Watching her, Jon felt sick again.
“She needs to touch a lot,” Revik explained. A faint embarrassment tinged his voice when he added, “...It’s not a big deal. If she does anything... inappropriate... just stop her. She might not get it, but she won’t be angry...”
Jon swallowed, unsure how to react to that, even after his mind turned it over.
“Did I do that?” he said.
He spoke before he knew he intended to, his voice a whisper.
Revik’s eyes sharpened, darting from Allie’s face to his. “No,” he said. “Jesus.” He exhaled again, and that time, some of the anger left his face. “Well... yes. But it’s an improvement, Jon. Believe me... it’s a big fucking improvement over how she was before.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Jon said again.
Revik gave a humorless laugh. “What’s wrong with her? She’s a fucking wire junkie, Jon.”
Jon stared at him, then looked at Allie. “What? No.” He shook his head, understanding even though he didn’t want to understand. “No way. You can’t be––”
“We can’t cut her off,” Revik said, his voice holding an overt warning. “We can’t, Jon. It would kill her. Balidor’s looking into ways of tapering it...”
That sick feeling in Jon’s chest worsened. “You’re... you’re letting her...”
“Jon,” Revik warned. He met Jon’s gaze, tightening his arm around her. “Stop. Not in front of her.” He reached down in time to stop her hand as it began roaming below his belt. She slipped her fingers from his briefly, trying to undo the metal buckle, but Revik stopped her again, murmuring against her ear too quietly for Jon to hear.
Glaring at Jon again once he’d finished speaking to her, he held her against him again, his light exuding an overt protectiveness.
“...We’ll talk about it later, okay?” he said, his voice still warning.
Jon nodded, but that sick feeling didn’t dissipate.
He wanted to stop staring, to wipe the look off his face he knew probably lived there as he watched his sister grope her husband, but he couldn’t. He knew he was pissing Revik off, but he couldn’t seem to make himself care about that, either. He jerked his eyes off her finally when Revik smacked him pointedly with his light.
Glancing around at the rest of the bed, then down at Wreg’s arm before he looked around the room, Jon felt his puzzlement return, for a different reason that time.
“What are you doing in here?” he said finally.
Revik gave another humorless laugh. “Trying to save your life, brother.”
“By you and Allie sleeping here?” Jon said, still confused.
“Yes,” Revik said, sighing. He caressed the hair back from Allie’s neck again, closing his eyes briefly as her hand continued to massage his chest under his shirt.
“...She still has the healing ability, Jon,” Revik said. “Balidor thought... well, we thought Wreg could use a hand.” Smiling wryly, he kissed Allie’s temple, squeezing her against his chest before he added, “Honestly, I wasn’t sure it would work. But as soon as we got her in here, she seemed to know exactly what to do. I didn’t have to tell her anything. She cleaned you out, Jon...like, all of your aleimi, all of it. Jesus... unbelievably fast. Wreg barely made a dent in you in four days, and she got most of that shit out of you in a few hours.”
Jon stared at him, watching Revik’s hands as they stroked Allie’s long, dark hair. His pale fingers wove absently through the loose curls, combing through them tenderly.
“How?” Jon said finally, still watching them, morbidly fascinated in spite of himself.
Revik shrugged. “I don’t know. She just... knew. How to do it, I mean. Wreg and I had to stop her once...” His eyes grew uncomfortable. “...To give her a fix, I mean. She can’t go very long yet, not without getting really upset. But once she was... better... she went right back to working on your light. It was unbelievable... really...”
Affection filled his voice as he finished, what had to be love, even as he tightened his hands on his wife, caressing her face when she looked up at him. Watching the two of them, Jon could only feel sick. Sick with worry, sick with a kind of dread at the flat look in her eyes. He should feel like Revik obviously did. Relieved. Happy. Overjoyed to have her back, in some form at least. Somehow, though, seeing her awake and broken made it all so much worse...
“She’s not broken, Jon,” Revik said.
Jon looked up, and saw Revik’s eyes on his, cold as ice.
“I mean it, Jon,” Revik said, his voice an open threat. “Watch your fucking mind right now... and your mouth. I don’t care who you are... I really don’t.”
Jon nodded, swallowing.
Without thinking, he reached out, rubbing Allie’s back, maybe partly in apology. Allie turned to him when he did it, frowning at him in puzzlement. Jon swore he saw a faint flicker of hurt there, though, a kind of lost look in her jade green eyes.
He hoped like hell he was imagining it.
The depth there that he remembered, that clarity and light, it was just gone.
“She can fucking hear you,” Revik muttered, glaring at him again. “Jesus. Pretend you give a shit. She maybe can’t understanding everything right now, but, gods––”
Jon couldn’t bear it though, and cut him off.
“––I’m sorry, man. I’m really fucking sorry.”
Hearing Revik’s words belatedly, the grief he’d been fighting worsened, turning into a kind of pressure around his ribs and heart. Remembering what he’d been thinking just then only made it worse. His throat tightened painfully. That pain in his chest sharpened when he looked up and realized Revik was close to tears.
“Gods, man. I’m sorry...”
“She’s still your sister.”
“I know, man. I’m sorry.”
“Show some fucking respect...”
Jon nodded again, closing his eyes. He wanted to crawl into a hole. He almost wished they’d just let him die. Instead, he made himself watch, feeling more helpless than he ever had in his life as Revik pulled her hands off him again, murmuring softly against her ear and neck and kissing her as he placed her hands carefully back on his arms and upper body.
Jon forced his eyes off them again, though, when the pain on Revik worsened, even as the tall seer pulled her tighter against him, until she was almost lying on him.
Jon could feel the grief on the other man more than any of that, though.
If anything, the pain felt like a welcome distraction, maybe for both of them.
Even as he thought it, he realized he could feel Wreg’s mind again, too. The ex-rebel’s light moved differently than it had before; his muscles exuded more tension from where they pressed against Jon’s shoulder, back and legs.
Wreg was awake. He’d been listening to them talk.
Jon wasn’t sure how he felt about that, either. Truthfully, he couldn’t remember ever feeling so confused and completely messed up in the head as he did at that particular moment, with Wreg laying behind him and Allie and Revik jammed up against the two of them on the same bed. Somewhere in that pause, he felt Revik come to some kind of decision, too.
“You feel all right?” he asked Jon, his voice cautious, but still holding that warier edge. “You need to eat something, Jon. Like... now. In the next hour, anyway.”
Jon nodded. Again, anything to distract him from...this. Whatever the hell this was.
“Yeah,” he said.
Revik shifted his weight so that he was almost sitting up, bringing Allie with him. He leaned over to the bedside table on his other side, gripping Allie with his free arm and bringing her with him as he stretched over that edge of the bed. He fumbled up something off the antique table that turned out to be a headset, which Jon watched Revik fit in his ear.
Revik’s eyes closed briefly right before he spoke, probably from Allie pressing her face against his neck.
“Yeah,” he said, glancing down and smiling at her again, pausing to caress her fa
ce. “Yeah, bring something for Jon... and for brother Wreg,” he added, glancing at the seer behind Jon. From the look on Revik’s face, Wreg’s eyes must be open, too. “...I’m coming down in a few, so I need Yumi in Allie’s room.” There was a pause, then he nodded. “...Fine. Neela, then. Just make sure she knows the rules. I need a few hours of work-only time.”
Whoever was on the other end spoke.
Revik nodded, his expression clearing.
“Good. Tell her I want her to check in with me every half-hour. I don’t care what I’m doing.” Pausing to kiss Allie’s cheek, he nodded. “Yeah. Fine. Perfect. Tell them to prep the chair, too. Yeah. Another paired run.”
Revik clicked off, still stroking Allie’s back absently as he refocused his eyes on Jon’s face.
His clear irises looked slightly out of focus now, and it occurred to Jon that Revik was scanning him, looking over his light with almost clinical-feeling flicks and probes of his aleimi. The Elaerian clicked out moments later, his eyes sharpening as he continued to stroke Allie’s back and shoulders. Jon saw a satisfied look flash briefly in his eyes.
Then his expression turned grim.
“Cass is in New York,” Revik said, his gaze unwavering.
The Elaerian waited for his words to penetrate.
In that long-feeling pause, Jon felt his whole body tense. He opened his mouth to speak, but Revik spoke aloud before he could.
“...I’m going,” he added. “Soon.” He glanced down at Allie, his expression briefly pained as he caressed her neck and face. “The timing isn’t great, but I’m not waiting.”
“But, Allie––” Jon began.
“She stays here. With Wreg and ‘Dori.”
Jon could only stare at him, unable to speak.
“You should come, too,” Revik added, his voice unchanging. “With me, I mean.”
Behind him, Jon felt Wreg stiffen.
Every muscle in the man’s body seemed to clench in the same set of seconds. While it threw Jon briefly, it didn’t tear his attention off Revik’s face. He studied Revik for a long moment, trying to read behind what he could see even as he did his best to ignore the anger he felt seeping out of the light and skin of the man holding him around the chest.
This wasn’t about Wreg.
Anyway, he would never be able to be with Wreg, the way things were now.
Pain left the seer behind him, along with a grief that briefly cut Jon’s breath.
Clenching his jaw, Jon didn’t take his eyes off Revik’s face. He watched the male Elaerian study him just as closely. He really wanted Jon to come. He didn’t much care what Wreg thought, when it came down to it. This wasn’t about Wreg for him, either.
It hit Jon then, just what this was about for Revik.
This was about family.
Still staring up at Revik’s angular face, and those glass-sharp, clear irises, something else occurred to Jon, too. Revik still fully intended to go forward with his plans. He was still going after Cass. He was still going after Shadow, and Feigran, and Ditrini.
He was going after his child... Allie’s child.
“Yeah,” Jon found himself saying. “Yeah, I’ll come with you, Revik. Of course.”
The man behind him gripped him tighter.
Jon felt it, but he didn’t take his eyes off Revik’s face.
Revik looked only at Jon at first, his expression unchanging. Then, after another pause, he nodded, and Jon saw a flicker of gratitude touch his clear eyes, even as he reached over briefly to clasp Jon’s arm, sending a warm pulse through his skin.
Letting him go an instant later, Revik averted his gaze, staring off the foot of the bed as he coiled both arms more tightly around Allie’s back.
Jon just watched, feeling numb, as his brother-in-law wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand, right before Revik nodded again, seemingly to himself that time, staring off without seeing anything in front of him.
Studying the other man’s angular face, Jon realized something else.
This was about family for him, too.
8
RECONNECTION
TARSI WALKED IN without preamble, and certainly without knocking.
She found herself staring around a room filled with computer terminals. The rik’ali dentus things looked about as old as the ones they’d used back before she retired from the Adhipan. Glancing around at the dead-looking screens, she realized only a moment later that the power had gone out again. No wonder she’d felt an overwhelming desire to take the stairs.
She’d thought it had been for the exercise.
Harumphing a little in the back of her throat, she gave another glance around the room.
She could feel that the person she’d come to see was in here, but her eyes were less sharp than her light these days. Before Tarsi could locate her, the woman moved, raising her head.
Once she had, the younger seer came abruptly to her feet, bowing and holding up her fingers in respect. The ancient, paper magazine she’d been reading by candlelight got shoved hastily onto the nearest console.
“May I help you?” Anale said politely. “...Most venerated sister?”
Tarsi grunted. “Venerated, huh? Embalmed, you mean.”
Anale smiled, but only just. “Is there something you needed, aunt?”
The voices had risen in Tarsi’s mind once more, though, pulling her attention off the room. Both of them, really, arguing like children, using Tarsi’s light as some kind of playpen.
“Quiet...” she muttered.
Anale blinked at her, but didn’t speak.
Seeing the other female’s expression, Tarsi sighed a little on the inside. All these damned youngsters probably thought she was senile anyway.
“Yes, there is something I needed, sister,” Tarsi said, deliberately ignoring the discussion going on in the higher reaches of her aleimi. “...I need you. Need to talk to you about something.”
“Of course, aunt,” Anale said, bowing again.
“Good. How you feel about working for me?”
Anale blinked again. That time, she had less success hiding her surprise. Her mouth twisted faintly, stuck between humor and confusion.
“For you, sister?” she said. “Do I not serve you already?”
“Yes, yes,” Tarsi said, impatient. “I mean for real work for me. Instead of my confounded nephew. I might need you, before this thing is over. I need to know if you’ll follow me if I ask. Even if my nephew tells you something different. Even if brother Balidor tells you something different. Can you do that, sister Anale?”
Anale stared at her. Her eyes looked wary now.
“Can you do that?” Tarsi asked again, sharper.
“Do they know you are asking me this?” Anale said, her eyes narrow.
“No. Of course not,” Tarsi said. “Would I be coming up here, in secret, asking if you could disobey their orders, if they did?”
Anale’s stare grew more intense. Her gold eyes had widened perceptibly as Tarsi said the last bit, and now Tarsi could feel the fear on her, woven through her light.
Tarsi understood. Chain of command was one of the first things they taught their young recruits in the Adhipan. Anale was Adhipan.
Had been, anyway.
“Don’t be afraid, sister,” Tarsi said, clicking mildly. “I’m not turning on my nephew...nor on brother Balidor. You won’t be violating the chain of command.”
There was a silence after she spoke.
In it, Tarsi heard the other voices again. They grew louder in that silence, especially the one that had entered her light the most recently. The same day her nephew called her, in fact, and told her he planned to come to New York.
The same day he told her what young Jon had done.
Brave boy, that Jon. She would make him another cake, when she saw him next.
The thought made her chuckle a little.
We can’t let Revik know... the voice insisted in the background of Tarsi’s light. She was speaking to Tarsi, but also w
ith Vash, the voice that had been with Tarsi for a good deal longer. The plan will never work, if he finds out what we’re doing...
I understand that, the old man said patiently. I simply think you are risking a lot. If you run two chains of command, you risk getting people killed...
We’ll keep it small. Just a few of them.
It is still a risk.
I know that, but––
He’s right, Tarsi chimed in. He won’t like it either. My nephew. He’ll be pissed as hell, he find out what you did.
I’m trying to keep him alive, the other voice said coldly. Frankly, I don’t much give a damn what he likes. As it is, it’s going to be touch and go. He’s practical. He’ll understand.
Practical. Tarsi snorted internally. He’s a big baby. Especially when it comes to you.
He is not––
But Tarsi’s mind got pulled back into the immediacy of the physical room. The seer standing in front of her had finally broken the silence. By then, Tarsi had to remind herself what they’d even been talking about.
“I won’t be violating the chain of command?” Anale said. Her eyes grew openly skeptical. “Really, respected sister? And how is that?” Her voice turned openly wary. “I answer to Deklan, sister. Deklan answers to Adhipan Balidor. Adhipan Balidor answers to the Sword...”
“...and I answer to the one the Sword answers to,” Tarsi broke in, sharper.
Could have fooled me... a voice grumbled in her mind.
Tarsi chuckled. Focusing back on the seer in front of her, she realized that laughing right then probably only made her look more unhinged.
Now you know how I feel, Vash said cheerfully.
Shut up, old man... Tarsi grumbled at him. You’re undermining my credibility here. If that’s even possible anymore...
The other light laughed again, and Tarsi fought not to smile.
When Tarsi refocused on the female seer standing in front of her, she found that Anale hadn’t taken her eyes off her face. Moreover, the younger seer had begun to scan Tarsi’s light surreptitiously, probably looking for any threads or links to Shadow, if not out and out resonances with the Dreng. As she did it, Anale’s stance reverted to more of an infiltrator’s stance, likely subconsciously, her hands held out in a tense, ready position, as if preparing herself to fight, her eyes wary as she attempted to penetrate Tarsi’s light.
Allie's War Season Four Page 14