by A J Gala
She rose beside him and rubbed her hands for warmth. “You’re sure in a hurry to get my clothes off, aren’t you?” she chuckled.
“Shut up.” He smiled, watching her undo the buttons on her storm-drenched jacket. “You’re dripping water everywhere.”
She knew she was a mess and stepped behind the tapestry to the half of the room with the recessed tub and washing station. After the journey, the promise of hot water on her skin might as well be a gift from the gods.
Little by little, she peeled off clothes and set them in a pile. When the warm air touched her bare body, she pumped hot water into a bucket and picked through a basket of towels and jars of soapweed pulp.
Another basket on the floor caught her eye. More clean towels, probably brought in by Mayriel and Velana earlier, and a black tunic.
“Did you get some new clothes? Stuff that fits, even?”
“Oh, the black one?” He was right on the other side of the tapestry, watching steam curl up from the edges. “Fits like a glove, actually. My old one didn’t survive. It probably would have, if Naia had just given half-a-shit, but that’s not really her style.”
“Do you two not like each other?” She leaned just outside the tapestry’s shroud so she could see him while she cleaned. She had missed him. The sound of his voice, and the lines on his face when he smiled, and the way his shoulders moved a little when he talked. A single day apart had felt like ten years all over again.
“No, Naia’s great. She’s just a pain in the ass.” At first, he averted his eyes, but the longer he felt her gaze on him, the weaker he became. He gave in, unable to help staring at her the way he always had, captured by how she moved and spoke like she had a secret to tell. He admired in her all the same things he feared.
“You can come on this side with me,” she said. “I don’t mind, you know that. And anyway, a little bit of debauchery isn’t going to kill you.”
He folded his arms and ran his tongue over his teeth. “People get hung for what we did, you know. Have you ever been hung? It’s not great.”
The hot water rolling down her body couldn’t reach the deep freeze that enveloped her. Her breath was gone. “Gods, what hasn’t happened to you?”
“I try not to think about it.” He crossed over to her side of the room. “Let me help. Take your hair down.”
She blushed and set the washrag down on her lap, then fumbled with the tie on her ponytail. “I kind of just expected you to stay over there and keep pretending you weren’t going to look.”
“Why? Are you feeling shy all of a sudden?”
She looked over her shoulder to see his cocky little smirk and thought her heart would explode. Her face was on fire as he raised his eyebrows.
“Would you look at that. I’m the one who’s finally moving too fast for you.”
“Oh, you are not!” She pulled and twisted the tie until her rain-soaked hair was free, sliding out of its shape and down her back. She soon realized there was more than hair, though, as something small scratched across her skin. “Is this a twig?” She pulled it from her tresses and frowned. “It’s a twig.”
He pulled more debris out of her hair. “Look, we um, we—” he sighed a shallow noise, careful of his ribs, “—we crossed a line, back at the Convent. You know that.” His blood ran hot remembering her soft, bare skin against his, but then guilt crept in like ice.
She was quiet and leaned over the bucket to rinse her hair.
“I don’t really know where I’m at with that right now.” He hesitated, then took the washrag from her lap and started to run it down her back. “But you’re here, you’re back, you’re okay. And I am still just as hopelessly and unfortunately in love with you as I was before.”
Her giggle echoed from the bucket. “Guess you’d better hurry and get over those reservations, then. Brother.”
“Oh my gods.” He sucked in a breath and let it out, leaning his head back. “You have got to stop saying that.”
When she had rinsed the storm out of her hair, she sat back up, and Aleth massaged in the soapweed pulp for her. It was scented like autumn with all her favorite spices. She loved it. Her shoulders gradually fell in relaxation as his fingers worked it in.
“So,” he tilted her head back just a little. “Tell me about the trip. You said her name once. The bloodslave’s. Right?”
His fingers wove around in gentle circles with the perfect amount of pressure. She was powerless.
“Amaranth.” She winced for just a second when he caught on a tangle too close to her scalp. “At one point, we came across some dead bodies but didn’t dare stick around to investigate. I’m guessing those were your Hunters?”
“Probably.”
She wondered how Naia and Amaranth were dealing with the situation she’d dumped them with—but only for a second. The way Aleth massaged her scalp stopped her thoughts dead, and she could only bite her lip and smile.
He swallowed hard. “What is she like?”
The hesitation in his voice worried her. “I don’t really know much about her. But despite her looks, she’s tough to have braved the storm with me. Especially just hours after she had braved it already just to get to the Convent. Hey…” She turned just slightly to look at him over her shoulder. “What do you think those Hunters were doing out in the storm, anyway?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. If they were looking for me, I don’t know how they managed to find me.” He slicked her hair back. “Four went down easy enough. Fifth one caught me off guard, though, and that’s how I ended up taking a warhammer to the ribs.” He wrung her hair out over her shoulder. “But I took him out too.”
“But, there were seven bodies.”
There was nothing for a moment. She could hear him breathing, could feel him stuck in his thoughts. Then, his hands were on her shoulders.
“Tizzy, I got lucky.”
She reached for one of his hands.
“If Kenway and Doddie hadn’t been in the Bogwood right then, those other two—the Time Mages—they would have killed me. They almost did. I don’t think I would have survived a second Crux Bolt. We are no match for Botathoran Magic.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’ll finish up,” she said. “Go lay down in bed. I’ll join you when I’m done.”
He leaned her back and kissed her forehead. “Alright, princess.”
As much as she hated the nickname, she found herself grinning even after he’d left. She took a deep breath, then shook her curls out in the water, inhaling the spiced scent that hit the air. She finished cleaning the grime off the rest of her body too, then smoothed her hair down over her shoulders and took to it with a comb.
When she was finally done, she came out from behind the tapestry donning one of the robes in the basket. She came to the bed and lay beside Aleth, against his uninjured side.
“Where did you learn how to wash long hair, hm?” She rested her head on his shoulder.
“You’re going to laugh.”
“Now you have to tell me.”
“I let it grow out once. Down to my collarbone, about. It actually starts to get a little wavy at that length.”
She was laughing. “What possessed you to do that?”
“That’s how I kept everyone from recognizing me. Laugh all you want; it didn’t look half bad on me! Back then, at least. Definitely couldn’t do it now.” He rubbed his jaw. “My face isn’t as boyish as it used to be. And if you’re going to grow it out, you’ve got to either have a boyish face or a really rugged one, and mine is in the middle now. Those are the unwritten rules.”
She sighed, amused as he mumbled on while tracing little circles on her shoulder.
“I missed you.” She laced her hand with his and soaked up his presence.
He didn’t waste a second on words. His mouth was on hers, his tongue tasting her, and the way he grabbed her was fiercer than ever. She could feel it in his touch, in the way he couldn’t let go, that he had been terrified of losing her.
 
; She worked his tunic over his head and freed him of it. His skin was still so warm. She started to kiss along her favorite of his scars, focusing on them entirely so he could think his blush would go unnoticed. They couldn’t keep doing this, she knew. He had been right when he said it from the start. She couldn’t keep having him like this. They met each other’s lips again, and he tucked a lock of damp hair behind her ear.
She brushed her fingers along his bruised skin. “Are you going to be alright?”
He parted from her, but only just. “Of course I am.”
“I know how you are.” She wove her hand back into his. “I know you’re going to heal. But will you be okay? Look at the circumstances that brought you here. One second you were in my room at the Convent, and then in the next, you had bolted off out of sight to avoid someone. We didn’t even get to talk about… well, about what else happened in that room.” She fought down the memory of his sweet moans of ecstasy before her cheeks turned too red.
He laughed out his nose and glared at her with a half-smile. “You really think I’m a mess, don’t you?”
“Aleth, I know you’re a mess.”
She rubbed her thumb along his hand, over the soft and jagged scar tissue on top and to the roughness of the callouses on his palm. Then, she found something peculiar on one of his fingers.
“What’s wrong with your pinky?” She brought it close and stared at it.
“Nothing. It’s a perfectly good pinky.”
“There’s a scar.”
He slipped it out of her grasp and held it out to see for himself, then chuckled. “Oh yeah. From my first run-in with the Hunters, back when Tal and Ilisha had to come get me. The Hunters cut it off.”
“What?”
He was grinning, looking back on it like it was just another funny story. “Yeah. They knew nightwalkers had healing abilities but didn’t know if that meant growing back limbs. I’m glad that after arguing about the morality of cutting a kid’s arm off, they settled for a pinky. I didn’t think I’d ever be scared like that again.”
“Gods!” Tizzy gasped. “Wait, but we can? We can grow them back?”
His grin turned cocky. Again. “I can. My healing is a lot better than most others’. I’ve grown back a kidney too.”
She sat up. “How the fuck did you lose a kidney?”
“You say that like I’m such a responsible person.” He rolled his eyes. “There was a lot of drinking one night, and I guess I was trying to out-do some pretty seedy people. The next thing I know, I’m waking up in the woods with a giant gash in my side and no kidney. I didn’t know about the no kidney part, though. But I felt like shit and my insides hurt, so Doddie took a look, and sure enough, it was gone.
“A week later, she had to open me up for some other stupid thing I did, and there it was.” He started laughing when she did. “You probably wouldn’t grow a kidney back, though. No, you being who you are, they’d take a kidney, and it’d grow you back.”
“I hope I don’t get myself into the kinds of situations you do.”
“So do I.” He nestled into her and closed his eyes.
“Hey, before you nod off, can you do something for me?”
“Of course.”
Her cheeks were pink. “Call me princess more.”
He looked up at her with the biggest grin. “Really?”
“Just when it’s the two of us. I think I kind of like it.” She ran her fingers through his hair, and he kissed her shoulder.
“I can do that. Can you maybe call me your brother a little less?”
She stifled her laughter, but he’d already caught it himself and was chuckling through pain.
“Sure,” she said. “But it doesn’t make it any less true! I will always love you like I’m not supposed to.”
He sighed, calming a little, and closed his eyes again. “So will I.”
She watched him, taking in the peace he was finally feeling as sleep took him. Why was it so wrong, she wondered, if being together felt like this? She loathed the idea that anything was ‘meant to be,’ but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was always supposed to be this way. They never could have been anything different for each other.
She perused the room from the bed, taking in details that had gone unnoticed and wondering how upset Naia would be with her when she next went downstairs. It would all work out. It had to.
Her eyes were drawn to the blood sticking to the bottom of Aleth’s empty glass on the floor. She spied several empty vials laying around, too, the glow of the hearth fire gleaming off the amber glass. Was it something Doddie had cooked up for the pain?
She also saw Mercy out of its scabbard, next to the slender book he had been reading. She strained her eyes on the title. Akashic Elements. Had he been studying? About the makeup of his sword, maybe? It wasn’t like him to study, but they knew practically nothing about the nature of Wish and Mercy and what the black metal actually was. But why was he curious now? Had something happened?
The question didn’t last for very long. She slipped into restful slumber with the scent of spice that lingered in his hair.
2
Whispers and Lies
Ilisha couldn’t remember the last time she had seen the sky so dark despite the daylight. The world around her felt cold and hollow, and it seeped into her soul relentlessly. She couldn’t stay here. She had wasted so much time on this world already and to no avail. Not wanting to think about it anymore, she went deeper into the woods on the plateau. She could feel a presence at the edge, waiting for her.
“Canis.”
He turned to greet her with his wolfish smile, his long silver hair drenched by the rain.
“Ilisha, there you are! Good morning! You don’t sound happy to see me.”
Her glower went to the sunless sky before it went back to him. “I’m not.”
He was in the lightest of spirits. Grandly, he gestured down below to the trees that the storm had ripped from the ground.
“They were but saplings,” he said, “and yet the Storm God gave them no mercy! Now, that is a true deity of equality. So impressive. I wonder what the sun will feel like for them when they’re like this, no longer able to feel those young little roots of theirs.”
“You talk too much.”
He chuckled. “Must be like seeing babies get slaughtered to you, eh?”
“What do you want?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “You wanted in; I got you in. You went to Louvita’s dinner, you met everyone. Now it’s time for you to hold up your end of the agreement. Is that what this is about? I would appreciate it if it was.”
He chewed his lip and made a long noise of thought.
“Don’t fuck with me, Canis! You’d better not be backing out of this!”
“I’m not,” he said. “However, I think an amendment must be made.”
A bug chirped in the grass. Ilisha’s eyes glowed bright green with anger.
“An amendment?”
“That’s right.” He folded his arms. “You got me in. How difficult could that have possibly been for you? Not very, I imagine. Louvita’s desperate for anyone who she thinks she can use for her little cause.” He started to pace, completely ignoring the growing indignation on the faerie’s face. “What I’m going to do for you in return, dear Ilisha, is enormous in comparison to this. So I think I’ve got a few more requests. You can afford it.”
“I don’t have time for this!” she roared. “My people are dying, Canis! The Blight Fae are in the Glades right now, destroying everything they touch, and it’s only a matter of time before they come to my grove and slaughter my clan—”
He glared back at her. “You can afford it.”
She looked down below at the saplings and the mud and the branches and could feel the fury like an earthquake.
He looked at her, smiling again. “You asked me how my trip was at dinner. I didn’t get to answer you before the banshee woman came through and started talking to me.”
“So, how was
it?” She didn’t care. “How did you let Merryn and Reshina die along the way?”
He scoffed. “I didn’t let them die! They just died. It wasn’t all just Hunters out there, you know. Ziaul left details out of the story.”
It caught her off guard. “No? What else?”
“It was greenkind that killed them.”
“Really? They couldn’t take down some greenkind? Your lies need a little work.”
He folded his arms and rolled the stiffness out of his shoulders. “Not far from Roe River is a settlement. A huge settlement. Gorestone Citadel. We really don’t give them enough credit. They’re a more civilized species than people think. Not these ones, of course. We came a little too close to their territory, and they sent a squad out to deal with us. Ilisha, the goblins! Gods, those little fuckers, their magic is incredible! Did you know they have Blood Magic?”
“How did Blood Magic make its way from the vampires to the greenkind?”
“Probably the same way anything Forbidden gets into grubby mortal hands. But they are masterful with it. They’ve made improvements to it that the creator herself couldn’t dream of. Reshina didn’t stand a chance. That goblin turned her blood to rot in seconds.”
Ilisha could keep a straight face through many things, but the visual made her wince.
“Exactly,” Canis said. “So before you start pinning deaths on me, I would just like to point out that there was no coming back from that. Goblins are well equipped for bloodkin, it turns out.”
She didn’t have time to worry about greenkind and their Forbidden magic. She didn’t have time for any of this.
“I have only been here a short while, and I can already tell you something,” he said next.
“What’s that?”
“Everybody here thinks they’ve got a plan.” He rolled his eyes. “Some great big secret plan for something. Louvita in one corner, pulling strings, thinking she’s creating something big and grand. Ziaul in another corner, in some quiet little sandbox, like he’s creating something. And then you.” He smirked. “But in truth, there are only skeletons. Left and right. Just the barest bones of an idea coming together that everyone’s running with and waving around. Including the big, regal faerie. So, if you want to stay ahead of the game, you’re going to have to do better.”