I pulled on the two pieces, hesitating when my hand brushed over the ridges on my low back. Sinhadsaid the Laneum was typically deserted at night, and if it wasn’t empty I could always come back. It was worth the effort to try at least.
Clad in the new silky-soft garments and my robe wrapped tightly around me, I made my way to the lower levels, past the library, until I heard the faint sounds of burbling water.
I rounded the corner, and a cavern spread out before me where the castle had been built down into the side of the cliff. I took in the massive chamber with high ceilings made of rough stone, and five spacious pools of water that were more a part of the earth around them than they were of the palace. An igniservian slouched against one wall bouncing his finger through the air like a conductor of an invisible choir. Following his gaze out toward the water, I spotted a flaming construct of a rabbit-like creature hopping across each pool. Everywhere it landed, the water around it hissed and bubbled.
I cleared my throat, and the fire caster jerked up at the sound. His eyes widened briefly in recognition, and he scrambled to his feet to give me a hurried bow.
“Yeah, please don’t do that,” I said, turning away and hoping the young-looking male would get the hint and leave me alone.
It took another minute, but I eventually heard him stand and shuffle off to the farthest pool to continue his duties. Apparently that would have to do for privacy.
Carefully, I lowered myself into the steaming water, letting out a huge sigh as the warmth slid over my skin. The pool was deep enough that I could sit with my legs outstretched on the bottom, and the water just covered the top of my bathing suit. I leaned my head back against the lip of the pool and closed my eyes, letting the heat soak into my sore muscles.
I was lazily drawing circles on the surface of the pool when the sound of a male voice drifted through the cavern. My eyes popped open when I recognized it—Corym.
I was out of the pool in a flash. Yanking on my robe and securing it tightly, I dashed out of the room, ignoring the shouts of the igniservian.
I skidded to a stop in front of the open door to the library just in time to see Corym disappear through the door at the back of the darkened room.
I hurried toward that door, slipping more than once with my wet feet. “Corym!” I shouted, ecstatic to see the friendly librarian again.
His head whipped up, a startled expression on his face. “Raynella,” he said, recovering quickly. “I am surprised to see you here so late at night.” He eyed my attire and the water dripping to the floor of his small office. “I assume you came from the Laneum?”
“Yeah, Sin told me it was best to go at night when no one else was there.”
Corym smiled. “Yes, that is very true. I do most of my reading down here in the evening. During the day the voices and splashing water can echo quite loudly. Funny that you mention Dreisin, you actually just missed him.”
Relief that I narrowly avoided an awkward encounter must have shown on my face because Corym asked, ”And how are your interactions with the king’s Cennux going?”
I waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, you know, one second he’s the biggest ass I’ve ever met, and the next he’s actually a decent person. It’s infuriating trying to figure him out.”
“He can be that way at times,” Corym replied sadly. ”I do apologize. He was not always so difficult.” Corym shifted over on the couch and patted the spot beside him.
“So people keep telling me,” I said, sinking back against the plush sofa. “I don’t suppose you know why that is?”
A pained look crossed Corym’s face. “I do, but it is not my story to tell. I will say that Sin has lost people that he loved dearly, and it has made him… hard.” He paused, then said, “You could help with that, you know.”
I laughed. “Help make him be less of a jerk? I doubt that. I feel like I make him worse.”
“On the contrary. I know Dreisin quite well, and when he speaks about you there is a light in him that has been dark forfar too long. You have awoken something inside him that we all thought lost forever.”
I smothered the rising curiosity about what Sin had been saying about me. There would be nothing to gain from pulling on that thread. “Pretty sure the only thing I’ve awoken is his anger,” I replied.
Corym shook his head and gave me a sad smile. “I think you are wrong, Raynella.”
I studied him carefully, mulling over his excessive interest in Sin, and a puzzle piece clicked into place. “You’re his father.”
It was so obvious now that I had met them both, I don't know how I didn’t put it together sooner. They had the same dark brown wavy hair, the same facial structure, even their eyes had the same shape though Sin’s were pale green and Corym’s were a deeper, mossy hue. Corym was basically an older, slightly softer version of Sin.
Corym sagged a little, and I knew I was right. “Yes,” he confessed, “but Sin does not know.”
“What? How? You guys look so much alike.” I had only spent a handful of minutes with this guy, and I made the connection.
“Sin was told that his father died when he was an infant, so he does not see it. I spend as much time as I can with him under the guise of wanting to be helpful, and we have become… friends, for lack of a better word. He does not believe it to be any more than that.”
“And you're okay letting him think that you’re dead?” Did Corym not know how much a child craved their parents?
“His mother made the decision, and I supported it. I loved my family, Raynella. I loved them so deeply, but there was nothing I could do. Sin’s mother and I grew up in Civi Obsura. We fell in love at a young age, but when we manifested she was an imminario while I was a secunnario.”
