There was so much River didn’t know.So much he wasn’t privy to.But he closed his eyes, steeping himself in Nalu’s signature.In Kai’s.He may not be able to wield magic, but if he could learn to sense it, tolerate it, perhaps he could make himself more useful to Saros.
He felt Kai beside him, still sitting on the balustrade; his leg brushed River’s arm, warm.Familiar, now.While similar, if River focused, used Kai as an anchor, he could pick the two signatures apart.They were indeed like musical notes, a chord that River could unravel: Nalu’s ruthlessness, and in Kai’s, something louder, vibrant, an undercurrent of defiance.
“Yours is… stronger,” River said, and then winced, having not meant to say it out loud.
He’d anticipated a cynical snort, aNo shit I’m stronger, but Kai sat back on his hands and kicked his feet a little, pleased.
A flurry of movement beyond the pavilion drew their attention: Archpriest Saros, his face etched with agitation as he strode to them, acolytes scurrying out of his way.
“Right,” Etan said, waving lazily at River as Saros ascended the steps to the pavilion.“Break time’s over.The guard can wait out in the hall.”
It took River a moment to realise Etan was talking about him.“As Ione’s seleneschal,” he replied hotly, summoning Ione’s holier-than-thou air, “I have every right to be here.”
Although expected, there was still an ounce of familiar hurt when Saros stalked right past him to the little table.
Startlingly, it was Kai who spoke next, his posh accent in full bloom: “As Ione’s seleneschal, River represents Her Holiness,” he said, clipped and bored.“Just as I represent the spellcasters who work day in and out to protect this shrine.”Kai crossed an ankle over his knee, regarding his brothers like they were nothing.“We would both like to know why the captain and lieutenant of the Leviathos caused an uproar in the mainland and then came straight fu – straight here.”
“Thank you, Warden,” Saros cut in.“But I don’t need assistance.”He cleared his throat and levelled a cool look towards Etan.“I’m told that an inn and half a street are destroyed, Captain.”
Half a street.How many homes, businesses?How many people?River gripped the balustrade behind him, wishing he’d brought his sword, its comforting coldness, to hold onto.
“An unfortunate casualty,” Etan said dismissively.“We docked in Lodestone to replenish some supplies.While visiting an inn, Lieutenant Nalu and I caught wind of another attack being planned.”He held Saros’s hard stare.“On Oseidos.”
“The Moths know Menon’s vessel is hiding here,” Nalu added, arms crossed.And to Kai, “The giant ward woven around Oseidos might’ve tipped them off.”
A muscle feathered in Kai’s jaw, but he said nothing in response.
“As one of Menon’s oldest shrines, Oseidos would naturally have been on their agenda,” River said.“The Moths would’ve tried to come here eventually, but you’ve only expedited it by wreaking havoc in Lodestone.”
Kai stirred, looking just as surprised as River was that he was defending him; while there might have been something to the phraseThe enemy of my enemy is my friend, so far River disliked Etan and Nalu more than he distrusted Kai.He wanted them and their violence off of Oseidos, away from Ione.
He wanted to have something to say in these meetings, rather than standing by and serving tea.He wanted Saros to hear him.
Etan jutted his chin.“It’s as the guard says, sure.The Moths will attack soon enough, and while we weren’t able to gather much more information before the men at the inn noticed us listening, we at least have the name of the man who will head their next gambit.”
“Castor Almenara,” Nalu said grimly.“One of Rigel’s heliades.He’s the one who took charge of the siege on Caelos, as well as the felled shrines over in Eastwick and Sterlingdale, and he’ll be one tough bastard to contend with if he ever breaks down the wards here.”
Saros pursed his lips, pensive.
“The wards can’t be broken,” Kai interjected.“Not from the outside.”
Saros didn’t even look at him.“What else do you know of Almenara?”
Etan nodded, impassive, a soldier delivering a report.“He’s more than powerful enough to worry about.”
“We’ve had more than one… confrontation with him,” Nalu added.“The priests at Soliz worship the ground he walks on.His peers, not so much: I’ve seen him burn through his own men to reach a target.Gods!I’ve never seen a body reduced to ash so quick.”
Etan held up a hand, quieting him.“The Moths at the inn called him the successor,” he went on.“We think he’s set to become the next Archpriest once Rigel retires.”
Nalu sent Kai an ugly smile.“A man that talented will have a background in wards.”
“Nonetheless,” Kai said, a tad petulantly, “unless he can summon an earthquake from the mainland strong enough to shatter the wardstone, he can’t dismantle my wards.”
As much as he would’ve thrilled in Kai’s failure before, River clung to the conviction in his words now.Kai would protect Oseidos, protect Ione – because in doing so, it would be protecting himself.
In that, at least, River could trust him.
Saros groaned softly and rubbed his face with gnarled hands.“This information has been invaluable,” he said flatly, making Etan scowl.“We are already haemorrhaging money repairing Caelos, and now we’ll have to pay reparations for the wrecked buildings and loss of life.”
