Chapter 38 #2
‘It’s not Tisk’s usual magic and I had no tithe to pay him, so…
’ Sunay turned around to reveal a bright orange fox’s tail peeking out the bottom of her embroidered jacket.
‘My lord’s little joke. I’m sure he’ll get tired of it eventually.
Maybe. Artair and Lucian were bleeding a frankly worrying amount, so it seemed like the only thing to do. ’
‘Thank you,’ said Elver, and meant it. ‘Where is the cub? I mean, where is Fleet?’
‘Don’t worry, he still runs with the Pack,’ said Sunay. ‘He’s perfectly safe. Probably learning a few unsavoury habits, if I’m honest.’
‘Oh, I… That’s good, I suppose.’ Privately, she wondered what the Queen of the Serpents would think about one of her children learning the ways of another god, but she found she cared less about the Queen’s ire than she once had.
‘And what happened back there, at Prideful Leap… after I…?’
Artair opened his mouth, shook his head, apparently lost for words. Sunay looked between the two of them, a small smile touching the corner of her mouth.
‘What we need is food,’ she said firmly. ‘With Artair being recently injured and you being recently dead, I think I should be the one to go and do some foraging.’ She brushed her sleeves down briskly, tail twitching. ‘I’ll be back in a little while.’
She scampered off between the trees and Elver watched her go with a faintly troubled smile of her own.
There was a reasonable chance that Sunay would meet other jih, or bring back something inedible, judging by her choice of flowers.
But Artair was looking at her, and she found that she was very glad that they were alone.
‘You came after me, didn’t you? You realized it was a trap.’
‘Lucian did.’ Artair took her hand and held it gently between his own.
‘Tisk brought us together for a little while, and I saw his memories… Mother Maura took the Bloody Claw’s power, but Lucian stole the last dregs of it.
I don’t know what that means, but I suspect it changes things.
Elver, I’ve spent all this time thinking he was a mindless dark spirit intent on chaos and destruction.
But he was a real person, with his own life. Is a real person.’
‘I suspect chaos and destruction still aren’t far from his agenda,’ she replied, thinking of how, all those years ago, he had led her up the steps of the Tumble Stone and given her over into Mother Maura’s care.
‘He has done some terrible things, Artair. It could be that you were closer to the truth than you realize.’
‘I don’t know,’ he said. His thumb moved over the delicate skin of her wrist. It was good to be touched, she thought.
It seemed impossible that she’d spent so long without it.
‘I think that maybe he deserves his own life as much as I do. Maybe there’s something we can do about that. I don’t know what, but I want to try.’
‘Artair…’ This was who he was, she realized. Someone who thought of others first; someone who opened himself up to the world, even if that risked pain and failure. ‘The novices made it back to the Golden Tower. You don’t have to worry about them any more. What are you going to do now?’
He grinned suddenly, as though surprised by his own freedom.
‘I don’t know. There is no order of the Perpetual Morning now, and if everyone who is Sleepless is like Lucian, someone who has been forced out of their body…
I’m not sure there should be an order at all.
We’re all free now, for better or for worse.
’ His hand squeezed hers. ‘What about you?’
‘The forest is my home, but I know there’s more to life than staying at home.
If Lucian has stolen power from Maura, there will be more trouble on its way.
I don’t know. It feels like I’ll be seeing her again soon, somehow.
But I know I won’t be alone.’ She glanced up at him, hoping he would take her meaning. ‘Right?’
Her heart thumping steadily in her throat, she reached up with her free hand and stroked his cheek, his jawline. There was stubble there, delightfully rough under her fingers. His eyes seemed to lighten a shade, as though inside him a delicate flame had burst into life.
‘Elver, can I… kiss you?’
‘I think that would be great, actually.’
They came together hesitantly at first, Elver marvelling at the softness of his lips, and then the kiss became warmer, sweeter, and a little more urgent.
His hand slid around the small of her back, drawing her closer, and she buried her fingers in his hair.
Unbidden, she found herself thinking of Lucian.
The sly way that he smiled, every glance like a knife that knew where to cut you…
She pushed the thoughts away, alarmed by how they made her heart beat faster, and for a little while, there was nothing else.
The sounds of the forest fell away, and there was Elver and Artair, caught in a kiss that felt like it could lead anywhere.
And then they heard Sunay singing, her voice a little louder than it needed to be perhaps, as though she were warning them of her arrival.
Then she stopped singing and called out in a slightly indignant tone:
‘I could have sworn the fire was here! Where are you two? All these trees look the same to me.’
They broke apart, laughing softly.
‘I’m going to find her,’ said Elver. ‘Before she gets herself eaten by a jih creature that wants a bit of peace and quiet.’
Lucian watched the monster girl walk away, his heart hammering in his chest.