“Would you knock it off?”
“You’ve got this cute little defiant face where you scrunch your nose up. It’s like you think you’re going to be all scary. Downright adorable.”
“Oh, hush.”
Ruiz saddled up beside me, giving Edward a wary glance. He held his hands up to prove their innocence. “Excuse me, Lady October. May I ask you a few questions about your world? I’ve never met a human before.”
“Oh, wow. No pressure. Sure. What do you want to know?”
“Is everyone pale, like you? Your skin is so light.”
“Oh, well, we’ve got all different shades up there, from lighter than mine to darker than yours. Just depends on genetics.”
“Are they all short, like you and Lady Mariang?”
I pursed my lips at being called short. “I’m not all that short. I’m mid-range for a girl my age. But I’m thinking people from Sakuna naturally run a little taller than us.”
“How about terrain?”
Ruiz fired question after question at me, and before long Klark chimed in with his own. I would’ve thought Lang might have answered some of the basics for his men, but when I thought about it, Lang stood out as a stranger when I’d first met him, so I couldn’t be sure how familiar he really was with my world. “When are you planning on moving into the mansion?” Lang inquired, participating in the discussion a little.
“I’m not. I live at my house. You sent a spy to watch me sleep, you wang. You know that.”
Von sniggered at my slang.
Lang studied me with a superior eye, his thick lips pursed. “It’s not very well guarded. If my spy can get in, any number of things can get at you.”
“Well, you stole me first, so here I am. And you infiltrated the mansion easy enough.”
“That took weeks of planning, and it wasn’t easy at all. Your house? That was easy. If you don’t want to get snatched at by the others, you’ll move into the mansion.”
I blinked up at him, the exhaustion and hunger making me slightly giddy. “Aw, you care about little old me? You want to make sure I’m safe? You’re a regular gentleman, you are. I take back the part about you being a wang.”
Lang frowned at my joking nature. “If you die, the world dies. Of course I care.”
“That’s it. It’s settled. You’re in love with me.” I elbowed Von. “You heard it, right?”
Von grinned at the much-needed levity, walking in step with me. “I surely did. You might have to go through Mason, mate. Fair warning. He’s got it bad for your sweet November.”
Mason glowered at Von. Lang spluttered, touching my arm. “I said nothing like that. I only meant…”
I gasped dramatically at his fingers on my elbow. “Lang! Save something for the honeymoon! I mean, I am a lady.” I bristled, and then laughed when his mouth fell open in horror.
“I don’t understand your humor,” Lang grumbled when he caught on that I was joking. “Are all humans so easily given to this kind of thing? I don’t like it.”
“What humor? You just got down on your knee, asked me to marry you and told me you were madly in love with me.”
“I did no such thing.” He turned to Ezra, frowning at the snickers coming from Ruiz and Klark. “Ezra, control your Omen.”
I started talking wildly with my hands. “You said, and I quote, ‘October Grace Reese, I was half a man before I met you. I cried myself to sleep every night until I saw your sunshine of a face. Now I skip in the meadows and pick flowers all day for you. Marry me, my beauty.’”
“That’s what I heard,” Von chuckled.
Ezra shook his head in feigned disappointment. “I had hoped you would’ve asked for my blessing first, Prince Langgam.”
Ruiz and Klark both grinned at the scandal of mocking their prince. Ruiz laughed. “I heard exactly the proposal she described. Wasn’t there a song he sang to you, Lady October?”
“There was. I think it was called, ‘I never should’ve abducted you, please let me buy you new shoes.’”
Lang rolled his eyes at being jabbed at like one of the guys. “Fine. I’ll buy you new shoes. You know, you can have whatever you want from any of our lands. That’s all standard for Omens.”
“Really?” This was news to me. “Then I think the first thing I’ll want is a big porch swing for the two of us to snuggle in. Can’t you just picture it? You and me, swinging while we hold hands and talk about growing old together.”
Lang eyed me to make sure I was still joking. Finally, his frown gave way to a smile. “Yeah, alright. Keep it up.”
“Oh, I have every intention of making this the longest walk of your life.”
“So long as we get there eventually, I can handle that.”
“I also want a wombat. Not a real one. That’d be crazy. A stuffed animal one. I’ve never seen a stuffed animal wombat before, and think they’d be cute. Put that on my list of presents you’re going to buy to make this all up to me.”
“Sure thing. Keep it coming.”
“I think I want to go on a spa weekend so I can get a mud bath. I haven’t had enough mud lately.”
Von bumped his hip to mine. “Really? A mud bath. I can’t picture you doing that.”
I raised my nose indignantly. “You’re not allowed to picture me in the bath. I’m getting married to Prince Langgam.”
“Ah, of course. Apologies, milady,” Von said with a sweeping bow.
“So you can say my full name and title. I didn’t think you capable,” Lang groused as he reached down to adjust the lace on his boot, pausing my progression.
“Of course. But I assume you want me to call you something like ‘sugar britches’ or ‘squeezy buns’ once we get married.” I mimed squeezing Lang’s tight backside while Von snorted.
Lang was still on his knee when he touched my arm, gazing up at me with a serious look on his face. “October Grace Reese, I’ve never taken a wife, but now I see the error of my ways. My beauty, will you do me the great honor of…” And then he interrupted the speech that made my eyes go wide by smearing a fistful of mud on my cheek. “There. Now you can cross mud bath off your list. That present didn’t cost me a thing.”
“Ack!” After Von gripped my shoulder to pull my impending dirt freak-out from me, I was back to swinging with the levity of the moment. I leaned forward and wiped my cheek on Lang’s shirt when he stood, grinning at his laughter that sounded actually joyful. It started from deep inside of him and bubbled out in luxurious waves that bathed everyone in something beautiful. I looked up at him with new appreciation, seeing just how much he’d needed to let go. “There you are,” I marveled, as if seeing him for the first time. “I like you much better with a smile. I feel like you might abduct me less.”
Lang looked down at me with unconcealed affection for seeing his inner goofball and poking it until it came out. “Sure. Some abduction, but definitely less.”
I dropped Von’s hand to clap. “He did it! He made a joke! Who knew you were funny? Well done, sugar britches. Well done.”
Von held up his finger, his other hand gripping mine to calm my nerves while I breathed through icks of the mud splotches that clung to my face. “Is ‘squeezy buns’ not on the table, then? That’s the one I fancied.”
Lang bowed to the peanut gallery, who clapped that he’d made a joke. We continued on our walk, and somewhere between the mud and the laughter, our group of royal misfits were starting to become a team.
36
My Broken Music
As we neared the city, Von, Mason and I walked hand in hand in hand. The sun started to grow just as tired as I was, kissing the horizon and warning us to hurry. As the remnants of my medication left my system, they kept up a constant stream of slow pulling to stop me from regressing.
Ruiz and Klark finally started to lighten up, though they still dipped their heads when speaking to me and referred to me repeatedly as “your grace” or “Lady October”. We were starting to inch more toward the feel of old buddies go
ing for a hike, and it was nice. I felt Mason’s eyes on me, disapproving of my casual nature that no doubt was nothing like his perfect wife’s. I internally shrugged, ruling that it was probably a good thing that Mason was disappointed I wasn’t who he wanted me to be.
Ezra was quiet until we neared the main city. “I move we break off a portion of the rock now for October Grace to hold. I don’t want any chance of this going awry.”
“Sure. Do we have anything I can use to break it?” I asked, surprising Ezra with my compliance. I cast him a bland smile. I didn’t not like the guy. I just didn’t like him pretending to be my dad so he could boss me around. I also didn’t care for the too vulnerable way I’d let my guard down with him, only to find he was protecting his asset, not his daughter. If he could be a co-worker without muddying the lines, I could play along.
Ezra raised both eyebrows at my non-attitude, and I felt a little bad about that. I really wasn’t a jerk; I just didn’t like being played. “Um, sure. Of course. Perhaps the hilt of Mason’s machete?”
Mason was already unsheathing his sword, though he didn’t give it to me. He gave me the backpack as if handing me the Holy Grail, which to them, I guess it was. We moved off the trail further into the woods so we couldn’t be seen by passersby. Edward whined when I told him to go stand with Von. “Go on, baby. Go to your daddy. I mean it. I don’t want you turning to stone.”
Prince Langgam let out a short whistle I could tell Edward didn’t like. He snorted and sat at Von’s feet while Mason and I went deeper into the woods. His tone wasn’t unkind, but it wasn’t friendly, either. “Here. Just break off a portion. Remember, we need six pieces, one for each region.”
“Got it.”
Mason backed up in case any shards broke loose and went flying, watching with trepidation as I unzipped the filthy backpack and slid out the other backpack Danny had used to double-wrap it inside. In that one was the rock, which lit up when I touched it.
I examined the doorstop my family had owned since childhood. It still looked ordinary, like a cheap eighties novelty toy. Judging by Mason’s gasp when it lit up, the rock’s mundane appearance was part of its charm. I set it on the forest floor and aimed the hilt of Mason’s machete to it, taking a few practice blows before whacking. I couldn’t decide where to hit it. I divided the stone in my mind into six equal pieces, but the rock was unevenly shaped, so I knew no matter how I hit it, the pieces would be impossible to make perfectly even. “Mason, what if one region gets a slightly bigger piece than another? Would that matter?”
“No. Just a piece of the rock in the water will cure most everything in the region that can be fixed by nature.”
“Okay.” I aimed at a different spot, hesitating longer than I knew was acceptable. I couldn’t get it perfect. The pieces would be uneven.
After a few minutes of waiting patiently, Klark came over to check on our progress. “Do you need something to better break the stone with? I can travel into the city and get you a hammer, if you prefer.”
“No. Thanks, though. I’m almost there.”
“It’s just that we’re losing the light.”
I nodded, biting my lip as I aimed at the stone. “Sorry. I can do better.”
Mason cleared his throat. “Stop a second. Let me pull a little more from you before you try again. I can practically see your insides building up.”
I nodded, ashamed at my limitations. I walked over to Mason instead of making him go near the rock. He could have just touched my elbow, but instead he squared his shoulders to me and massaged both my arms, tugging some of my tension out so it didn’t take me over. “What’s wrong?” he asked me with actual compassion shining through in his eyes. It was the first time in hours he’d looked on me with actual kindness instead of veiled irritation.
“I’m having some trouble,” I admitted. “It won’t break evenly, no matter how I do it. It won’t be perfect.”
Mason touched me under my chin and lifted so I was blinking up at him. “Hani, nothing’s perfect. We just work with what we have.”
“But it’ll be uneven. Are you sure we can’t get a saw or something?”
“I’m sure. Let’s break off a piece and be done with it. We’ll go straight home and you’ll never have to come back to Sakuna ever again.”
“Promise?”
“If we hustle, you can be in your shower in less than an hour.”
“You’ve never been more beautiful than when you say sexy things like that to me.” I’d meant it as a joke, but the desire in his stormy gaze was palpable. His focus drifted to my lips as his tongue moistened his.
Mason’s grip was firm as he drew me even closer, his mouth an inch from mine. “Let me take you home. Get you out of these clothes.” Then before I could brace myself, his lips caressed mine, my stomach banging around as the red and yellow swirled up and painted his face with smears of color. One lonely flute started to play a melancholy Irish tune. Mason was highlighted in a halo of yellow as we kissed, looking like a work of art I wanted to throw my arms around and make out with until we couldn’t take it anymore. I also wanted to run away from him. A little bit, I wanted to punch him. It was his one kiss of the day I’d allotted us, and dang, if it didn’t take my breath away.
I wanted to forget. I wanted to close the door on Sakuna, Terraway, all the death and even Mason. It was probably counterintuitive to kiss him hoping for a few minutes of forgetting him, but it worked. The lone flute was joined by three more, then four. Then a whole smattering of flutes started drowning out the things that weighed me down.
We were music, and it was a beautiful thing.
The passion came crashing to a halt when his grip migrated to my waist, and he accidentally squeezed the bruises and blisters on my lower back. “Ow! Yeah, that’ll do it.” I jumped away, my back burning as the music and colors gave way to the brown terrain. I looked up, hoping to see Mason looking at me in that way he did when he thought I was funny, but his eyes were still closed. Then he gripped his heart and stumbled backwards, opening his eyes in wonder as he took in my face.
Only he wasn’t seeing me. I could tell that he was seeing his wife.
I should’ve expected the crash that seemed to accompany being kissed too beautifully, but it always caught me off guard. I walked back to the stone, picked up the machete, selected a corner at random, and set to breaking off a piece. Even after I finally cracked through, Mason was still holding his heart, that dazed grin on his face as he watched me be Kara.
My hands burned with the need to be scratched. I slid the larger portion of the rock back into the first carrier, then into the second backpack, zipping everything up and sliding it on my back with the spare piece clutched in my hand like a baseball. I didn’t look at Von as I rejoined the gang, nor did I make eye contact with Ezra, who I could see in my periphery was watching me with unconcealed sadness. “It’s done. I’ve got the piece here in my hand, so no one come near me, okay?”
Von kept a safe distance as we started walking. “You did good, Peach.”
“It’s not even. I mean, it’s not a true sixth. I think it’s a little smaller than it should be.”
“That’s alright.” Von watched me warily. “Could you stop that?”
“What?”
“You’re scratching your hand again. Please, November. I’m starting to get hungry. I’m doing my best here. You can’t scratch yourself. I can’t pull from you when you’re holding the rock like that.”
I slid the baseball-sized chunk into the front zipper pouch, and everyone’s stress went down a noticeable degree. Von reached for my hand, but I couldn’t touch him. “No. It’s the germs. I can’t do it. I’m sorry.”
Von didn’t say anything to my dysfunction. He merely put his hand on my back and rubbed my shoulder as we walked. He was kind to me when I didn’t deserve it.
“No, Mason,” I heard Ezra say with a stern tone when Mason saddled up on my other side. “You take up the rear. You’ve carried on enough. You’re done
now.” Ezra had that paternal tone I’d heard dads on TV use when their kid came home late or got in trouble for something or other. I don’t know why it softened me, but I began to relax in Von’s half-embrace as we walked through the night toward the village. Though I couldn’t cure myself, I hoped to have Sakuna cured within the hour.
37
Counting
When we reached the city, it was decided I would wait with Von and Mason just outside in the woods. Lang and the guys went with Ezra to throw the stone in the well.
The contents of Ruiz’s satchel were emptied into Klark’s, and the stone segment was carefully placed in Ruiz’s bag. Ruiz took the burden with a grave sense of honor, gripping my shoulder as if we were engaged in some sort of ceremonial passing of the baton. “Thank you, Lady October. Thank you for all you’ve done for our people. It’s been a privilege to journey with you.”
“Thanks for keeping me company and showing me around.”
“I’ll be sure to return your fiancé to you within the hour.”
I managed a grin, winking at Lang. “See you soon, squeezy buns.”
Lang actually smiled at me, shaking his head at the levity I’d sown that had sprouted into little bits of hope growing into new air. One day I wished for him to enjoy a life without so much secrecy and duty.
Lang stiffened when he addressed Mason and Von. “Take my bride deep into the woods and wait for us there. I’ll bring you all to the surface as soon as we finish up.”
Mason, Von and I turned back to the woods with Edward as soon as the four left for the city gate. I could see two-story buildings poking out over the stone walls that lined the main city, housing the important people. Toward the back was a large gray stone castle with a tower in the center shooting up to serve as the highest manmade point in the nation. It was hard to think of that being someone’s childhood home, but it had been Lang’s. It looked cold, and I now knew that just wasn’t him.
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