The rooms Caz got were adjoined, which gave them the option to leave me alone. Once Devlen slid the connecting doors shut, I made fast work of shedding off the leather belt, pulling the tunic out of the waistband of my pants, and shucking off the boots. The belt leaves a disappointingthwump!When it hits the ground, rather than the usual clatter from all of my weapons tucked in the notches.
I flop backwards onto the mattress, Devlen’s words dancing around in my mind.
“Well, there have to be people looking for you…right?”Gods, this is such a mess.
A mess that never would have happened if you hadn’t agreed to help, Rorin.My conscience snarks. I pull my lip between my teeth, the chapped skin splitting with the motion, copper hitting my tongue. After all our trekking today, the headache I wokeup with has worsened, sweat’s collected underneath the mage shackles, and the itching has become unbearable.
Not able to take it anymore, I shove off the bed to start whipping open drawers. After turning over every item in the first three, I find– “A-HA!”
I toss the sharpened letter opener up in the air, catching it right side up, and collapse onto the floor in a heap to begin vigorously sawing away. My focus was so locked in on my mission to break these off that I didn’t even hear the two fools I’d been saddled with stumble into the room, not until Devlen’s shrill shriek hit my ears.
“What are you doing?!”
I hum in confusion and watch as he drops down in front of me, harshly yanking my hand towards him to wrench the letter opener away. My eyes blink furiously, trying to clear the haze that settled over me while working on the shackle. I look down at Devlen, and I’s hands joined, the skin of my wrist bloodied and shredded.
The tool’s been chucked off to the side, and he’s staring at me, his blue eyes wide with horror.
I tug my wrist back, my argument already at the tip of my tongue. “I wanted them off,” I explain casually.
“And turning your wrist into ground meat was what? Painless for you?!”
Yes, actually. It wasn’t painful at all, until you made me aware of it.I almost say, but I’m not here to break bread and share sob stories. I’m here so that they can get me out of this fucking city.
A pulse throbs in the back of my skull, and I can feel myself swaying from the blood loss. Tilting my chin, I pick up the edge of the sheet and bite down, tearing a piece off with my uninjured hand. I keep my bite hard, using that to stabilize me while I wrap the injured joint.
“Why do you want them off so badly?” Devlen murmurs.
I pull taut on the makeshift bandage, tying it as best as I can. “Would you like to be without arms? Would that inconvenience you? To be without them?”
“Uhhh..”
“That’s how it feels to have my magic cut off – it’s like being without limbs. Sure, you’d been fine eventually if you didn’t have them, but it certainly wouldn’t be convenient.” His brows are furrowed, watching me fidget with the bandage, looking confused as to where I’m going with this. “I don’t want to get to the point of 'eventually being fine’. I want my ‘limbs’ back and the only way that’s going to happen is if I get these fucking shackles off.”
He rubs awkwardly at the back of his neck, unsure of how to respond.
“Dev,” Caz calls, his voice firm, and Devlen gives me a meek look. He pushes back onto his heels, grabbing the letter opener before following his partner.
While the bleeding stopped after a few hours, the throbbing has kept me awake most of the night.
Caz demanded he take first watch over me, leaned up against the window, his white hair and translucent skin illuminated by the moonlight. Unable to rest, I prop myself up onto my hands and follow where he has his attention focused.
His face is turned fully towards the gap in the doors, the object of his thoughts fast asleep on the the otherside.
“Hey–” I snap my fingers, breaking his concentration and earning me an annoyed expression. “I understand you know.”
“What do you understand?”
I slide to the edge of the mattress and chuck my chin at the doors. “You worry about him.” Caz’s face goes slack, his features hardening as he turns to look out the window. “It’s exhausting worrying about other people.”
“I am not having this conversation with you. Lay down, go to bed, and tomorrow this fucking headache will all go away.”
A laugh slips past my chapped lips, “to be fair, I ran. I made an effort to avoid both of us being in this situation. But your man there –”
“Don’t talk about him like I am unaware of how he is. I am aware.” My hands lift in mock defense, and we exist there in the silence for a minute before I see his chest lift up and down.
“Devlen sees too much of the good in people.” He exhales. “And the people who see too much good are the ones –”
“Are the ones who usually end up dead.” I finish for him.
