“I’ll kill him,” Ione whispered.“Lina, I will fucking kill him.”
A response died before she could give it breath.It was good, right, for Ione to know the truth – but the last thing Lina wanted was for it to lead them right back to Caelos, where Menon and Saros and thousands of enemies awaited them.
She held Ione’s face, stroked her cheeks until her breathing slowed.“If we return to Caelos,” she tried, “Kai will kill me.He may not mean to, but he will.”
Ione considered it.“Kai was fine until he got too close to you.”
Lina sighed.“Ione.”
She lifted her chin, the same proud, lofty way she used to.“Saros, and then Rigel.I will kill the men who did this to us.”
“You’ll kill the only men who know how toundothis to us.”
Ione flared.“And will they, Lina?If I bring you to Saros, do you really think he’ll sit you down like the kindly old man he is and remove Sowelan from you?”She waited in vain for Lina to respond.“You know what he’d do.You know what Rigel will do.They have hurt us, and they will continue to hurt and hurt and it’s only right – ” She held up a hand before Lina could speak.“ –only rightfor them both to die.”
Sowelan heated, hackles raised, and Lina fought to retain control.Quiet, she thought as sternly as she could.Count to ten.
She did.They did.
“I know you’re scared,” Ione whispered.“I’m scared, too.But I can’t run, Lina.Not from this.”
Scared didn’t even cover it.Lina’s mind whirred, fear and hatred and a desire for vengeance all vying to come to the surface like a shark’s fin cleaving a tranquil sea.She had spent most of her life running, avoiding.She was afraid – gods, she was afraid – but maybe Ione was right.
Maybe there was no running from this.
“Lina,” Ione was saying, “Sowelan’s equivalent to a seleneschal – what is it called, again?”
Lina blinked, still dazed from thoughts of violence.From the image of Rigel, dead and bleeding, in her mind; from the startling, terrifying jolt of gratification it gave her.“A – it’s called a heliade.”
“A heliade,” Ione echoed.Her mouth spread into a slow smile, although there was nothing sweet about it.“Despite my best efforts, I was never anything Saros wanted me to be.Fine, then.Let me become something truly abhorrent to him.”
Ione lowered to her knees, her smile softening.“Lina,” she breathed, “Until we have our revenge and can figure out how to release Sowelan from you, please permit me to be your heliade.”
A surprised laugh broke free and Lina stooped to help Ione back up.“Gods, you don’t need to kneel.”
“You must have thought I was stupid before, offering you my protection when I could barely protect myself.”
Lina squeezed her hands.“I never thought that.”
Ione’s eyes sparkled in the low light – from tears, but also from some grim determination that Lina felt all too keenly.Ione kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, her lips.“I asked Kai to protect me, and my gods, look how that turned out,” she whispered.“Let me prove myself, then.”
She kissed her again, every featherlight touch an ember.Lina melted, pulled her with her, the backs of her knees hitting the edge of the bed; gravity shifted until they found themselves thrown into a heap on the old mattress.Ione rose onto her elbows, her hair falling in a curtain on either side of Lina’s face, and in the lamplight she thought Ione looked more divine, more celestial than Lina ever could.Her eyes flicked unbidden to the bust of Ione’s dress, the loose fabric falling open and revealing a swathe of skin, the swell of her breasts.
Ione followed her gaze, her cheeks tinged pink.“It’s not mine,” she said, one hand playing thoughtfully with the strap.“The dress.There weren’t a lot of clothes in my size.”
Lina shrugged, her heart in her throat as Ione worried at the strap, threatening to push it off her shoulders.She peered down at herself, at the gold-threaded gossamer glancing through the opening at the front of her cloak, at her own peaks and curves all too visible through it.“It’s better than what they had me wearing.”
Ione nodded, her eyes smouldering.“This, too,” she murmured, pinching the delicate fabric between thumb and forefinger, “I’ll avenge you for.”Her mouth tightened.“Dressing you up and treating you like a spectacle.”
Lina caught her hand, held it against the gilded silk.“Don’t think about them right now,” she said, watching Ione blush deeper as she guided her hand.Pushed the silk off of her shoulders, bared herself.
Ione’s throat bobbed as she swallowed.“I’ve – I’ve readextensivelyon this, but…” She loosed a breath, looking at Lina, and then away, and then back again, like she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to.“I’ve… never been with a woman before.”
“It’s all right,” she said, pushing gently until Ione laid back.She suppressed a breath at the feel of Ione’s skin beneath her palm, the unbearable softness of it.“I have.”
Ione’s eyelids fluttered at Lina’s touch, her hands finding the laces to her own dress and prising them deftly apart.Lina watched, her skin scorching, and imagined those fingers on her, imagined what they could do to her.Freed from the faded, donated clothes, Ione was like a star against the rough duvet, skin flushed and eyes bright with want – and that was the last thing Lina saw before they became nothing but a tangle of limbs and the hungry slide of their mouths.
Ione said her name like a prayer, a summoning.The flickering shadows of the room faded away around them, and Lina arched as Ione massaged her in slow, tortuous circles, eyes squeezed so tightly shut she saw stars – but none so bright as her.
