No one appreciated textile work like dragons, and no one’s skill was more appreciated than Alashiya’s. It was legendary, after all.
Within moments, everyone had donned their aprons and crowded around her. The kitchen grew loud as everyone seemed to think it was necessary to talk at once, and in her excitement, Hele’s sparks popped and sizzled in the air.
Alashiya self-consciously brushed a stray curl out of her eyes. “It’s not a big?—”
“You’re very lucky to get a piece of my Chosen’s work,” Taevas interjected. Wrapping his tail around her wrist, he gave it a squeeze.
Hele slipped her green apron over her head. Vael circled behind her to tie it into a bow for her when she exclaimed, “I’ve never had an apron before! My Chosen, do you think I’m the first elemental to wear one?”
“Maybe,” Vael answered, laughing. Taevas thought he looked half-decent in his own pale purple apron. “Elementals don’t have much reason to wear them, I imagine.”
“This one does,” Hele chirped. “My cousin taught me how to bake!”
Alashiya wrapped her arm around Taevas’s waist. He looked down to find her staring up at him, pleasure shining in her eyes. “Now I’ve just got to teach you,” she teased. “Maybe you could start by helping Pasha with the cookie dough.”
Pasha blew a raspberry and threw up his hands. Dressed up in his new pink apron, he hollered, “You can’t over-mix cookie dough!”
A Very Fracture Holiday
Fracture didn’t do holidays.For decades, any luxuries at all were entirely foreign to them, and there was nothing quite so luxurious as setting aside time to simply be… happy.
But times had changed. A tyrant was dead, they’d been given weekends off, and holidays could be enjoyed. Theoretically.
Of course, a gift was only as good as its usefulness, and unfortunately Fracture had no use for holidays.
That was exactly why Delilah thought it was time she took over. Her mother, Grim guide her soul, had once loved the solstices. Looking back, Delilah thought it might’ve been something of an escape for her to throw herself into the planning of elaborate events, the gifting of offerings to temples, and decorating what felt like the entire city.
Delilah left the religious and decorating parts of honoring her mother to Winnie.Herresponsibility was making sure those who’d been forgotten for too long were brought into the light.
Or, more accurately, given an absolute banger of a Burden’s Moon.
Her body practically vibrated with excitement as she sat in the passenger’s seat of the blacked out military transportationvehicle. Behind her, sitting with perfect stillness, were the helmeted members of Fracture — all of them.
She’d made sure to coordinate with Kaz and Valen to have all of them home for the start of the holiday. Like always, they thought she was nuts when she told them her plan, but they also agreed that if there was any way to give Fracture a holiday, this was probably it.
It wasn’t a terribly long drive to their destination, but that was only the first half of their journey. No one asked any questions when she exited the vehicle at the dock in Marin and instructed them to do the same. The argument could be made that Fracture was too well trained to question orders, but Delilah knew that wasn’t the case.
The truth was that Fracture did everything in their power to circumvent orders. It was a game to them, created out of the decades they’d been used and abused by her father as attack dogs. Every member constantly assessed a situation to find the cracks and loopholes that would give them a bit of power.
Once, that’d been necessary to save as many lives as they could. Now, it was mostly so they could get away with mischief.
So when she ordered them onto the small boat and no one said a word, Delilah knew it wasn’t because they were blindly obedient. No doubt it had occurred to most of them that there was a possibility she was leading them to their execution and watery grave or something worse. They just knew that if murder at sea was on the docket, they’d get out of it.
One way or another, Fracture would survive.
Luckily for them and everyone she’d conscripted into helping her, she wasn’t taking them out to sea for a tidy execution.
Delilah held onto the railing of the boat with her gloved hands, a wild grin on her face. The wet, salty air blew through her curly black hair and knocked the white fur-lined hood backonto her shoulders. The boat danced over choppy waves as they approached the tiny island.
They disembarked on what could only generously be called a dock. Left to rot some fifty years ago alongside the rest of the buildings on the island, it was only barely capable of supporting their combined weight as they all jumped lithely over the ship’s railing.
Turning to stand with the island behind her, Delilah tucked her hands behind her back and called out, “Attention!”
The black-clad members of Fracture snapped into formation instantly. Lining up shoulder to shoulder, they stood with their gloved hands pressed to their sides and their spines rigid, awaiting orders from their commander.
Looking over them all, Delilah felt something akin to pride. Not in their obvious fitness or that they were a powerful group of elves who’d do almost anything she told them to, but in their survival.
Against the odds, they’d all managed to outlive the bastard that’d made them.
