“That’s it?” Kat asked. “Just ‘welcome aboard’?”
“Did you want a parade?” I asked sardonically.
“I guess we thought there would be more to it than that,” V said, intervening. “What do we do now?”
“What are we going to do about these?” Kat demanded, tugging at his collar.
“We have a way to get them off,” I tried to reassure him. “We’ll remove them all once the ship arrives.”
“Withoutkilling us?” Kat demanded.
“You wouldn’t be much good to me dead.”
V chose that moment to yawn. He tried to stifle it, but it was obvious that after getting some food into his system, he was still worn out from battling the venom.
“Maybe now isn’t the best time to start discussing all this,” I said. “We should probably let you both get some rest first.”
The two brothers nodded and moved back-to-back, laying down on the floor.
“What are you doing?” I asked as they seemed to settle in next to the fire.
They looked at me in confusion.
“Getting ready for sleep?” Kat said, genuinely puzzled.
I shook my head.
“There are beds you can use,” I gestured to the hallway.
“We only saw one,” V answered with a shrug. “I figured it was yours.”
“Even if it was, I wouldn’t leave you out here without anything to sleep on,” I said. Good goddess, how had they been treated to think that was okay?
“There are a couple of spare bedrooms and a barracks area. You want to stay in the same room?” Somehow, I suspected they would.
They both nodded, so I led them to one of the spare rooms with two beds. It was a little dusty since the last Machi was about three months ago, but the linens were clean. There was a bunk room, but it was on the far side of the complex and farther away than I would have liked. Something in me insisted I keep these Mageia close.
“Here you go,” I said, showing them the solar powered light in the room.
“Thank you,” V said.
“I’ll see you in the morning.” I headed back out to the living area. I was too excited to sleep yet.
I busied myself cleaning up the remnants of our meal. The task soothed me, and I found myself humming. My voice was nothing like it had been before the attack, but I still enjoyed the music.
“I don’t recognize that song,” I jumped at Kat’s voice behind me.
I turned from the sink to see the smaller Mageia standing in the doorway looking adorable in the oversize clothing. Something in my heart warmed to see him wearing my clothes.
“Um, yeah. It was something my mom used to sing,” I said, a little embarrassed. I didn’t usually let anyone hear me sing. I’d been proud of my voice before the fire. Now, it was just one more thing I’d lost when Ri had died.
Kat shuffled across the floor, his hands gripping the waist of his sweatpants and a look of pissed off exasperation on his face as he almost tripped.
“Here,” I said, reaching out to steady him. “Let me fix those.”
I reached for him carefully, uncertain of his reaction if I touched him. He started to pull away, then seemed to force himself to still. He held his breath as I pulled the dangling drawstring of the sweatpants tight and quickly tied it in a bowknot. He looked down at it, then back up at me.
“That’s gotta be magic right there,” he said, tugging gently on the waistband, seemingly surprised when it stayed put.
