Jallina’s tears hurt.
She sipped her coffee to cover up some of her pain, but it was too big to hide.
I simply had no tears left. I had cried them all out.
A morning walk a few days after his death had turned into spending hours weeping at the small, plain marker I found in the memorial garden. It merely said his name and the dates of birth and death.
“Elex.” She smeared a tear off her face.
“I would never have believed it, save for having been there when he said those terrible things.”
“I just…”
All I could do was nod. “He even told me that the only people I could trust were you, Drez, and Arik.”
“How did he die?”
The snort escaped me. “Oh, not well.”
“You’re not going to tell me how this happened, are you?”
I stared at her. “I can’t.”
Eventually, she nodded. “And his work in the university?”
“Ongoing. Actual and real and helpful.”
“Will we be able to give him a pyre?”
I shook my head. I didn’t dare ask Master Dorian for that. “No. Just the marker. I’m sorry.”
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t want to ask Master Dorian for a pyre for Elex. He had betrayed the deepest part of me. He had lied and misled us for years. Decades. And I needed him to not haunt my thoughts anymore.
“Are you all right?” Jallina touched the back of my hand.
“I am. I will be. It’s a long road I’m on, and there’s a learning curve like you wouldn’t believe.” I considered her a moment. “Do you have any news to report on the people of S’Kir?
“None, save they are curious about the ouster of Elex. Oh, and if the machine will work and give us a chance to survive the collapse of the mountain.”
“It will,” I answered. “I’m not entirely sure how it works, but everyone who does is very excited. It should be able to give us close to a four-hour warning before the tremors.”
“That’s plenty of time to get people away from the danger areas, isn’t it?”
“Oh yes.”
Except we wouldn’t be evacuating. Four hours was enough time for me to find Roran and Rilen and engage in some mad fucking so I had enough power to stop the tremors.
For the past five days, I had been in bed with the twin masters, and there hadn’t been much sleeping. If it wasn’t one of them, it was the other. And they were delighted to pass me off between them.
I still wasn’t sure it was right to have let them take me the very night Elex had died. But I would always immediately remember: he had betrayed me, had sex with Master Dorian, and done both almost without thought.
Truthfully, I didn’t mind having the two of them claiming me. I enjoyed every touch and every dirty innuendo. They didn’t mind taking my direction, and I certainly didn’t mind taking their cocks.
My face went red while I was sitting there. Jallina peered at me over the cup.
“I know you, Kimber. What’s going on?”
Did I want to tell her? I needed to trust someone who wasn’t at the temple. “Do you swear not to go to the betting parlor with this?”
