14 LONNIE
THE INN, THE VILLAGE OF FORLORN
Having seen one tavern in Elsewhere, I would bet I’d seen them all.
Like the inns in the capital, the inside was dark and smelled of tobacco and that delicious bread I’d smelled along the road. The long bar took up most of the room, with mismatched tables and chairs covering the remainder of the floor space. In the back corner, a staircase led to what I hoped were rooms for rent.
I made a beeline for the bar, and caught the eye of the thin, green-eyed man pouring ale. I let out a sigh of relief. He was human, perhaps ten years older than my own age of twenty-one, and carried no weapons that I could see. As far as barkeeps went, this male seemed harmless.
“Evening,”
the man said gruffly, not looking at me.
“Hello,”
I replied, trying to sound friendly.
The man looked up sharply at the sound of my voice. His eyes lingered on my body, then panned up to my face with interest. He smiled with a slightly lecherous gleam in his gaze. “Looking to stay the night?”
“Yes, actually. Do you have any rooms available?”
The man’s grin widened. “Even if I didn’t, I’d kick someone out for you, beautiful.”
Bael took a lurching step toward the bar, and I stepped as hard as I could on his foot. “Thank you. How much?”
I silently prayed that he was not greedy, as I only had a few coins in my pocket. The money I’d intended to bring with us was left in my bag, long lost back at the harbor, and as a rule neither Bael nor Scion carried much money on their person. I supposed, they’d never had to before, when the whole of the country belonged to them.
The barkeep grinned. “Three bronze pieces, and one more for dinner if you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving,”
I replied, letting out an honest sigh of gratitude as I passed him the coins.
He nodded to one of the bar stools. “Sit there. I’ll bring you something.”
I paused, my heartbeat quickening. There was no chance I could sit so close if I wanted the princes to stay hidden. I glanced around, and spotted a shadowed table on the far side of the room. “I’ll sit over there if you don’t mind.”
The barman winked. “Don’t feel like talking?”
This time it was Scion who moved so fast, I was nervous the displaced air would be visible. He moved around behind the bartender, grabbed a glass off a shelf, and smashed it on the floor.
I jumped, at the sound, and glared at the prince’s unapologetic smirk behind the bartender’s back. “You’re welcome,”
he mouthed.
I shook my head, as the man whipped around, seeing nothing except the broken glass on the floor. “Fuck, did you see that?”
I grimaced. “Must’ve fallen.”
I gritted my teeth as I made my way to the table, and sat down gingerly in a wooden chair with my back to the bar, letting the princes slide onto the bench across from me facing the room. As long as I kept my back to the room and my voice low, no one would realize I was speaking.
“Was that necessary?”
I muttered under my breath.
Bael and Scion glanced at each other, a silent understanding passing between them.
“Very necessary, little monster,”
Bael said, speaking for both of them.
“Stop that,”
I said, acidly.
“Stop what?”
Bael asked.
“You’re always leaving me out of conversations, as if you need to take care of me at every turn.”
Scion made a derisive noise low in his throat. “We do.”
Bael rubbed the back of his neck, looking only slightly more apologetic. “You do find a truly baffling number of ways to injure yourself, little monster.”
I scoffed, but could not answer as at that moment, the barkeep appeared behind me carrying a plate of food. He placed it on the table and grinned. “Let me know if you’d like company.”
“Er, right. Thank you.”
I pursed my lips as he walked away.
“See?”
Scion muttered. “If you were truly alone, then that man?—”
“Would what?”
I interrupted. “Flirt with me? You’re ridiculous.”
Scion’s gaze burned, and he shot another dirty look at the bartender, but said nothing. Perhaps we’d ventured slightly too close to the topic of what might be between us. Or, perhaps he simply didn’t care to keep arguing. I’d never truly know.
Bael put a hand flat on the table, and leaned forward. “Eat, little monster, while it’s still hot.”
I picked up my fork, and used the edge to saw at my chicken. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get something for you two. It would have looked strange to order three plates.”
Bael waved me off. “We’re fine.”
I looked guiltily at the chicken and vegetables on my plate. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“Of course,”
Scion replied. “But the difference is we can’t starve to death.”
“We have more important things to discuss, anyway,”
Bael added. “Clearly, we were wrong. Ambrose isn’t going to wait until closer to the third hunt to come after you.”
I took a bite of chicken and chewed slowly, thinking. “Maybe he doesn’t want to be king.”
“Impossible,”
Scion spat. “He led a fucking raid on the kingdom and took the crown, and more importantly, you don’t know him.”
“Do you?”
I asked, my curiosity taking over. “Do you really know him either? Hasn’t it been decades since you two spent any time together?”
Scion clenched his jaw. “Yes, but believe me, I know my own brother. Ambrose wants to be king. He was literally born for it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Fine, then what is he trying to do?”
“I don’t know, little monster,”
Bael said. “But I think we should assume he’ll keep trying whatever it is. Perhaps we should reconsider if Aftermath is the safest option, right now.”
I shook my head vigorously, forgetting entirely to be inconspicuous. “No. I refuse to join the hunts again, if that’s what you’re thinking. Or go to Overcast.”
“But if you’re constantly under attack?—”
“Then I would be under attack anywhere,”
I said fiercely. “Rather than hiding, the two of you might try teaching me to defend myself.”
“We can if you like,”
Bael said with a sideways grin. “But as I recall, we’ve tried that before.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “At least tell me all the ways I could kill a fairy.”
Bael laughed, and I had to kick him under the table to remind him to keep his voice down. “Sorry, little monster,”
he chuckled. “I just never thought you of all people would have to ask that.”
I felt a flush creep up my cheeks. He was right, of course. I was only sitting here now because I’d killed the most powerful Fae in Elsewhere with my bare hands, long before I ever consciously attempted to use any magic. I’d seen dozens of Fae die since, and killed a handful myself…but that had been mostly luck.
“I know about weapons from the source,”
I said, somewhat defensively. “But there must be other ways that I don’t know about.”
“Why does it matter?”
Scion asked, almost suspiciously.
I rolled my eyes. “Because despite my best efforts, you’re right. I am injured constantly, and perhaps the next time someone decides to shoot me with a crossbow, or lock me in a dungeon, or take on another face to creep into my room, the two of you won’t be there.”
They fell silent, and shared another of their infuriating silent glances. No one was laughing anymore, presumably because I was right. I needed to know every possible way to defend myself, as I’d inevitably use them all.
“First is as you just said,”
Scion said finally. “Weapons forged in the source. Iron, steel, silver, it doesn’t matter as long as it came from the source forge.”
I glanced at the thin, pinkish line that still crossed the prince’s face. Only hours ago, it had been an open wound, but evidently I was not the only one to benefit from the effects of blood healing. Scion looked almost back to normal, though the pale scar remained, and I suspected it would always be there from now on. Still, the prince seemed nearly as uncomfortable as I’d ever seen him, and I remembered suddenly that he’d executed many people for the queen while in the military. Perhaps this was bringing up bad memories.
“Why don’t wounds from Source-forged weapons heal completely?”
I asked quickly, hoping to give him something else to focus on.
“Because that’s the source of our magic,”
Scion said, as if that was all the explanation needed.
I frowned. “Alright, what else?”
“Wilde magic in general,”
Bael said. “Like the smoke at Aftermath that turned the Fae into the afflicted, or the afflicted themselves.”
I opened my mouth again, but he answered my question before I could ask. “That’s for the same reason as the Source-forged weapons, and also why we say that the elderly have returned to the Source, if they choose to move on to the next life.”
I held up the fingers on my right hand, and put two down, as if I was counting down a list. “What else? Or are those the only ways?”
“Not the only ways, no,”
Scion said heavily. “We can’t starve, freeze, suffocate, drown or bleed to death, but dismemberment or burning will eventually kill nearly anything. Beheading, also. There are not many creatures that can live without their heads.”
“There are also curses,”
Bael said. “That’s probably what will get us in the end.”
From his tone, Bael meant the comment in jest, but I didn’t find it all that amusing. Nor, it seemed, did Scion, as all humor wiped off his face.
I quickly searched for something to say. “So, why don’t you take precautions? Ban source forged weapons or destroy the forge or…something, I don’t know.”
To my surprise, they both laughed, and I looked around quickly to make sure no one had heard.
“Because, little monster,”
Bael said. “If we destroyed the source we’d all die. Anyway, getting run through by a Source-forged sword is a fairly uncommon way to go.”
“What’s the most common, then?”
“Magic drain,”
Scion answered darkly, his eyes shadowing over again “Which is precisely what it sounds like. Magic, like any other skill, is finite. Like an athletic ability, even the most gifted magical practitioner will eventually hit their limit and grow exhausted. If any magical being exhausts themselves to the point of full depletion, they’ll die.”
I bit my lip. Was that something I needed to worry about? How did one know how much magic they had?
Like he read my mind, Bael reached out and put a hand over mine. “You’ll be fine, little monster. We wouldn’t let that happen to you.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t entirely sure how he believed he might prevent it from happening, especially if draining was common, but that wasn’t the point right now.
The point was, that for immortals, there certainly were a lot of ways to die, and for once in my life, I was worried about someone other than myself or my family.
If the rebellion continued coming after me, and if Ambrose Dullahan confronted Bael and Scion, I feared it could be the death of all three of them. I couldn’t let anyone sacrifice their life for me.
“Hope this is alright for you.”
The barman stopped in front of a shabby wooden door at the end of the hall. “Since you’re on your own I put you farther away from the other guests.”
I bared my teeth in something between a smile and a grimace. “Thank you…I’m sure it will be fine.”
The moment I’d finished eating, my exhaustion finally caught up with me. Against my better judgment, I allowed the talkative barman to lead me up to my room, with the princes trailing invisible behind us like stalking shadows.
Now, I stood in front of the door to my chamber, waiting for the barman to step aside. Instead, he remained rooted to the spot, seeming entirely unaware that I wanted nothing more than to be rid of him.
Pushing lank hair from his eyes, the man shifted on his feet. “So, where did you come from?”
“The city,”
I replied vaguely, not clarifying which one. “I’m quite tired though, so if you could just…”
“Will you be staying long? If you’re spending more than one night, I could?—”
“I’m leaving early in the morning,”
I cut him off. “Now, excuse me.”
Not caring much how rude I seemed, I elbowed my way past him to open the door of the room. I held it open wider than necessary, allowing the princes to slip in behind me.
“Goodnight.”
The barman grinned suggestively. “Just shout if you need anything.”
Behind me, Scion made an angry sound in the back of his throat. I coughed to cover the sound, and slammed the door shut in the man’s face without so much as returning his “goodnight.”
Bolting the door behind me, I slumped against the wall in exhausted relief.
“Want me to kill him, little monster?”
Bael asked, striding over to the bed.
I glared at him. “I truly hope you are joking. You can’t murder every person who annoys you.”
His lips curled into a mischievous grin, and he gave me a playful wink. “I could, but I won’t as long as he stays downstairs where he belongs.”
I shook my head, and gestured down at my dirt stained and bloody clothing. I’d yet to find a mirror, but I was sure my face looked no better. “How anyone could be interested in me when I look like this is the great mystery of the age.”
“You really don’t see yourself clearly, rebel.”
Scion said flatly.
I turned to look at him, where he still stood rigid by the door, but he’d averted his gaze to the floor.
Not knowing what to say to that, I instead surveyed the cramped bedroom. It was just as dilapidated as the rest of the inn and the dirty walls and creaky floorboards gave it a sense of neglect and abandonment. There was no tub, or even a basin for washing, but I had spotted a bathing room several doors down as we made our way down the hall. The real problem, then, was the small single bed pushed against the wall.
Bael sat down on the end of the bed to unlace his boots, and even sitting he looked too large to fit. I swallowed uncomfortably. Of course, it would have been impossible to ask for multiple beds, but now I wished I’d thought of a way. Would all three of us fit in such a small space? And if not, how would I choose who to leave out?
As if reading my mind, Scion cleared his throat. “It will be fine, rebel.”
My cheeks flushed with embarrassment and the room suddenly felt warmer. Suffocating.
So far, no one had commented on the hum of sexual tension hanging over all of us, and it didn’t seem as if the princes were likely to fight. But, if they were jealous over a bartender, how would it be if they got angry with each other? Or worse, with me? The world may never recover if these two truly fought, and I didn’t want to be the cause of that kind of destruction.
“I-I need to take a bath,”
I stammered, hurrying toward the door.
“No,”
Scion said fiercely, stepping sideways to block the door.
I stopped in my tracks, surprised by his sudden aggressiveness, and looked up at him sharply. “I must. I feel disgusting.”
“Deal with it. Over my dead fucking body are you going anywhere alone.”
“That’s ridiculous. I’m only going down the hall.”
Scion crossed his arms. “No.”
With a frustrated sigh, I turned back to Bael for help. His expression turned sour, and he avoided making eye contact with me. “He’s not wrong, little monster. That innkeeper seemed a little too curious about you, and we don’t know who else might be staying here.”
“He’s harmless, and I haven’t seen another living soul since we arrived.”
Bael fixed me with a hard stare. “I’m not willing to take that chance.
“Then one of you will have to come with me because I refuse to go to sleep covered in this.”
I gestured at the blood and ash coating my skin.
They looked at each other, sharing one of their silent conversations, and finally seemed to come to an agreement.
“We’ll all go,”
Bael announced, standing up.
I looked down, stalking angrily toward the door. It seemed I was to be allowed no reprieve from either of them, and I couldn’t decide if I preferred this new protectiveness, or when both had been out to kill me. At the moment, I might rather have the latter.