Kai beamed.There was a kind of puppyish energy to him that pissed River off but also made it difficult to say no to him.
He sighed.“Wash your hands.I’ll grill them, but you’re gutting them.”
It was Cynthia who put a voice to it first, one morning at breakfast: “I’m glad you and the warden became friends.”She sat, drawing her knees up to her chest at the table and balancing a bowl of porridge on them.“I was afraid you’d kill each other.”
“We’re not friends,” River replied, stabbing his eggs with a fork.“I promised Ione I’d hate him, and it’s going great.”
Her mouth widened into a smile she frequently weaponised, self-satisfied and clever, like she knew something he didn’t.River detested being on the receiving end of it.“You’re always following each other around.”
“I’m monitoring him, and as for him, he hit his head and it…” River waved a hand.“I don’t know, made him stupid.”
As though to prove her point, a high whistle resounded through the refectory: Kai, at the end of the room, oblivious to the dozens of heads turning to face him at once.He caught River’s eye and jerked his head to the side, a silent,Come.
And River must’ve hit his own head somewhere along the way, because he complied.If only to escape Cynthia’s wry little smirk.
“Don’t call me like that,” River muttered, striding past Kai into the corridor.“I’m not a dog.”
“Don’t obey like one, then.”Kai nudged him, wearing his signature shit-eating grin.“The way Ineen tells it, we’re both Saros’s dogs, anyhow.”
River didn’t dignify that with a response.
The sunlit corridors on the ground floor of the acolytes’ building were quiet at this hour, with most of its denizens either finishing breakfast or already out working or attending to other tasks.River happened to be free today, although he planned on meeting Ione later – both to keep an eye on the Moth, and on Kai and his short fuse as he fumbled his way through teaching Ione how to detect silencing wards.
While that left River with little to do until the afternoon, he suppressed a sigh, irritated following Kai around after what Cynthia had said.“Did you want something?”
“Hilo’s visiting from Caelos to update Saros on how the restoration’s going.I thought you might wanna tag along.”He played with his torn ear, although his tone was relaxed, a touch sardonic.“Since Hilo’s less likely to try and kill me, I thought I’d show my face.”
River winced, finding it in him to appreciate that.Between running Oseidos Shrine, gathering donations from wealthy patrons, and wooing new allies and spellcasters, Saros hadn’t much time in recent months to spend with his adopted son.River had done his best to blame Kai and his family’s gradual infiltration for that, but ever since The Altercation (Kai’s word for his brother nearly murdering him) last week, River had a harder and harder time holding onto his resentment towards the bastard.
But River could still pretend, so he said, “Thanks, but you don’t owe me a debt for what happened with Nalu.”
Kai halted before the double doors leading outside, thrown open to let in the early morning air.“What d’you mean?”
River gestured impatiently at him.“All of –this.Suggesting books to read and doing things nobody asked for and – ”
Kai snorted.“Menon wept, you don’t have many friends, do you?”
The word struck him oddly, a vexing jump in his pulse.“Lina saved you, too, so at least harass her as well.”
“Ah, but Herself and I are already even.Anyhow, don’t take it as a debt: you defied fate itself by helping me out, and therefore – ” There was the smirk again, oily and practiced, as Kai lowered onto one knee and laid a genteel hand over his heart.“ – I’m your problem until something else succeeds in killing me.”
He had – purposefully, River presumed – knelt in the warmth of a sunray streaming in from outside, typical theatrics.The way the light hit him brought out an auburn tinge to his hair, made his eyes look too blue, ghostly; there was something reminiscent of a demon bartering for souls in the way he smiled, and for the first time, River understood why the humans in stories made deals with demons.
River rubbed the image from his eyes, groaning softly.“Stop being dramatic, you short fuck.”
“Ah, here.”Kai dropped his arm, shrugging.“It’s you I owe the debt to, if you wanna call it that; it’s up to you how I repay it.While I’m down here, for example – ”
River swatted the side of his head and stormed past, his stomach jolting at the laughter rippling behind him.
It was a good reminder, the laugh, how Kai rushed to catch up with him; the easy, careless way he carried himself.He’d said it himself: everything was a game to be won, a story to tell later.Kai had talked about previous lovers, to River, to Mikau, even to Cynthia – a maid from the Cetos whose heart he broke, a carpenter who was too sweet and normal to last, a cook several years his senior.They were stories, and he was the demon to whom people lost a piece of themselves.
River would tolerate him, but he wouldn’t let himself or Ione or anyone else he cared about become the next story.
Kai fell quiet as they trudged up the hill, taking a busier, cobblestoned street between houses and shops rather than the isolated dirt path they’d found Nalu on.Although still seemingly in good cheer, River couldn’t help but notice Kai scanning each colourful shopfront and bustling layman, his magical signature sharpening, reaching.It wasn’t until River caught sight of men in familiar midnight uniforms that he realised why.
“Don’t worry,” Kai murmured, moving closer to River as a pair of Leviathos crewmen muscled past them, each lugging a wooden crate over their shoulder.“They’re only docked for a few hours and I already warned Ineen and Herself to stay out of the way.”
River nodded, grateful.Although the Leviathos remained at Caelos, Etan and Nalu were still frequent visitors to Oseidos, planning private meetings with Saros that, if Kai was to be believed, not even he had been invited to.Saros told me to mind Ineen, Kai had said of it, sullen.Old man says jump, I jump.
