by Rae Brooks
“I’m shouting because I just hired this boy, and he’s already trying to scare off my customers with his clumsiness!” the man answered. Nardin. Aela hadn’t even registered his name until she’d heard it spoken by that voice.
Her brother—Taeru—laughed. “You’re the one who is going to scare off your customers with all your shouting, my friend.” He sounded as gentle as he ever had back in Cathalar, always speaking to the most unruly of people in the friendliest of voices.
“Bah! I don’t need a barhand! I knew this was a mistake. I need the extra coin, anyway! Get out of here, boy!” Nardin shouted. His eyes were blazing with irritation.
Taeru spoke again, before Aela had a chance to do much other than squirm beneath the cold reality that she’d been fired. Then again, no reality felt truly bothersome when her older brother was standing within arms’ length of her. Oh, she wanted to hug him! “Honestly, Nardin, if you keep that attitude, then you’ll never get any help. Don’t be so hard on him. Someone probably ran into him?” Taeru’s eyes moved to Aela, and she felt panic spilling through her.
Actually, no. What happened was I am actually a princess who just saw her long lost brother and therefore stopped functioning properly! She couldn’t say that, but she certainly thought it as she stared into his eyes. He didn’t recognize her, she realized. Because while he hadn’t changed much, she had matured much in the last five years—and she was dressed as a boy. “I, uh… yes,” she mumbled.
The old man let out a wary sigh. “Kilik, honestly—that kindness of yours is going to get you hurt one of these suns.”
“It already has,” Taeru answered softly.
“Well enough, though, boy—be glad Kilik’s worth something around here, and that he’s kind enough to interfere. Clean up this mess, and then go get me the supplies I asked you for,” Nardin turned his eyes on Aela as he spoke.
“Y-yes, sir.” Wow, she’d only just seen him a moment ago and already Taeru was taking care of her. But Kilik? Why had that man called him Kilik? Well, Taeru surely couldn’t go about saying his real name in Telandus. But what was he doing here? How was he getting by—and why couldn’t she just hug him?
As Nardin walked away, Aela could feel her heart threatening to explode out of her chest. She couldn’t say that she knew who he was—especially here where they would both surely be overheard by someone who should not overhear. “I, ah… thank you…”
“Don’t worry about it. Try not to get so easily distracted next time, though,” Taeru offered helpfully. Now he was lecturing her—after saving her. Things had clearly not changed much, or rather, Taeru had not changed much. Good—she preferred him the way he had been. “Do you want help with this?” Taeru gestured to the floor.
Aela threw her hands up, not wanting to cause herself any heart attack, and then shook her head. Nevertheless, though, proving further that he had not changed, Taeru insisted upon helping her grab the few broken dishes and bring the rest into the kitchen. She hadn’t had to report back to the cellar since very few of the dishes had actually broken. “Thanks,” she murmured as he placed the last of the dishes onto the shelf.
“You’ve said that,” he said. Oh, she just wanted to hug him, she wanted to leap into his arms, cry hysterically, and tell him about how often she’d thought about him—and how much she’d worried about him.
He seemed alright, she thought. His eyes were a little worn, as though he hadn’t gotten much sleep lately, but he seemed well enough. She wanted to know exactly how he was, though, and she wished that she could say something to him without compromising both of their positions. Though, just as she’d let herself get too comfortable, he paused. He narrowed his eyes as if he saw something suspicious and then spoke. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”
“I, um… I…” All language abandoned her, and she stuttered pointlessly for another few moments before she collected her thoughts. She cleared her throat to buy a few more moments before speaking. “I… I don’t see how! I only just came into town last cycle. So, I think you probably do not… know me… that is.”
He pursed his lips. “I really feel like I’ve seen you before,” he said decisively. But, he didn’t pursue the issue beyond that. “What is your name?”
“I…” She stammered again for a few moments. She couldn’t remember the name that she’d been supposed to give people. Finally, she found it. “I’m Aelic. Aelic Eirgold.” There—that sounded good. She had even given both names, and she didn’t think it had taken too long to respond. “You are… Kilik?” she asked, and the name sounded funny when she applied it to her brother.
He smiled. “Yes.”
He wasn’t going to offer his last name—probably because he was a liar and his name was not at all Kilik. “Do you often go out of your way to help clumsy barhands?” she asked warily. She had her brother here with her, and she wasn’t about to let him vanish without a trace. She couldn’t tell him who she was, but she wanted to hear him speak—to know without a doubt that he was her brother, and that he was alive.
Taeru laughed. “You would be surprised. But, I saw you drop the plates, and you looked rather distraught over the whole ordeal. Not to mention, Nardin can get a little grumpy when the tavern is as full as it is this moon.”
“Noted,” she said. “You are… that was very kind of you.”
All he offered in return was a smile. Good to know that he still couldn’t take compliments. He’d cut his hair so short, she realized. There was a faded cut along the side of his cheek, as well. She spoke before he had a chance to leave. “Is your face alright? You have a cut?”
He raised his hand to investigate it, and then he smiled and offered a shrug of his shoulders. “I got that nearly two cycles ago,” he said thoughtfully. “I didn’t even remember it was there. So, yes, my face is alright.”
She could tell, because even after five years, she knew her brother well enough to understand his body language, that he was about to leave. “I-I…” she spat, “I’m new to this place. You seem to know your way around… is there any way you could show me around sometime?” she articulated. The excuse was a lame one, but she had to have some reason to see him again.
For a moment, he seemed unsure, and then he offered another of those smiles so she could just make out the dimples starting to form. “I can do that,” he answered easily. “I’ll meet you outside the tavern two suns from now,” he said.
“Yes!” she said, “I mean… that’s… I appreciate it.” She would see him again, and better yet, she wouldn’t have to stalk through all of Dark District to find out where he was. Perhaps he would even tell her. “You are leaving this moon, then—the tavern I mean?” she asked. She hadn’t meant for her voice to sound so downtrodden about it.
“I am, well… I’m supposed to meet someone here,” he said warily. His voice was suddenly guarded, as if he wasn’t sure that he should be meeting whoever it was. Aela felt worry bubble up into her throat. What had Taeru gotten himself into?
Aela knew that asking who would only decrease her chances of actually getting to know him later, so she contented herself with a nod and let him excuse himself back to the table that he’d been at before the affair had begun. Taeru was okay! And he was here! Aela wasn’t sure she’d ever been so happy in all of her life. In fact, she knew that she never had been. She thought she’d never see him again—she’d thought the worst, especially after her dreams.
Rather than focusing on her duties for the remainder of the moon, she watched Taeru at the table. For a while, he seemed impassive, as though he wasn’t waiting for anyone at all—but as the shift grew lower, he grew a little more anxious. After nearly two shifts had passed, Aela wondered if whoever it was would show up. She felt a fury unlike any other at the idea that anyone would lie to her brother, no matter who they were.
The blond barmaid wandered over to Taeru a few times and spoke to him as if she knew him very well. Aela made a note to work to get to know that particular barmaid a little better, even
if her voice did sound like a girl’s.
Then, at last, there was someone else. For a moment, Taeru looked as though he might leap out of his seat and run from the person who approached him. It was another man, and though he didn’t look threatening—he certainly was nothing to laugh at. He was very tall, with blond hair, and strikingly pale skin—very Telandus, Aela thought. His shoulders weren’t broad, and he was rather slim, though he was still broader than Aela’s very small brother. The two of them would have been polar opposites had the blond man been just a little bit thicker.
Aela caught herself thinking about the young man that approached her brother in a rather inappropriate way. He was extremely handsome, with blue-green eyes that could have cut through anything with their intensity. The only problem was, that intensity was all directed at Taeru. Upon seeing the blond, Taeru got uncertainly to his feet. They spoke briefly, and Aela was confident that she saw her brother blushing.
Blushing? Taeru? The thought was certainly not unheard of, but he’d only ever blushed when he’d done something silly. The blond didn’t seem very interested in humiliating the smaller boy, either, Aela thought. Then, just when her heart had begun to calm down, as everyone had a breaking point—and she was sure if her poor heart moved any faster that she would surely die from overexertion—it happened.
The blond’s movements were not as graceful as Taeru’s, but there was a fluidity to them so that when he moved Aela felt dizzy and confused as to what he might be about to do. That was why when the man’s hand fell on her brother’s cheek, she hadn’t fully made the connection before their lips were touching. Aela felt her face flush at the sight—this incredibly striking blond, kissing her brother. She felt simultaneously protective and giddy. The way he held Taeru—she’d never seen anyone touch her brother like that—so domineering, so protective!
Her heart skipped a few beats. Taeru was with someone? That thought had never occurred to her, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. But she could see the light in those blue-green eyes that belonged to a man that she didn’t know, and there was a very visceral sense that this man meant Taeru no harm—on the contrary, he seemed positively engrossed in the Cathalari prince.
Taeru certainly had the effect on more than one woman back in Cathalar, though Taeru had never taken notice. He had always been far too nice to worry with pleasing one, single woman, and Aela had always thought that some part of him was too afraid of romance to let it ever happen to him. Yet, as this blond held Taeru now, her brother’s body collapsed into him, as if the blond had taken some weight from Taeru’s shoulders.
Finally, the kiss broke, leaving Aela’s—who hadn’t even been involved in it—heart racing far faster than it had been before. Those kinds of kisses were the kind that she’d only read about in books! Then, the blond grabbed Taeru’s hand, watching him with a plea in his eyes. Taeru looked reluctant for only a moment before he glanced back and the blond eased him, very gently, but very sternly, towards the door of the tavern.
Aela had never felt so thrilled and worried at the same time.
“‘Villains always tend to miss the brighter side of things,’ the Hero thought.”
-A Hero’s Peace v.i
Chapter xvi
Calis Tsrali
Kilik was reluctant, and Calis could feel the very slight quiver of the small wrist as he pulled the young man along. Surely, there were a million things running through his head—after all, Kilik had already expressed fear that Calis was secretly trying to murder him, and now the prince was dragging him away from a well-lit tavern into the darkness of the moon. Calis would have felt bad about causing Kilik such worry if he hadn’t been so sure Kilik would forget it when they reached their destination.
Calis had only seen the place he was taking Kilik a few times, and that had been before he’d left for Dokak. He had gone the previous moon to ensure that it was still there, and once he’d found that it was, he was insistent on taking Kilik. But, as they walked, Kilik seemed to become more and more sure that he was going to die, so Calis spoke aloud. “You’re trembling. What is it going to take for you to trust me?”
“A miracle,” Kilik muttered under his breath. The words hurt, but Calis was certain that Kilik did trust him—to a degree. After all, the smaller boy had permitted that Calis bring him out here, and had—unofficially—allowed Calis to court him. Courting him, though, seemed like an odd term for what they were doing.
Calis couldn’t keep his mind from Kilik, despite all of its best efforts, and therefore he had not followed many of the procedures that would be called flirting. After all, when Calis wasn’t with Kilik, he spent every moment of free time watching the boy from afar, and when he had no free time—he spent all those moments thinking of him. Kilik had bewitched him, in a word, and it was frightening and invigorating.
Calis had tried desperately to figure out what it was about Kilik that had him so entirely mesmerized. He had spoken to Lee about it, who seemed positively stumped over it. Lee seemed in shock that Calis could put so much effort into thinking about a single person, and truth be told, this wasn’t very like him at all.
Though, in the moments when he was with Kilik, even when the young boy was squirming and uncertain, Calis found that he could worry about it very little. No, his more primary concern was not how he felt about Kilik, but rather—Kilik. The point was indisputable that Calis was infatuated with the part-time vigilante, but that had only been part of why Calis’s mind had been so active recently.
There was something about Kilik—something that he was desperately trying to hide—that frightened Calis. Not that Kilik himself was dangerous, but rather, Kilik seemed afraid of something. Watching Kilik grind that stone against his skin had been the most alarming moment Calis had ever experienced. And the look in his eyes when he’d opened them—something terrible had been on Kilik’s mind that sun, and in the cycle since then, Kilik had refused to discuss it.
He chalked it up to a fever, and yet there was something more behind that too-brave mask, and Calis would figure out what it was. “Where are we going?” Kilik’s voice pierced his thoughts like a knife, and Calis glanced back at his still-fearful companion.
Calis spoke lowly, and he couldn’t help the way his eyes hung on to Kilik’s face for longer than necessary. What was he hiding? Calis had already discovered that Kilik was the Phantom Blade, and Calis had made sure that no one else knew—well, other than Lee, who’d practically already known anyway. “We’re leaving the city.”
Panic seeped onto Kilik’s face, and Calis noticed the bronze color of his skin pale a little in the moonlight. “I-I can’t…”
Calis laughed. “We aren’t going to walk by the guards,” he said, pulling a now more resistant Kilik with him. “You think my leaving the city wouldn’t be reported back to my father in a heartbeat if any of those bumbling guards knew about it?”
This seemed to make Kilik relax just a little, but he was still not going to fully do so. In fact, Calis had never seen him fully do so. Except perhaps when the two of them were kissing. And Calis didn’t notice much of anything, other than the euphoric sensation, when the two of them kissed. “How are we going to leave the city without notifying the guards?”
“I used to do it all the time,” Calis answered. “And the same way I get into Dark District without notifying the guards.”
They were both whispering, but Calis hardly thought there was much of a reason for it. Still—with the Telandan nobles—there was no telling who was lurking around, looking for a poor girl to grab. Calis shuddered at the thought. “We’re nearly there,” he told Kilik as he pulled him another little ways and then stopped in front of the wall to the Shining District. “You can climb, yes?”
Calis grinned at the incensed look on Kilik’s face. Of course he could climb—his main source of transport were rooftops when he was masquerading as the Phantom Blade. “I shouldn’t do this,” Kilik said weakly. “You’re bringing me into the Shining District? What are the odd
s that fourteen nobles aren’t waiting for me on the other side of this wall?”
Once again, pain shot through Calis and caused a spasm through one of his hands. He stood back and looked into the dimly glowing blue eyes that watched him. “You don’t have to go, Kilik,” he promised. “But…”
“Stop!” Kilik hissed.
As Calis hadn’t the slightest idea what he’d done, he jerked upright and glanced around, half expecting a mob of nobles to have appeared. He hadn’t taken much care to disguise himself this moon—as he still had his sword—since they would be leaving the city walls. However, when he looked around, he saw no one—so his gaze returned to Kilik, perplexed. “What?”
The smaller male just stared at Calis as though he’d carried out some terrible deed. “You look so positively horrified any time I mention that you might be…” Kilik’s breath was shallow. “I don’t mean to…” He took another breath, trying desperately to articulate his thoughts. Kilik was always so composed when Calis wasn’t involved, and yet in these moments, he looked like an infant learning to speak for the first time. Calis smiled at the thought. “It is not such a farfetched idea that you might be planning to kill me.”
“For me it is,” Calis said simply. Kilik blanched, glaring towards the ground. “You can’t imagine how terrifying the idea of anything happening to you is for me.” Kilik must think Calis was the single most theatrical person in Elyst for all the times he’d spent telling the boy just how crazy he felt for him. Still, the words just leapt from his mouth before Calis had time to make sure they didn’t sound—well, silly.
Then again, Kilik hardly ever thought his words sounded silly, or he didn’t say that he did. He just seemed in a constant state of disbelief. “Why?” Kilik asked.
Calis then shook his head, seeing the trust have returned to Kilik’s eyes—he didn’t want to waste another second within these walls. “Come with me,” he whispered. Calis began climbing, as he figured that if Kilik truly didn’t want to come, then he wouldn’t.