“No, we’re—” Jevyn started.
“Yes, we are,” I said, interrupting him, and dragging him out of the room. “Get that list written out please, Carol, and go easy with Ypalde. Are you sure you can handle giving her the news?”
“I’m sure. Don’t forget about my daughter.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
I kept dragging Jevyn outside.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“We need to talk.”
“We were talking.”
“No, to each other. Today has been a draining day for us both. We need to take some time out to unwind and give our brains a rest. I get the feeling we’re in for a hectic time in the next few weeks. How about a drink at the saloon? I’m buying the first round. After that, I have a couple of ideas for ways to relax that you might like the sound of.” I couldn’t help a soppy grin stretching across my face, and when I looked at Jevyn, he seemed a little happier. It didn’t say a lot for my powers of seduction, but hey, it was a start, and after a couple of drinks, anything might happen.
I felt Jevyn’s hand on my arm, stopping me in my tracks, and before I could take a breath, his lips pressed against my own. When I finally did manage a breath by pulling away a little, he kept his face close to mine.
“Maybe just one drink,” he said. He tried to smile, but his eyes were so tired.
Chapter Thirteen
Katie
The saloon in Nindock’s town
WHEN THE BARKEEP brought the third round of drinks over, I was already feeling suitably cheered. After a long while without a drink, my tolerance was virtually zero, and other than a nice pie from a different dimension, I had barely eaten. I wouldn’t say that my head was spinning, but my lips were becoming as numb as my feet already had.
My default position when drunk was to go quiet, but I tried to talk this time. I had spent the day thinking we were getting close to a cure, only to have it snatched away. For all I knew, Jevyn might be snatched away anytime too, so I wanted the evening to be special.
Accordingly, I was taking slow but steady sips of drink number three.
I flashed a smile at the barkeep who rewarded me with his trademark grimace.
“Hey,” I yelled, probably too loudly.
The barkeep stopped and turned to face me.
“Did they give you a refund?” I asked.
He glared at me for a second. “Did who give me a refund?”
“The charm school, buddy. Crack a smile once in a while. Life’s too short.”
He stared at me and then slowly and deliberately flipped me the bird and then headed back to the bar, bashing the tin tray he was carrying against his leg.
I noticed Kam and Nindock looking over at me. I gave them a wave and yelled a greeting, a polite greeting which made the people sitting closest to us put their hands over their ears.
“Was I being loud?” I asked as Jevyn sipped on his drink.
“Extremely.” He held out his glass for about the tenth time.
I clinked it and then sipped a little more. I desperately did not want to conk out before I got Jevyn back to our quarters and got something out of my system that had been building all day with the feeling that the end was coming. If it was, I wanted it to go out with a bang, and yes, that pun was very much intended.
“I’m never normally loud,” I said.
Jevyn shook his head convincingly.
“Normally, having a drink has the opposite effect on me. I end up going all quiet, sitting in a corner, waiting for somebody to come talk to me.”
Jevyn grinned. “The perfect little wallflower. That doesn’t sound like you at all.”
“When I’m sober, maybe. I was always told that alcohol makes you lose your inhibitions. Mostly it has the opposite effect for me. I go shy.”
“Not too shy, I hope,” he said with a broad grin. I hoped his tolerance to alcohol was up to snuff.
“Maybe we should just go?” I said, my grin matching his.
“Maybe we should.” He leaned around and flipped his jacket up from the back of the chair, then stood, wavered slightly, and came around behind my chair. I stood and held out my arms, and he slipped my jacket over them and then spun me around and planted a kiss.
The chorus of groans from the rest of the patrons was loud and continuous until we broke apart.
“Get a room for god’s sake,” somebody yelled from one of the dark recesses of the bar.
I was just about to let rip with what would have been a witty reply, involving whoever spoke going away and doing unspeakable things to himself, when Jevyn whipped me around—which could have been embarrassing had my legs not been as steady as they were—and led me out into the dark, cold night.
“Spoilsport,” I said once I got my breath back from the onslaught of the frigid night air.
“Listen,” he said. “The last thing I need is to have to nurse your bruises through the night after you get into a bar brawl.”
“I’d have kicked his ass,” I said, not unreasonably I thought.
“Maybe, but best not take the risk, huh?”
“Maybe,” I said dreamily as I held onto Jevyn’s muscular arm with both of mine and then tipped my head to rest it against him.
“Listen, Katie,” Jevyn said.
I went around in front of him, making him stop. I held my finger to his lips.
“No, no, no. No talking about stuff. Just for this evening, let’s not. I know we gotta do stuff. I know we have to watch Cole and find out what’s going on with him, but for tonight, can it just be us?”
Jevyn looked around at the quiet, dusty streets. “It is just us.”
I smacked him gently on the arm. It was like slapping steel.
“You know what I mean. Can we just talk about us?”
Jevyn nodded slowly with a grin on his face and then spun me around by the arm again as he stepped out.
“We can, as long as we do it indoors. It’s getting cold, and you have goose bumps on your arms.”
I wasn’t feeling the cold until then, but as soon as he mentioned it, that was it, I was shivering. Gallantly, as soon as he noticed and felt me shivering, Jevyn slipped off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. It didn’t stop the shivering, but I appreciated the sweet gesture all the same. As we headed toward our quarters, we both slipped our arms around each other’s backs, mine around his waist, his around my shoulders, and proceeded to walk in step along the path.
“This is nice,” I said through chattering teeth.
“It reminds me a little of Pathya.”
“How so?” I asked, avoiding asking about how walking through dusty streets with his arm around a girl might remind him of home. That was another thing. Home. Pathya was his home.
“It’s quiet. Pathya was always quiet at night.”
“Did people not go out there?” I asked.
“Not so much at nighttime. The streets were normally always quiet at night. I used to sneak out of the palace and go walk the streets. I always wore ordinary clothes, so no one would recognize me. I’d go to the few places where people did go and just hang out, listening to what people were talking about. You know, trying to get an idea of what people were thinking, how they were feeling.”
“And . . . ?”
Jevyn coughed a small laugh. “Most of the time they talked a load of bullshit, but every once in a while, somebody would be talking about something important, you know, something that mattered to them. Those were the conversations I enjoyed the most, finding out what made people tick, what they were frightened of or unhappy about.” He paused for a few moments, his breath pluming in front of his face as we walked. “Recently there’s been a lot more of the unhappy stuff and most of it directed against my mother.”
I didn’t really know what to say about that. My short acquaintance with Lalnu hadn’t revealed any great quantity of redeeming characteristics, so I couldn’t honestly say I was surprised at what Jevyn said he’d heard.
Aft
er another short pause, he continued. “I can’t say that I blame them; she can be the most infuriating person.”
“She’s still your mom.”
“In name, Katie, yes she is. If I’m being truthful, I don’t feel much toward her.”
I looked up at him sharply.
“I know,” he said. “It’s not a great thing to admit, but I don’t. She and my father were barely ever around when I was a child, and when she was, she was haughty and offhand. I loved my friends, and I loved the people who were there while I was growing up, but if you asked me if I love my mother, I would have to say that I don’t. I can’t love someone who doesn’t love me back.”
I peered at him. That was one heck of a thing to say or even to realize for the first time. He looked down and smiled at me. He didn’t really look overly sad at what he had said, so maybe he’d known it for a while.
We were quiet for a while as we walked along. I had an unsettling feeling in my stomach, which was either too much alcohol or the need to say something to Jevyn, that I’d been experiencing for a while but which I had put off mentioning because I didn’t want to put him under any pressure.
I wanted to say it.
I needed to say it.
But my alcohol-confused brain told me not to. I didn’t want him to think that I only said it because of what he had said. I mean, how stupid was that? Here, the man I loved had offered me the perfect opportunity to say how I felt about him, and I didn’t. I’m sure the reasoning was sound at the time, but I just didn’t want him to think he had forced me into saying it.
“I love you, Jevyn,” I said and then slapped my hand across my mouth. Damn alcohol was making my mouth say things my brain had told it not to. I took my hand away and looked up at him again. His face was impassive. Had I said the wrong thing? Was he crying? I watched as a tear crept down from his eye. Then he reached around and wiped it away but still didn’t look at me.
“Don’t think I said it to put any pressure on you or think I said it because of what you said,” I said in a rush.
He laughed a little. “I don’t. I promise.”
“And you don’t have to say it back. I just wanted you to know that’s how I feel. I know you have difficult choices to make and—”
He stopped walking and spun me around to face him. At the rate this was going, I was going to be permanently dizzy.
He put a finger to my lips. “Shhh. If you give me a second to speak, I have something to say.”
I nodded. I couldn’t speak because of his finger.
He took the finger away and leaned in, pressing his lips, soft and gentle as they were, firmly onto mine. It took my breath away. Never had anyone kissed me with such . . . such . . . feeling.
When he broke away, I heaved in some much-needed oxygen and wavered slightly before he put his hand behind my neck and used the other to lift up my chin, so I was looking deeply into his gorgeous, sparkling eyes.
“I love you too, Katie, and I’m sorry it has taken me this long to say it. I’ve felt it for a long time, but I didn’t want to say it in case . . . in case I have to go.”
I stepped into his embrace, my cheek against his chest. I could hear his heart thumping a mile a minute and realized that mine was doing the exact same thing.
“I know,” I said. “I don’t want you to go, Jevyn. You know I don’t. But I understand that you have responsibilities. If you have to go, then so be it, but I didn’t want you to go without me telling you.”
“I don’t want to go, Katie. I really don’t.”
“I hear a but coming.”
He held me away from him, so he could look at me again.
“But if I have to, I wanted you to know how I feel, and I’m sorry if I break your heart, because it will break mine too.”
I nodded. I couldn’t take my eyes off his. What little light there was reflected from them, glinting in the darkness.
“I know.” I reached up and kissed him gently. “Come on, let’s get inside. Suddenly I’m not tired.” We settled back into step, our arms holding each other more tightly, and the closer we got to our quarters, the quicker we walked until we ran the last fifty yards back, arriving slightly breathless and heading straight through to our room while several grinning faces watched as we dashed by.
Chapter Fourteen
Katie
Katie and Jevyn’s quarters at Nindock’s town
Near Boise, Idaho
WHEN I WOKE up the next morning, the sun was streaming in through the slats of the blinds at the window, giving the room a brightness that hurt my eyes for a few moments. I could hear Jevyn’s steady, regular breathing next to me and feel the warmth generating from his body.
It was a comforting feeling that I truly hoped was one I was going to be able to live with for the rest of my life. Whether that happened to be my future was anyone’s guess, but it was a future I could hope for and a present I could enjoy in the moment.
I thought back for a few moments to what had happened the night before after Jevyn and I had made it back to our quarters and felt myself blushing slightly at the heat that had generated.
For a few minutes, I reveled in the pleasure I had felt, but then reality kicked in. We had a lot to do, as usual, and increasingly little time to do it in. It was like living on a railway crossing with an express train bearing down on us, but not yet being able to see it on the tracks. We knew it was coming, even if its precise arrival time was known.
That was, in reality, the future, and the thought of that spoiled my happy mood. I threw back the covers and stepped around to the bathroom, showering my troubles away, determined not to let what was just on the horizon stop me from doing what was needed.
When I stepped back into the room, dressed but with my hair still plastered to my head, Jevyn was awake, lying in the bed with his head propped up on a pillow and his hands around the back of it, showing off his muscular build.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.” I couldn’t help myself from feeling a little bashful. The night before, I had let myself go, determined to make the most of our time.
“Last night was amazing,” he said.
“It was. Thank you.”
“No, thank you,” he said with a grin.
“You’re welcome.” Truth was, after the drinks, my memory of the night wasn’t what you might describe as entirely complete. The basics were there, but possibly, some of the details were missing.
“You’re up early,” Jevyn said.
“Yeah, I woke up. You were snoring in my ear,” I lied. He didn’t snore.
“I don’t snore,” he said.
“Yeah, right. Buzzsaw snore.” I tried to do an impression of a buzzsaw snore but just made myself cough and laugh at the same time, which could have gotten messy if I hadn’t managed to control myself and if Jevyn hadn’t heaved himself off the bed, taken me in his arms, and kissed me, which took my mind off of pretty much everything else for the next few minutes.
Twenty minutes later, Jevyn had showered and dressed, my hair was almost dry, and we were heading out of the door.
“Where are we going?” Jevyn asked.
I stopped in my tracks. “I thought you knew,” I said, turning to look at him.
“I have no idea. What do we need to do?”
I thought about it for a few moments. “We need to find Cole. We need to find Carol’s daughter, too.”
“You’ve found me,” a voice said from behind us, making me squeak and Jevyn jump.
I turned all the way around to see Cole standing no more than five feet away from us.
“Cole? What are you doing?” I asked.
“I was trying to catch up with you two. You guys walk really quickly, like you’ve got somewhere to be in a hurry.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Were you waiting for us?”
“Nah. I was just coming over to your place when you burst through the doors and sped off. It’s good I wasn’t too close when you stopped, or I’d have run straight into
you. Did you forget something?”
I didn’t want to say that we’d walked out of our quarters without working out what it was we were meant to be doing. Had to keep up appearances.
“We were going to look for you,” I said.
“How very fortuitous,” he said, “because you found me, or I found you. Whichever it is, I’m here. What was it you wanted?”
“What did you want with us?” Jevyn asked before I had a chance to speak.
Jevyn took a small step closer and stared straight into Cole’s eyes. The difference between the two was so apparent right then. Jevyn was tall, muscular, well-built, and willing to do what he could to help everyone. However, Cole was shorter, skinnier, much less handsome, and helped nobody.
“I wanted to ask you about the situation with a cure,” Cole said. “I heard you’d had a bit of a breakthrough that turned into a setback.” His face was stone as he looked at Jevyn, maintaining the stare between them.
“Why do you want to know?” Jevyn growled into Cole’s face without stopping the staring competition.
“So I can help, of course, Jevyn. Why else would I want to know?”
“I don’t know. Look, Cole, I’ll be straight with you here. Nobody knows whether to trust you here. What’s in all of this for you?”
Cole didn’t answer for a moment. He flicked his eyes to meet mine. I shrugged. I wanted to know too, so I wasn’t going to give him an easy way out from the situation we three found ourselves in.
Eventually, he shifted his gaze back to Jevyn.
“I just want to find a cure, Jevyn. People are hurting, and I want to put an end to it.”
“Nice idea,” Jevyn said. “Very unselfish. That’s what we all want, but we’ve been hearing things, Cole.”
Cole’s brow furrowed. “What kind of things?”
“Little snippets. We heard you had a machine that could tear a rift, giving you access to Dracos.”
Cole’s eyes widened when Jevyn mentioned the machine.
He didn’t reply immediately, trying to formulate a response I assumed.
Finally, he nodded. “I did try to develop a machine. I spent a lot of money on the project. I tried to use it a couple of times, but it never worked.”
Drinking Destiny Page 10