“Oh, get fucked.”Hilo staggered to his feet, tall but not quite intimidating in a workman’s paint-stained coveralls.“Moth, leave of your own accord and I won’t sic the entire shrine on you.Beloved Wife, return to your husband and apologise for giving him a whiny little nervous breakdown, because I’m sick of minding the wee shite.”
Ione bristled.“I’m certain it was clear the union was annulled.”
He flashed an unkind grin.“Oh, confirmed?”
Lina straightened, donning an admirably bored expression.“I’ll leave if you like, but where will I go?To Soliz?”She let Hilo short-circuit over that.“I’m sure their priests would be thrilled to have Sowelan back.”
“I could just kill you, then,” Hilo replied mildly.“Save us all a war.”
“Or you could hide us,” Ione shot back.“Keep quiet and leave us in peace.And with Sowelan missing in action,stillsave us all a war.”
“And keep poor, innocent Lina-blood off your hands,” Lina added sweetly.
“You’re talking to the wrong fella if you’re concerned with keeping my hands clean.”Hilo rubbed his temple, weakening, and sent Mikau a needy look.“What’re our options?I can’t fucking let her near Kai.”
“You won’t,” Ione said.“My room is nowhere near his.You’ll escort us there, keep your mouth shut, and go about your day with the satisfaction of helping me.”
“I don’t do charity work.”
“Well, start.”
“Or – ” Lina mimed peering out at the constellation of ships in the bay.“Your ships look awful flammable,” which might’ve been a suitable threat if Ami didn’t suppress a snort.
Hilo and Mikau exchanged glances, both of them looking stricken.Mikau shrugged, and Hilo cursed quietly.To Lina, “You can keep a lid on, uh, your god?”
Lina nodded.
Hilo radiated discomfort.“Fuck’s sake,” he grumbled, and then released a purifying breath.“Just – don’t hurt Kai, arright?He’s an ass, but he’s still one of mine.”
Warming, Lina stood with Ami, both of them helping Ione to her feet.“I don’t intend to.”
“Intent’s nice and all, but – ” He groaned, muttering, “Gods, this has all gotten so much bigger than it was s’posed to.”
Ione swallowed a twinge of concern.Kai was not her responsibility.Kai would be fine, just as she and Lina would be.She pulled her hood up and threaded her arm through Lina’s, glad to see Ami again, and excited to meet Cynthia, River; even, surprisingly, her parents.
“Now,” she called over her shoulder to Hilo and Mikau, “Will you make this easy and escort us, or will we be forced to sneak around – after I nearly drowned, and my precious attendant was so terribly burned?”
A beat passed, during which she sensed the two of them swapping frustrated glances.Mikau strode to them first, followed by Hilo, sighing.
Chapter Twenty-Three
River
Hauling Kai out of bed had become routine.Knock once, let himself in; throw open the curtains, endure whining.But this morning Kai was already awake and standing before the broken mirror hanging above an old chest of drawers, his back to River as he slipped into a pearl-white shirt trimmed with gilded ocean waves.
River took in the barren room.The floor was cleared of glass, if still wet in patches from a haphazard attempt to wash away the spilled wine.The reek of it still hung in the air, although Kai had opened a window, letting in the scent of late morning rain.
“Hey,” Kai called, turning.He was clean-shaven, indicating that Hilo had been by sometime this morning to relinquish his razor, but his eyes were still shadowed from grief and the fatigue of a night of wardwork.“How you feeling?”
Physically, emotionally?They were here, safe and sound within the web of Kai’s new ward.River was fine, of course.It was Ione who wasn’t.Ione who was still gone.
Ione who might be dead.
River squeezed his eyes shut, unable to even think it.“My stomach’s still sore from where Nalu punched me.”
Kai nodded, returning his attention to the mirror.“I’ll get him back for that.”
“I can get him back, myself.”
