Ehlian batted his hand away. “What are you doing?”
“Just checking if there’s anything in there,” Willian said. “Sounds hollow. It’s fucking empty.”
“I wish it was,” Ehlian rubbed a hand over his face. “My head was a mess that night. Too much noise.”
“I’ve told you,” Willian sighed. “When you fixate on those thoughts, your power only amplifies them and drowns out the rational ones.”
And it still did. The noise was there.
Two weeks. Two weeks of sleepless nights, two weeks of finally bringing himself to recount every little detail of Hayce's visit to Willian.
“But I’m glad you didn’t mindlessly run back to him and revert to your prison dynamic.” Willian said. “It worked for survival, but it was hardly a viable relationship.”
“I know,” Ehlian said, recalling Hayce’s reaction just hearing Ehlian wasn’t part of his pack anymore. “I think I made that pretty clear to him, just not sure if that’s what he wants too.”
“He had to follow those unwritten prison rules for survival too. Just as you, he had little choice, you tend to forget that,” Willian said. “But you’ll never know what it could be like with him now if you don’t even consider giving him a chance.”
He didn’t quite know what to do. He’d been out of prison for a year now and was still stuck with these infuriating feelings. Hayce had only been out a few months, still in the headspace of prison. There would come a point where Hayce would want something more… someone else. Whatever he felt for Ehlian would fade into nothing.
“Ah, damn it,” Willian cursed, sensing Ehlian’s hesitation. “And I was hoping I’d get these spare parts for a generous discount if you worked things out with him. You’re not good for business. Can’t flirt, can’t get me a discount. Truly a shit friend, you know?”
Ehlian grinned. “Sadly, you can’t expect more from a criminal.”
“I need a new friend,” Willian shook his head, but his expression softened into something more serious a moment later. “And you’re not a criminal. Not to me.”
“Maybe not as much as Sandar,” Ehlian shrugged. “But I still have a record, don’t I?”
And at least Ehlian had no dark connections, so that counted for something. The Apex was still at large, rumoured to be hiding in Dravox, the same country where Sandar had been eventually captured. Dravox was the most corrupt nation on Arox, ruled by power-hungry leaders and dirty politics. Cut off from the rest of the world, it attracted only the insane and the criminally desperate. Once inside, escape was nearly impossible,at least alive. Overlords roamed freely there, ruthless and unpunished.
“That’s the other thing bothering you?” Willian’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Your record?”
Before Ehlian could answer, the shop door opening bellowed through the thick curtain of the back room. He let out a sigh, ready to stand—
“No, you stay and give that empty head a rest,” Willian said, tossing his glasses on his worktable. “I’ll get this.”
After his friend disappeared behind the curtain, Ehlian tapped his holowatch. No messages.
What was he really waiting for? Sure, there was no doubt Hayce already had Ehlian’s number, but why would he message him?
He scrolled through the projected screen and opened the map, the address of the Cartivair residence marked red on a hillside outside the city. Marked red for destination, for a plan to go there, for urgency. Sure, he’d just show up and knock on the big-ass gate. After what he’d said to Hayce, he’d be thrown out. Minimum.
The curtain was suddenly drawn back, Willian stepping into the room. “Someone is here to see you.”
Ehlian switched off the holowatch. “Me?”
“Yes,” Willian sat back down at his desk. “I wouldn’t make them wait.”
Fuck, it was Dael, wasn’t it? Ehlian hadn’t returned his messages in the last two weeks, which was a shit move, but his not-empty mind was on a completely different frequency.
When he stepped out into the shop, the apology he’d quickly rehearsed froze in his throat.
Calia stood there with a strict air, placing a luxuriously wrapped gift bag on the counter,Cartivaircurving across it. The sight, the setup, was awfully familiar: something for something.
Ehlian decided to get ahead of things. “Are you here to buy me off so I won’t see Hayce again?”
Calia stared at him with a blank expression. “You really do like jumping to conclusions. The wrong ones, at that.”
“That last time a Cartivair visited me here I was offered a very one-sided deal, so naturally I don’t trust easily.”
