by RS McCoy
“Run several hours into the Alderwood to kiss their sister goodbye and threaten to kill the man she’s intended to marry?”
And with that, he put her argument to rest. Shot it dead and buried it.
Blossom reflected on her last few years in the Alderwood through this new lens, considering it had been her brothers to keep any potential interests away, rather than any personal flaw she might possess. She didn’t know how to feel about it. Grateful they were protective of her? Angry they interfered in her life so significantly?
“I suppose I’m indebted to them,” Kaide said to interrupt her thoughts. “Without their diligence, you might have had other inclinations when I arrived. I’ll be sure to thank them when we visit.” He rubbed her arms with open palms.
Blossom was instantly calmed. Warm hands and even movements soothed her frazzled mind. She collapsed forward against his chest and encircled his waist with her arms.
Kaide ran his hands through her curls and idly rubbed at the back of her head with his fingertips. The motion made her eyes slide shut as she savored the feel of his hands in her hair. “Do you want to go home? We can go see the volcano another day.”
Blossom’s eyes snapped open and shook her head hard. “Not a chance. I want to see it.”
Kaide chuckled and helped her climb back onto her saddle. “That’s my girl.”
Heat surged into her cheeks, and if Kaide hadn’t been distracted returning for his horse and pulling himself up, he would have surely noticed. Blossom hated that he could do that to her and that he always knew when he did. She was powerless when he was near.
For an hour they rode, descending Kaide’s mountain and traversing the low valleys before starting up the volcanic slope. Blossom saw the bright-orange glow at the precipice but couldn’t see much else for the thick cloud of ash that poured out its top. The air grew heavier as they climbed, and the ground grew steadily warmer.
When at last Kaide pulled his horse to a stop, Blossom could see nothing but steam and ash, and somewhere in its depths, the orange glow.
“I don’t suppose this is close enough?” Kaide’s mouth tugged up in a knowing smile.
Blossom shook her head. “I can’t see anything.” She hadn’t come all this way to look at a grey-orange cloud.
In answer, Kaide dismounted and pulled her down. Tying the reins to a nearby peach tree, he said, “This is as far as we can go with the horses.”
Blossom envisioned walking their horses, coaxing them over streams of liquid rock. If heavy horse hooves couldn’t make it, how were they going to do it on foot? She felt a sudden stab of reluctance to move forward.
Kaide turned his back toward her. “Put your hands on my shoulders.”
Blossom did as he asked, and when he felt her hands there, he gripped her wrists and pulled her onto his back.
“So it’s not safe to ride a horse up here, but you’re going to carry me around?” Blossom made no attempt to hide the disbelief in her voice. Still, she wrapped her legs around his waist, clinging to him like a baby possum to its mother.
Kaide chuckled, and she felt the heaves of his chest reverberate under her arms. “This is the Nunkai Mountain. It’s prone to pockets of gas and sudden small geysers. It spooks the horses. Every few years you’ll hear about someone up here who got thrown and landed in the magma. It’ll be safer on foot.” He put his hands under the meat of her legs to hold her up.
“Then why can’t I walk?”
“Your shoes are too thin. If you stepped on a hot spot, you’d have serious burns in seconds. My boots are thicker,” he explained.
“I’m too heavy for you to carry all the way to the top.” Too late she remembered his totem strength, the sheer power coursing through him even now.
“Nonsense. You’re as light as anything.” Then he added, “Are you done arguing?” He turned just enough to flash her a smile.
“For now,” she conceded. Had she known she was going to be carried around like an infant, she would have opted to wear her old boots, but there wasn’t much she could do about it all the way up here. In two days, she’d have her totem and would be able to traverse a volcano on her own. Until then, she was stuck clinging to his shoulders.
Satisfied, Kaide started toward the thick cloud of steam and ash. “Have you heard the stories of the mountains?”
“No,” she admitted.
“The mountains were once brothers, all born long before the realm existed—before the Alder Mother—back when the land was fresh and new. This one, Nunkai, was known for his love of the hunt and his love for his wife. Her name has been forgotten, refused to be passed along after she scorned Nunkai and shared her bed with his brother Lytari.” Kaide paused and pointed to the next mountain over, the nearest peak also glowing orange with its own eruption.
“Nunkai was doomed to spend eternity mourning the loss of his wife, and until he learns what caused her to leave him, he will bleed fire into the world. His brother Lytari, who took his brother’s wife to bed, was doomed to spend eternity begging for the forgiveness of his brother, and until he earns it, he will bleed fire into the world.
“Each one has its own story, about how it came to erupt or why it doesn’t. They’re just superstitious old stories meant to scare children.” Kaide lowered his chin enough to kiss her forearm where it crossed in front of him.
“We have stories like that in Terra, but about the trees. Each one did something to lose their place with the Alder Mother.” Blossom watched the thick cloud engulf them so completely, she could see nothing but Kaide and a consuming grey wall of fog. “You know where you’re going?”
“I admit it’s been a few years since I had reason to visit the peak. Are you afraid? We can go back.” Kaide stopped walking and waited for her answer.
“No, I want to keep going.” She’d come this far. She was determined to see it. Though of course, Kaide guessed her reservations.
“Then what?”
“It’s just—”
“You like to see where you are,” he finished for her.
Blossom squeezed him harder in answer. From remnants to mountaintops to the tallest alder trees, Blossom had always sought out a place to see. She just hadn’t realized it until he put words to it.
“We’ll be above the smoke soon enough. Will you make it a few more minutes?” When she nodded against his shoulder, Kaide kept moving, though faster this time. Strong legs propelled them up the rocky slope, and his hands held tight to her thighs each time she bounced from his motion.
As he said it would, the cloud began to thin, and then it was gone. The grey cloud sat below them, and Blossom thought it must be what it looks like to a bird. Ahead of them, a stream of bright-orange magma trickled from the vent. It was five paces across at the widest and moved like a river, but a thousand times slower.
Even standing so far away, she could feel the heat rising off the flow. It seeped into her flesh and muscles, saturating every bit of her like a hot-water bath. Her eyes took in the stunning sight, the molten rock thick as taffy, as it trickled down the slope on its long-run course.
“Like it?” Kaide’s voice was a whisper over the constant grumble of the volcanic vent. But even that wasn’t enough to hide his anticipation.
“It’s amazing. I’m a little mad you made me wait over a week to see it.” Blossom wriggled up enough to kiss his neck. “I’m glad you brought me up here.”
A geyser popped loud below them, so sudden and sharp it made her scream.
Kaide put a hand to his ear where she’d probably deafened him. She had already started to apologize when she realized he was laughing. “Now you know why we didn’t bring the horses.” He couldn’t stifle his laughter.
Blossom’s heart refused to slow despite the warm calm of the lava flow. Her eyes absorbed the vibrant amber and glowing yellow, and her skin savored the constant heat.
“Had your fill?” Kaide asked after several minutes of thoughtfully watching the landscape before them.
�
��For now.” She pursed her lips and shot him a look, but of course, he couldn’t see her.
Instead, he turned from the lava flow and started back down the mountain, choosing his footing carefully as he descended. It was slow going, painfully slow in the midst of the ash cloud, but step by step, they made their way down. Blossom tried not to think of the grey wall that cut them off from the world, or the ash that she sucked into her lungs with every breath. She tried to ignore the way the grey made her feel like she was spinning and twisted her stomach into a painful knot. Instead, she clung to Kaide with desperate arms and felt the heat of his breaths as he worked to bring her off the mountain.
“Beauty?” Kaide’s low voice woke her from her trance. When she blinked open her eyes, she realized they had arrived below the cloud and were standing not far from the horses.
Blossom released her legs from his waist and lowered herself to the ground.
“Did you fall asleep?” he asked, facing her for the first time since they’d started their trek up the mountain. His eyes were bright but tinged with worry.
“No, I just closed my eyes. Couldn’t see anyway.” She didn’t want to explain her sickness, or that his breathing had been the only thing to ground her as they walked through the cloud.
“Ready to go home?” Kaide stroked her arm with his hand.
Blossom nodded and started toward her horse, untying the reins from where they were secured around the tree. The mountain air was cool and light but her stomach refused to settle.
Kaide appeared behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He lowered his head and kissed her shoulder, reigniting her memory of that first night—that first kiss. He whispered in her ear, “What’s wrong, Beauty?”
“Nothing.” She kept her hands working at the reins, eager to keep them busy.
“You know I can smell when you lie. And when you’re sick,” he added. His lips brushed against her skin once more. “Why didn’t you tell me? We could have stopped.”
“It would have only taken longer to get back.” When his hands loosened around her waist, Blossom pressed her back to the tree. “And I thought you could smell it,” she reminded him.
Kaide chuckled. “It’s hard to explain. The rest of you is so strong, this little sickness is lost. I can smell it now that I’m looking for it, but it’s nothing compared to your fire.” His hand moved to the curls that hung in her eye, pushing them back behind her ear as much as they would allow.
“I don’t feel like fire. I feel like—” Blossom put a hand to her gurgling stomach and cringed as a wave of nausea struck.
Kaide dug his hand into his pants pocket and retrieved a slim device she’d never seen before. Black and silver and the size of his palm, it illuminated as soon as he touched it, swiping his thumb over the screen with the deftness of practice.
“Vice Syndicate?” A voice resonated from the device, low and echoing as if through a tunnel.
“Druma, get a transport to this location as soon as possible. And bring Olin to take the horses back.” Kaide darkened the device and shoved it into his pocket without further pretense.
“I don’t need a transport,” she argued, not at all sure how he managed to talk to Druma from several mountains away. Still, the idea of flying through the air in the confined metal box only served to churn her stomach more.
“It’s the fastest way home,” he replied. His eyes were shadowed with regret, but she knew he was right. On horseback, they’d be lucky to make it back before dark, and riding that fast would push her over the edge.
Blossom collapsed to the ground, sliding her back against the smooth bark of the peach tree. She covered her face with her hand and tried to concentrate on her breathing, on the air going in and out of her lungs, rather than the twisted knot where her stomach had once been.
Kaide squatted beside her and stroked her arm with his fingertips, both calming and distracting. “What can I do, Beauty?” His voice was all tension and worry.
She shook her head. “It’ll pass.” She focused on the movement of his fingers skimming over her arm until the transport hummed in the distance. Blossom listened as it neared, and when she finally looked up, she saw its engines pushing the grey cloud in a thousand directions at once before it settled to the ground.
The door opened and Olin spilled out, marching straight toward them. Blossom only caught sight of him for a moment before Kaide had her in his arms as he walked into the transport.
Blossom put her cheek to his shoulder and closed her eyes, willing the queasiness to dissipate, though of course, it remained.
As soon as they were in the cool, recycled air of the transport, the door thumped shut, and the ground fell out from beneath them. Kaide’s hand moved up and down her back, slowly, rhythmically, just as she liked, but she couldn’t get her stomach to relax. The longer they flew, the worse she felt.
Until at last, Blossom surrendered, knowing she couldn’t win this battle. She pushed away from Kaide a half-second before she retched across the floor of the transport. Blossom turned away from him as much as possible, hiding her face so he couldn’t see her tears, or how she desperately wiped at the spittle on her chin.
But she should have known he wouldn’t let her be. He handed her a clean cloth and pulled at her hair to keep it from her face, though she had nothing left to retch. Kaide only let her crouch on the metal transport floor for a minute before he pulled her back up into his lap.
“Leave me be,” she protested, holding the cloth over her mouth in a futile attempt at keeping away the stench of her stomach. There was nothing she could do now. The transport was filled with it.
“Hush.” His tone was stern, and she knew better than to argue. Instead, Blossom curled into his chest and cried, sick and embarrassed and ashamed and so tired of doing this over and over again.
Kaide held her and let her cry, uttering not a single word as the transport landed. She let him carry her into the manor and straight up the stairs to where the tub in his washroom was already filled with steaming-hot water.
By the time he started to work at the straps tied behind her back, Blossom’s tears had dried, and her stomach was remarkably more settled now that it had given up her meager meal. Lifeless and limp, Blossom stood still as Kaide freed her shirt and slid it off her shoulders before moving on to remove her wide-legged pants. For the first time, she didn’t care if he saw her or what he might think. She was too tired and miserable to argue when he picked her up and lowered her into the tub.
Trap
BLOSSOM CLOSED HER EYES and savored the heat of the water. The longer she sat, the more her body recovered, the more her stomach settled, the more she felt like herself.
At last, she rubbed warm water across her face and looked up at Kaide, his brow contorted with worry.
“I’m so sorry, Beauty. If I’d have known—” Kaide’s voice fell away, and Blossom remembered just how pathetic she’d been this afternoon.
Clinging to his shoulders. Retching in his transport. Carried up his stairs. She cringed at the memory.
“It’s not your fault.” And it wasn’t. He couldn’t have known how the ash-cloud would incite her motion sickness. “I’m sorry I got sick again. I thought maybe I was getting over it—” But clearly she wasn’t. Blossom started to worry that this would be a new staple in her life.
Kaide tilted forward and kissed the crown of her head in answer.
She was still a baby bird.
“You don’t have to take care of me all the time. I can take care of myself,” She pressed her lips into a thin line, but it only served to make him smile.
“I know you can.” He moved to hover over the tub so he could reach to kiss her forehead. “I know you’re capable of far more than anyone gives you credit for.”
“Then why do you carry me around all the time?” Blossom grumbled as she offered him a pointed glare.
“Because I like to.” Kaide sat on the floor beside the tub. “I like to know that you’re safe and comf
ortable and happy here. My worries may be needless, but that doesn’t change the fact that I worry about your safety.”
Blossom sighed. There was no way to argue with him. Instead, she asked, “What was that thing in your pocket?”
Kaide reached down and produced the device. “It’s called an intermittent communication panel, but everyone calls it a panel.”
“How does it work?” Blossom held her hand out for it.
“Let’s get you out of the tub first. It’ll be ruined if it falls in the water.” Kaide stood and set the panel on the countertop before he fetched a wide, plush towel from the rack.
When Blossom pushed to her feet, Kaide was waiting to wrap the towel around her. With a squeeze, he pulled her up and over the edge of the tub before setting her on the fluffy rug and drying her wet skin with the towel.
Once dry, Blossom clutched the towel to her chest as Kaide disappeared into the bedroom. He returned a moment later with a loose scarlet shirt which he slipped over her head. “Feeling any better?” he asked as he tugged it over her shoulders and let it fall over her frame.
“My stomach is fine, but my dignity will take a while to recover.” Thankfully, Kaide laughed at her joke, though there was a shred of truth there she wouldn’t admit. Somehow, she’d figure out how to keep from getting sick.
“You think I’ll still get sick after my transformation?” Blossom looked up at him, eyes wide and hopeful.
Kaide’s laughter fell away, and his eyes grew dark in an instant. “What do you mean?”
“You said you had traits of your totem even in your human form. Maybe if I’m a bear, I’ll have a bear’s stomach. I won’t get sick—”
“I don’t know that it works that way,” Kaide interrupted. He stepped away and grabbed the panel from the counter. “Aero made these years ago, but they only release them within their branch.”
Blossom didn’t miss the abrupt shift in conversation, but she wanted to know about the device that could call Druma from so far away. “So how’d you get it?”
“The Syndicates agreed they should each get one, and through them, the Vice Syndicates. Children in Aero have these while there are only a handful to be found in the other branches.” He passed his thumb over the black side and produced a bright light before handing it to her. “Each device can connect to the others, so if anyone needs to reach me, they enter my code.”