Vedikus pushed his horns hard against his in one telling thrust, scraping all four of them together. Astegur grasped his brother’s shoulder hard and breathed steam all over his face. Vedikus did the same, and they stood there, waiting for the other to back down.
Eventually Vedikus spoke. “I said something similar to Dezetus when I brought Aldora here.”
“Then you know what it means.”
Vedikus’s eyes slid away from Astegur’s and back to Calavia. His nostrils flared. “She is the hag of Prayer.”
“She is mine,” his voice lowered.
“A tainted human? A witch who leads the gullible astray?” Vedikus tore himself from Astegur’s grasp and moved to stand before Calavia. “You stole something from me.”
“I gave you something in return. Is Aldora well?”
“Do not speak her name!”
Astegur placed his hand back on his brother’s arm in warning. “You ran to her did you not?” Astegur indicated Calavia. “You sought her sanctuary and her help with your human. Yes, she has told me all. Did you expect gifts given from a stranger? She has sacrificed and lost far more than you can imagine in helping you.” His voice lowered. “Ihave lost much as well.”
Vedikus tensed under his hand. “And you bring her here to balance out the price?”
“I bring her here because we are mates! She has lost her home, like we have...brother.”
Vedikus quieted at his words, stiffening even further, and Astegur watched his hands twitch at his sides. He knew that twitch, knew his brother was trying to calm down and take in his words.
Astegur let go of him and offered his good hand to Calavia, who took it and moved to his side. “We have much to discuss, brother, and Prayer falling is only one of them, though not the worst.”
Vedikus released the rest of his pent-up steam with a shake of his arms. Envy streaked through Astegur at his elder brother’s easy use of his limbs. His left fingers trembled weakly as he strained his bad arm. With one last, lingering glare at Calavia, who remained steadfast beside him, Vedikus turned to the gate and walked through.
“Yes,” Vedikus muttered as his large back faded into the mist beyond. “I have news myself.”
“He and I will not get along,” Calavia said when Vedikus disappeared from sight.
“He does not get along with many,” Astegur replied. “There is a reason I am heir and he is not.”
“I didn’t realize…”
“Do not kill him. He will not hurt you despite his violence. Vedikus may have many unpleasant qualities, but he is loyal to his kin, and that now includes you. He will see your worth in the seasons to come.” He placed a hand on her back and led her through the open gate. He closed it once they were through and looked around for his other brothers.
But no one came forward to greet them, and as he scanned the vicinity, from the large open space before him and toward where the abandoned stone temples and buildings began, there were no traces of any other life. He watched Vedikus storm toward one of the lower buildings built into the rock face and disappear inside.
“Where are the rest of your brothers?” Calavia asked.
One of them, he knew, if Kryiakos had been telling him the truth, had been taken captive. But that did not account for the others. He still did not know who had been taken, and that dwelled in his mind, even though he had little time to ponder it during the previous days.
“I do not know.”
* * *
That night,Calavia sat stiffly before the fire, watching Aldora prepare a meal in a pot hooked above it. The smell that flooded her nose was filled with herbs, some she knew, some she didn’t, and meat. Despite Vedikus’s gaze boring holes into her flesh, Calavia looked forward to a meal she had not prepared herself—one that had been prepared by a fellow human woman, one who knew as much and as little as Calavia did about the world they sought to survive in.
Vedikus sat directly across from her, the fire and the flames between them. Aldora would glance her way and part her mouth as if she wanted to speak, but didn’t, and would turn back to the task at hand.
Calavia wanted to speak to Aldora, wanted Aldora to speak to her, as if they could continue a conversation they had never had, and ask her about her relationship with Vedikus or the loss of her world in the light.
Astegur joined them with a fresh load of wood under his arm and sat opposite of Aldora, between Calavia and Vedikus.
He untied a bag at his side, one he had been carrying for days, and set it in a bowl he had brought with him. Then he unsheathed a dagger and placed it on top of the bowl. Her eyes narrowed upon the pile.
She clenched her hands at her sides. Her fingers twitched to take the items from him for some reason.
