“The same.”Erik hoped theliraihadn’t felt the gathering predators too much; every time he returned to the baffle outside her door, everything behind was silent save for the quiet thunder of her pulse.“Looks like everyone knows we got lucky.”
He wanted to addwhat the fuck is Control thinking, but the person making actual decisions about bringing a potential in would be a fully trainedlirai; Control was just passing along the news.
“Can’t hide it.”Jake’s smile was a snarl.He smelled of rain even after a shower and less-physical cleanup, and the deep unsteady fume of rage hung on him, too.
Younger brother with the fury, an Elder past anger and holding out against insanity, a Father who had mastered both, that was the way of the Sons.At least, so far as the Mad God’s whispering could be mastered without alirai’s presence—or a seal, for those truly lucky bastards who managed to earn a Dreamer’s trust—to hold it at bay.
Erik moved, breaking his steady defense pattern for a short, brutal flurry.They were both breathing in great deep swells by the time he retreated, and Jake’s gaze had taken on a hard seamless glitter.
“Thought you were supposed to be fast,” Erik taunted.
“Thought you were supposed to be smart,” Jake spat, and threw himself at his tormentor.
Iron was fun, but you had to keep its shear tolerances in mind or you’d end up with shards and regret.Erik batted aside a barrage of testing blows, knowing his own slight smile would irritate Jake all the more.
“Temper, temper,” he crooned, and had the distinct satisfaction of seeing an opening in his little brother’s pattern.Erik’s stave leapt, and good thing it was blunt instead of edged.Even so, and at minimal strength, the strike tossed Jake half the salle, and the Younger landed hard but balanced, feet barely touching before flashing in a complicated pattern to bleed momentum.
“Asshole.”But Jake was slowly learning to throttle the anger.Maybe he’d make elder status soon, heading out to another trio, and another younger brother would move in to keep Ignatius and Erik cheerful.“So?Did you?”
Are you still on that?“Did I what?”
“You didn’t.”Jaketch-tch’d, like Father when more-than-usually disappointed.
Erik shook his head, his pulse barely rising above somnolence.He remembered being in a Younger’s shoes, the scratching impatience, the deep welling ferocity.Once the discomfort was gone the greater insanity began to rise, the god whispering in your blood with the papery sound of a thousand blinking eyelashes against damp silk.“Not gonna, Jake.”
“Better safe than sorry.”The mulish set to his Younger’s mouth meant Jacob knew he was wrong, but he wasn’t going to back down just yet.
so be it.Beating sense into your junior was a time-honored Sons tradition.
“Exactly.”It wouldn’t do any good to explain—once Jake got an idea he was like a terrier, shaking until nothing remained but a rag.Still, Erik tried anyway.“We’re gonna be with her a while.”
“The sooner one of us seals her, the sooner we can?—”
“What, fuck up our only chance with alirai?”Some of Erik’s weariness probably leached into the words.“She ends up hating us and we’ll be back out on rotation, maybe with a different Father.”
“So?”Jake’s chin set even further, and with his long nose, he looked more like a petulant teenager than a full-fledged Son.At least he knew better than to bring this up with Father, or so Erik hoped.“Change’ll do us good.”
“Don’t try it.”Erik didn’t like giving an ultimatum—it was the quickest way to make Jake decide to risk whatever he was warned against—but what else could be done?“The last thing she needs is more trauma.”
“It’s not like it won’t happen anyway, sooner or later.”Sweat had begun on Jake’s forehead, a slight healthy glow.The chiming of metal on metal was almost soothing; he batted a stray strike contemptuously away.“And I’d be respectful.”
“Sealing aliraiwithout consent isn’t respect, Jake.”Why did they need to have this conversation more than once?Was Younger Brother working himself up to something unwise?“Come on.”
“She’d get over it.”Jake’s smile was a masterpiece of fetching fecklessness.“They always do.”
“Uh-huh.”There were songs about aliraisealed against their will, all laments.Every single one was plaintive.“Would you?”
“Shit, man…” Jake bashed aside both the question and Erik’s next blow.“She’s got it easy.Just sit up there while we’re bleeding.”
“Remember what your first nights in dorm were like?”Erik tapped a halfhearted return-strike aside.“Or your first live-fire run?Now imagine not knowing what the hell was going on.”And not having a weapon handy to fight with.A Dreamer’s concentration of numinous force was instinctive, even if it blinded them while utilized.A Son, picking it up and channeling, became several orders of magnitude more deadly to the Mad God’s other followers, not to mention mere garden-variety predators.
The point seemed to get through to his little brother, though Jake’s lower lip pooched out a bit.He was giving ground, slowly but surely, the iron staves just barely kissing before springing apart.An onlooker might have thought they were dancing.“We’ve explained everything.”
“And you think that’s good enough?”Erik’s pulse dropped, a sure sign that he was taking this more seriously.He moved in, a flurry beating little brother back, and back, and back.
“We’reSons.”Like Jake would saywater’s wetorit’s winter.“It should fucking well be.”
Momentary distraction gave Erik the opening he needed, and his stave blurred in a complicated pattern to distract the eye before he snap-kicked and sent Jake flying.The sudden silence after clash-chiming steelplay was alive with echoes.
