Slicing Through the Twilight
Jesstin’s left cheek felt raw to the bone. When he tried to touch it, he earned a light slap on his wrist and a very familiar tsk.
It was Sesto’s voice, which meant he wasn’t done dreaming. He’d been waiting for the Night Soul, for her, but got neither.
He opened his eyes in a half-squint and saw Sesto himself kneeling near the bench.
Not dreaming then.
“Merry noontide,” Sesto sang, beaming as he dipped a flannel into a bowl and wrung it. “Seems I’ve regrettably lost a bet to the stable hand. I put my gold on you waking much earlier. Between us, I think his wager was wishful thinking, even if he did win.”
Sesto’s jarring energy brought Jesstin back to the times Rhiain would cheerily storm into his bedchamber when he’d been a teenager, having slept only an hour or so after a drunken interlude in Riverchapel, and she’d recite her favorite passages from the chapter on Riverchapel’s riveting grain industry in The Book of All Things until his pounding head could handle no more.
“Why are you here?” Jesstin asked. He slid up to prop his stiff, aching back against the carriage wall.
“How lovely to see you as well, Jess!”
Jesstin grunted.
“I gave your letters to Rhiain, Asterin, and the children, as promised,” Sesto said. He pursed his mouth as he leaned in for another round of fastidious cleaning, but Jesstin nudged him away. With a whisper of insult, Sesto dramatically replaced the rag in the bowl with a tight, estimating grin. “The children were excited for your adventure, of course. They only ask for their Uncle Brother to bring them back sweets aplenty, assuming such things exist where we’re going.”
Jesstin’s left eye tugged, trying to close. The whole left side of his head was a mess, though he distantly recalled it being far worse. “And Rhiain?”
“Calmer than you’d expect. Said you knew what you were doing, then locked herself in the library until supper, where she passed the potatoes and meat around with tight blinks and asked the little ones about their day with their tutors.”
Frowning hurt too. “That worries me more than when she flies off the handle.”
“Much more,” Sesto agreed with a knowing nod. “It was Asterin who surprised me. He said he already guessed you would travel with Lady Elloven to the mountains, and he knew more about the Seven Sisters than he’d let on. It’s where you should go, he said, to break this bond of yours.”
“He said that? I should go?”
“Mhm.”
“So it’s not dangerous?”
Sesto laughed. “Your brother is a man who can put necessity ahead of fear. While no one trusts the stable hand, he will at least protect her, and she’s proven she’ll protect you. So As asked me to come so you’d have another ally. He gave his driver the path you’d take with the weather as it is, and off I went. Now that I think about it, I should have asked the driver to stay. Hmm.”
It sounded like Asterin, but it made Jesstin even more uneasy. “Where’s Elloven?”
“At the river. With him.” Sesto grimaced like he’d tasted something unpleasant. “After spending the past day and a half with the man, I understand your aversion. The Guardians are deceptive, putting a man so foul in a body like...” He sighed, his eyes fluttering as he released a mm sound.
“You think he’s handsome?” Jesstin’s face pulled in horror.
“The heart knows no logic, Jess.” Sesto glanced up, clearly noting Jesstin’s shock, and blushed. “Wipe your thoughts from your face. Men like him are capable of anything because they are either desired or feared.”
“I don’t think Elloven fears or desires him.” The buzz was there again, vibrating between his shoulders, through to his fingers and toes, and on the end of it was a subtle but unquestionable need to be closer to her than he was now.
It was the bond. She’d gone far enough away for him to feel it. It wasn’t painful, more of a reminder it could be.
“Lady Elloven had been under the thumb of his skillful manipulation since you were crawling around in nappies.”
“She’s too smart for that now,” Jesstin said.
“The smartest person in the world couldn’t resist the perfect manipulation.”
Jesstin stretched and retracted his stiff limbs. “What are they doing at the river?”
“If you’re feeling healed enough, you might see for yourself.”
