25. Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter twenty-five
Hours later, mind and body still buzzing, I escape to the minimal privacy our small tent provides.
The quiet space is a reprieve after rehashing the events of the day and navigating uncomfortable amounts of gratitude from a very relieved Nav and Djalira, the Remedy healer insisting I call her Lira now.
I stare up at the domed roof and listen to the pops of wet wood in the fire.
The Goddess must have been watching over us today, despite me ignoring the warning not to traverse the fallen tree, a few minor injuries and a lost pack the only casualties of the encounter.
Although Djalira...Lira is concerned what we'll do without the bulk of our medical supplies.
Hopefully, we won't need them before we can resupply somewhere.
I can’t stop thinking about what I saw before we crossed. Was there a connection to those creatures attacking and Lira nearly falling? Or was it a coincidence? I should've insisted we use the bridge. Maybe then, none of it would've happened.
As if reading my mind, Willa rolls to her side and places a glowing silence stone between us. "What was that, on the other side of the river earlier?" In the low light, there's no judgement, only gentle curiosity on her face as she waits.
"I don't know, Wils. I can't explain it. There was just a bad feeling more than anything, and a picture of something that didn’t make sense. I just felt like we should use the bridge."
She nods thoughtfully. "Well, if you get a feeling like that again, I think it's safe to say we should listen to it." I blow out a breath through pursed lips, pulling the blankets up and shifting my position in a fruitless search for softer ground under my bedroll.
"A few weeks into your first mission, and you're already saving a life. Not bad. Maybe you should make this Shield thing permanent," Willa jokes, and I shoot her an incredulous look.
"I did not save Lira. She used her magic to save herself. I was useless out there."
"Oh, come on, Aly, give yourself some credit. Or should we go ask Nav if he thinks you were useless?"
"Ok, fine. Useless might’ve been a little harsh. Now can we change the subject please?"
"Only because I've been dying to tell you that I think they found something earlier," Willa whispers.
Even with the stone muffling the clarity of our words, there's always a chance someone could be close enough to overhear.
"Before we realized you guys were in trouble, the others were very intentionally scouring the area while Felix and I sorted out the tents on our own. "
"Really? Do you know what they were looking for?"
"They wouldn't say, just seemed excited about something, and then Zenn was whispering with Jeska and Hendrix all through dinner."
"Did you ask him about it?" I ask quietly with a knowing smile I doubt she can even see in the dim glow coming through the canvas.
"In all the time we get together, you mean?" She grins. "Sharing tents and travelling with both my brothers is not exactly conducive to getting to know him better, let alone anything else."
"At least the sneaking around thing is hot,” I laugh. “Although I'm surprised Cayzenn hasn't caught on. You're not as subtle as you think you are, always walking together, and those long, flirty looks–" My whisper cuts off when she whacks me with her small pillow, and we dissolve into giggles.
"Funny you should mention Zenn and flirting in the same sentence," Willa teases when she has the breath to speak. "I notice things too, you know, like how I wake up to an empty tent every morning. And what do you know? So does Hendrix."
Grateful she can't see my face flush, I opt for playing innocent.
"No idea what you're talking about." A stretch of the truth at best, if I feel like admitting it. Sometimes, there does seem to be a tiny spark of something in the quiet mornings we’ve been sharing.
But it's nothing, a harmless flirtation.
It could never be anything more, so it's not worth interrogating.
"Uh huh, sure. You have no idea." After a pause, she adds, "Just be careful, ok? I mean, personally, I think you'd be good for him–"
"But we're both goldenbloods. He's the only five-star magic-wielder since the original three, and a drop of my weaker blood in his would corrupt and strip him of all that lovely power…
so we should stay away from each other." The bitter words tumble out in a rush, and Willa gives me a sympathetic look.
She's no stranger to the resentment I have toward magic. Even if she doesn’t know the real reason for it.
"That about sums it up, although it’s not exactly what I was going to say.
" We go back to speculating about what they’re doing up here, and eventually, she falls asleep mid-story, leaving me wide awake.
Every time I drift off, images of snapping jaws and swirling smoke under translucent skin flood my mind until I give up and throw my cloak over the pants and long-sleeve shirt I sleep in.
I slip out of the tent to find something productive to do.
Managing to stoke the fire back up from its last few embers, I soak oats for breakfast then find the coffee, enjoying the ritual of brewing it meticulously, careful to make as little noise as possible.
There's something magical about being out in the chilled air, stars twinkling through the dark canopy of leaves overhead, with a steaming hot drink.
"Got any more of that?" comes a warm, sleepy voice from my left, and Cayzenn slides onto the log next to me, empty cup in hand.
Filling it from the small pot I made, not expecting anyone to be up for hours, I look up into his brilliant blue eyes and forget how to breathe.
The defined lines of his chiseled face and muscular body, contrasting with the soft fabric of his sleep clothes, make him look deliciously cuddly and ridiculously hot at the same time.
"Good morning, or at least I think it's morning," he says quietly, the corner of that mouth curving up. Goddess have mercy, that fucking smile melts any semblance of a defense I pretend to possess.
"Good morning." I smile, hoping if he notices my pink cheeks, he’ll blame it on the cold.
Wrapped in shadows, it's as if we're the only two people in the world when he weaves that silvery magic into a bubble around us and the fire.
What it must be like to have a constant stream of power at your fingertips.
"I see your magic's replenished. Is your arm ok?
" Lira was understandably shaken last night, so I'd collected young kawa leaves and crushed them into a paste while she and Cayzenn washed out their wounds in a nearby stream before applying it.
Nav gave up one of his clean training shirts to be torn into bandages, and that was about as good as it was going to get without proper supplies.
"It’s fine. My leathers took the brunt of the bite. We'll stay here for the day. No doubt my magic will be back to full strength after another meal or two." He takes a large sip of his drink and winces.
"I knew I wasn't imagining it. Why is yours so much better?" I demand.
He snickers at my indignation, putting down the cup of offending liquid to tap his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know, Reyaal. You’re asking me to trust you with my deep, dark secrets now."
"Your dark secrets involve…coffee?"
"This one does, and since you're the first person to notice the difference, I guess I'll confess.
If you promise not to tell anyone." He rummages through one of the food supply bags and pulls out a large burnished metal canister.
Almost too fast for me to process, he pricks his thumb on the small dagger hidden at his belt and swipes the bead of blood across the canister's lid.
It pops open, the inviting smell unmistakable.
"Are you serious? You have a private stash, and it's imbued?" I clap a hand over my mouth, trying and failing to silence my delighted cackle.
The smile he flashes is half bashful, half proud.
"What can I say? In this and this alone, I am a snob.
" He takes my cup and throwing out the rest of its contents with an exaggerated look of disappointment.
"In my defense, the caffeine is basically a necessity to help me control my magic, so I figure I may as well enjoy it. "
"Aww, poor little five-star. It must be so hard to have all that power at your disposal," I tease, trying to keep the envy out of my voice.
"Laugh all you like, at least I have an excuse for my addiction.
" He smirks. "Besides, when it first came in after the Ritual, it was so strong, Hortica had to make me the most disgusting daily tonic from, I think it was lumacaria extract, to dampen access to my magic so it didn’t consume me.
This is a significant improvement on the taste of that.
Now, do you want to stop giving me grief and relight the fire so I can make you a proper coffee? "
I glance over to see the low flames must have completely died out while we were talking. "I would if I knew how."
Cayzenn pauses, surprise flashing across his face before he sets down the small pot he was rinsing to grab kindling and a small handful of straw. "It's easy. I'll show you."
Five minutes later, and I've successfully proven him wrong about it being easy if you don’t know what you're doing.
I understand stacking small, dry pieces of wood with space between for the air to flow.
Getting a spark from the flint-striker, on the other hand, is impossible.
I'm getting more and more frustrated while he makes a poor attempt to not outright laugh at me.
When I'm about ready to throw the sharp piece of quartz at the man's head, he relents.
Coming to kneel beside me, he wraps strong hands around mine, the dark ink of his tattoo blacker than the midnight sky against my pale skin.
"Hold it tight in this hand," he says quietly with a squeeze of my left.
"Carefully strike your dagger blade down with the other, the harder the better.
" I nod, pretending it doesn't take an embarrassing amount of effort to pay attention to the motions he's making with our joined hands instead of leaning into him.
On the third strike, a small flame leaps from stone to straw, igniting it and the thinnest of the branches balanced above.
I grin, stupidly proud of the new skill I've acquired.
"Good. Now, just keep feeding it until it blazes on its own.
" I nod, keeping my eyes trained on the fire until he slides the copper pot onto a small grate and balances it over the heat to simmer.
As soon as Cayzenn determines the coffee is ready, he fills our mugs, and we sit back from the fire. "Much better than what I made," I admit with an appreciative hum.
He nods smugly. "How come you're up so early anyway?"
"I can't stop thinking about yesterday, about Lira and the attack and…before. What were those creatures? That skin and the way they burst like that—it wasn't natural, right?”
"They're Pavor. Well, technically, Pavor wolves. We think they're coming over from the south point, though what they're doing all the way out here, I don't know. These ones were stronger than others we've encountered. I've never seen anything get through our shields like that."
"How do you know they're coming from there? I didn't think anything could survive in Envenar." I guess I already know that's not true, since I'm pretty sure Varistia lives there.
He doesn’t meet my eyes for a minute before admitting, "That's what happens to people who get banished there. The soil strips their magic, their life force."
He means as a punishment for crimes like treason.
I can’t say I’m really concerned that fate is what's in store for me, given the importance of the bloodline and with Bri gone now.
An involuntary shiver still ripples through me, though.
"Wait, so there are people like those wolves too? It doesn't kill them?"
"Not immediately, no."
"How did they consume your magic like that?"
Cayzenn tilts his head to the side. "What do you mean, consume it?"
"When they made it all the way to us and were ripping through your shields, they were eating the pieces they tore off. You didn't see?" My voice trails off. Did I imagine that?
"I didn't, and I've never heard of anything doing that either. We don't know nearly enough about them, didn't even know animals could become Pavor until recently."
"So they're not what you're out here looking for? That's not the connection to the white soil?"
"You and your questions." He huffs a laugh, trying but failing to sound annoyed. "There are a few things we're looking for, but no, we're not hunting them." He nudges my leg. "Nice try, though."
I laugh too. "Can't blame a girl for wanting to know more. They were terrifying."
He nods. "Probably hungry, like everything else up here. We'll have to start standing watch now, since they can get through our wards." All the Shields had helped build the protective dome around camp last night, thick enough to keep in all sound, light, and even the smells from our cooking.
Apparently, once Cayzenn weaves the initial layer, it's easy enough for the others to add to it.
"Thank you for what you did for Lira yesterday, by the way. I would even say it was impressive, the way you ran that tree, if it wasn’t for the blatant disregard for your own safety.
Are we just chalking it up to good balance again? "
"Probably something to do with years of dance training. I guess muscle memory kicked in when I didn't have time to overthink. I'm just glad she's ok."
"You did well. She told us how calm you were, and the idea to make the tree grow was clever."
I drop my gaze, cheeks heating again at the unexpected compliment. A wavy lock of plum-tinted hair falls into my face; before I can push it back, a tentative hand reaches out and tucks it behind my ear.
The featherlight graze of his fingertips along my cheek sends a current of awareness through my entire body. When I get the courage to look up, his eyes are fixed intently on me.
Before he can say anything else, Jeska's unimpressed voice barks, "Commander," and he jerks back, heated gaze cooling as he leaps to his feet, putting distance between us and striding purposely over to where she stands in training gear, arms crossed over her chest.
"She's your subordinate. What are you–" Her furious voice cuts off, and I try not to feel a pang of hurt when I realize he threw up a sound shield around them as his second-in-command launches into what looks like a serious lecture.
I take that as my cue to get ready for training, ignoring the two sets of eyes following me back to the tent.