Soft, and sweet.
Catching Lina watching her, she stood.“Are you really feeling unwell?”She reached to comb a stray curl from Lina’s eyes, the backs of her fingers cool on her forehead.She froze then and pulled away.“Sorry,” she said, head bobbing, a clumsy bow.“Cynthia’s always reminding me that not everyone wants to be touched.”
“I don’t mind,” Lina said, and then looked down, humiliated at how quickly she’d responded.She clasped her hands together on her lap, digging her fingernails surreptitiously into her palms.“And – yes, I was very ill.Before.”
The light blue silk of her dress whispered as Ione edged closer.Knelt before her.
“I won’t demand you to talk about something you don’t want to.”Solemnly, Ione laid her hands over Lina’s.“You seemed afraid of the warden’s brother, and then I didn’t see you for so long, and I…”
Lina barely managed a neutral nod through the startling, vindictive delight in remembering Nalu’s rage.In hurting him and escaping unharmed.
Ione’s thumb brushed Lina’s skin, the featherlike a touch a contrast to Lina’s cruel thoughts.Maybe Kai and River were right to distrust her.Maybe she was a monster, fuelled by the same hideousblood that coursed through Castor’s veins.
“Especially after hearing the warden was quite hurt and hiding behind a supposed illness, I was worried… something had happened to you, too.”Ione gazed up at her, earnest.Sincere.In the light, Lina saw that her eyes oscillated as they sometimes did and couldn’t help but smile; Ione, in turn, blinked and rubbed them, huffing.
“I wasn’t afraid of Etan.”Lina hesitated, searching for her next words.It felt wrong to meet Ione’s sincerity with lies.“I was afraid of… men like him.”
Ione’s eyes fell to Lina’s wrists, understanding.Wordlessly she poured the steeped tea and stirred in a spoonful of honey into each gold-rimmed cup.
“You shouldn’t serve me,” Lina said when Ione handed her one.“Or kneel before me.”
“My duty is to my people,” Ione whispered, her focus on the pale pink tea.“In more ways than I can explain.”
The air grew warm, too warm.Lina swallowed and set the cup back down, queasy.“Except Saros,” she said, her attempt at humour feeling flat.
Still, Ione snorted.“Oh, he doesn’t need my help.”She climbed up beside Lina on the edge of the bed, close, arms touching and knees knocking against each other.“Remember what I promised.”
Lina smiled back, the heat of the tea, the room, her own blood rushing to her cheeks dizzying her.Ione’s eyes seemed to dance, roguish mirth colouring her pale skin pink, and this close, Lina caught a hint of her perfume, sweet violet and warm vanilla.
Her pulse drummed in her throat, making the wardstrings feel tighter, claustrophobic.
“You’ll protect me,” Lina whispered hoarsely, lifting one hand to her neck, tracing the icy heat of the ward.
Ione caught her hand, brought it to her.Fire burned in her eyes – not the self-righteous gleam of conquest Lina remembered in Castor and Rigel, but something gentler.Tender and devoted, a guardian’s flame that made Lina feel weak.
“And soon – ” Ione pressed her lips to the backs of Lina’s fingers, impossibly soft, her grey eyes still fixed on her.“I’ll be able to protect us all.”
The wardstrings tightened.
Chapter Eleven
River
He’d only fended Nalu off because it seemed right to.He’d wanted Nalu gone and he genuinely wasn’t sure whether the ward would endure Kai’s death.But Kai survived, they’d learned some pertinent information about the Moths – where they met outside Soliz Shrine, potential weaknesses, blind spots they might exploit – and the Leviathos shipped off to harass Hilo at Caelos, leaving them in peace.
As far as River was concerned, they both got what they’d wanted.But apparently Kai embodied an unpleasant notion of honour that had him hanging around River afterwards like he owed him something for a couple of sword swipes.
“I heard you reading some of my books when I was half-asleep,” he’d said one day in the common room, a call-back to last week’s confrontation that Kai had decided only he was allowed to talk about.We’ll keep the Moth up our sleeves for now,he’d said of it:It’s not the right time to tell Saros what we learned.“Did you want to borrow one?”
Clawing throughSeduced by the High Lordonce was enough.“No, thanks.”
“Well, let me know.I can’t take them back to the library until I pay all my fines, so they’re pretty much mine now.”
Or one evening, materialising in their floor’s kitchenette, which River commandeered whenever he wanted to cook for himself.With little more than anAh, there you are, Kai sauntered up to the counter and set something down.A basket, wet; he pushed it towards River, like a cat showcasing a chewed-up lizard.“I went fishing.I mean, you know – ” He twisted his wrists, miming.“ – with hydromancy.”
Inside the basket, a couple of mackerel gazed dolefully up at them.
By now River knew this game.He scraped diced carrots into a bowl and crossed his arms, one hip leaning against the counter.“You want me to cook it.”
