her face as she ducked her head, even more normal.
Kaly hated to see her sister diminish her height, but looking at her now, it was her sister.
The stunning blue eyes, the soft hair, the fragility of her shoulders and fingers.
Opposite from her own mismatched gaze, thick rope of bronze locks, and breadth of body.
Yet the similarities were there—jaw and nose, full lips, a flare of hips and hint of thighs, albeit not honed in the same way.
“Sit,” Kalypso offered, using her grip to set Kat on the stone seat next to her, her sister’s legs buckling with the overeagerness. Kaly perched herself on the edge of her own seat, then reached up to swipe some of Kat’s hair out of the way to try to see more of her face.
She’d barely brushed a thumb over the scar curling up from her sister’s lip when Katarina pulled away, her hair falling back over to cover the old wound as she turned away from the touch.
Hand still raised in the air, Kaly felt that leaden weight of emptiness grow in her palm again, but she managed to drop it much quicker this time. “Kat?”
Her sister chewed her lip, looking Kaly up and down quickly, but without the warmth she was accustomed to. “You’re, um, okay?”
“Yes. Did Brioni or Rosalind not—”
“They did, not like you made it easy.”
Kalypso blinked, not just at the aside, but that her sister… interrupted her?
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kat shrugged. “I mean, the demons felt it necessary to separate me from my sister for two weeks because you… I don’t even know anymore. Threatened everyone in existence until they listened to you? Isn’t that how I got the position at the post?”
“I needed to know you’d be safe. I knew Brioni would look out for you.”
Her sister’s jaw worked, but she didn’t answer.
Fine. It was fine. This was out of character, but of course it was. They’d been thrust into this new world, forced to stay against their wishes, and become the center of attention. Six humans, the outcasts—and curiosities—of the Achreos Barrens. Of course her sister hated it here.
That only meant it would be easier to convince her to go along with this plan.
Kaly blew out a breath and gripped Kat’s shoulders. “Forget about all of that, okay? I know these two weeks have been hells, but I’m working on it. I’m going to fix everything.”
In her hands, her sister remained stiff.
“This is just temporary,” Kaly continued, squeezing Kat’s arms in reassurance. “I’ve been working on a plan, and really, it’s their own fault for separating us. Being in the guard gives me access to their forest, and once I learn the carved ways, we have our chance at escape.”
Kat’s eyes widened. “Escape?”
“Shh!” she hissed, then rubbed Kat’s skin where her fingers had tightened. “Not so loud. Can’t go ruining this plan when I’m so close. There’s a job next month in Ankerick that could set us up, and we can still make it in time.”
“Kaly, wait,” her sister whispered, shaking her head. “What are you talking about? We can’t leave.”
“Of course we can. I thought the cuffs would be a problem, but I’m getting the hang of the runes. That’s why I need you close. I’m going to work on getting you transferred to the barracks. There’s some clerical work you’d be qualified for, and that way, when the opportunity comes, we can—”
“But I like the post.”
Kalypso snapped her teeth so quickly she nicked the tip of her tongue, but then she was snorting. “Funny, but I’m being serious, and I don’t know how much time we’re going to be given here. I need you close if—”
“I don’t want to go.”
This time, Kalypso couldn’t form a response.
“I don’t want to go,” Kat repeated, as if Kaly’s stunned silence meant she hadn’t heard. “You might have forced me into it, but I like working at the post. I’m good at it.”
Something inky stirred in Kalypso’s gut. “Do you… like it here? In Achreos Barrens?”
A noncommittal noise came from under the curtain of hair. “It’s better than Ankerick.”
That darkness crawled up Kaly’s throat as she leaned back, looking her sister over again in confusion. It was her… on the outside. But the words, the voice…
“You’re still mad about our fight. The one before we were ambushed.”
Kat recoiled. “Mad? Kaly, you—”
“This is a joke.” It came out in a disbelieving huff, but Kaly could taste the vitriol on her tongue.
“I told you it was a bad plan, I told you it was bad intel, but you swore. Then you started to pout, and I was distracted trying to protect you—of course you’re content here when you got us into this mess in the first place—”
“Me?”
“—but as usual, I am forced to clean up your mess. While you’ve been cozy at the post, I’ve been the one trying to fix your mistakes and get us out of here. I’ve been doing this for you.”
“Stop smothering me!”
Kaly flinched—at the volume, at the tear slipping down Kat’s cheek, either. Her sister’s chest rose and fell rapidly with her breaths, and Kalypso wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anger like this before.
Her sister was soft, innocent, naive. Too trusting, always seeking the good in people who would turn around and stab her in the back for it.
This was fear and anger and… dare she say stubbornness?
Kat shook her head, still keeping herself hidden behind her curtain of hair.
“I messed up, yes, but can’t you see this is the best thing for us?
We have work that doesn’t involve back alleys and drugs.
A roof over our heads, food, money to spend.
Why do you have to mistrust the first good thing in our lives? ”
“First good thing?” Kaly scoffed. “All you’ve ever had were good things because I made sure of it! School, food, thread, safety. You’ve never known burdens, never worried about surviving, because I did that for you.”
“I never asked you to!”
This time, Kaly felt the plunge of the words into her gut like a knife.
No, not her gut.
Her heart.
Kat stood, anger and hurt shining in her eyes as she flung her arm wide. “I’m sorry that I got us caught by slavers, but can’t you see this is a chance to start over?”
“I’m trying to protect you, Katarina!”
“You’re trying to control me, just like she did to Dad!”
The knife twisted.
And Kat didn’t even notice.
Or maybe she did, and that somehow hurt worse.
Tears streamed down her sister’s cheeks, and Kaly couldn’t even reach up to wipe them away. Her defenses crumbled, leaving her raw and bleeding in the wake of her sister’s words.
“I thought you’d be happier here,” Kat choked out, voice raising. “Why aren’t you happy? Why can’t you ever be happy?”
Kalypso opened her mouth to say something, anything, only to realize…
She couldn’t answer. Couldn’t remember a time in her life where she’d experienced the emotion.
“Isn’t this exactly what you wanted?” her sister said, shaking her head when Kalypso remained silent. “You don’t have to worry about me anymore now that we’re taken care of. So maybe, for once, you can focus on yourself and remember that promise you made me when we first ran.”
Kalypso’s body felt vacant, her insides spilling into the darkness around them.