Bryce

“So, that was new.” Sora broke the silence as the four of us rode through the transit tunnels towards Captain Fiona’s sector. I opened my eyes and tried to run my fingers through my hair, only to remember that I had it tied up.

“Which part? The spell, how I cast it, or killing a pirate captain?”

“All of it? I mean, killing pirates isn’t exactly new, but you’ve always at least tried to warn them before blowing their heads off. And don’t get me wrong, Dimitri was an ass and absolutely deserved it, but I’m worried about you, Bryce. What happened while you were gone?”

“To put it simply, a lot. I was hoping to wait until we got back to the ship to go over it all in detail, but I can at least give you a high-level summary while we have time. Besides, Ithnaa mentioned earlier that you might be able to help me with a problem I have, and the sooner that gets taken care of, the sooner I’ll be able to relax.”

Thea gave me a concerned look as she shook her head. “It’s not just you. There’s no way I’m going to be able to function until we find a way to fix whatever Mother did to you. It’s literal torture to be this close, and not be able to touch you. Sorry, phrasing.” She cringed, but I waved her off.

“It’s alright, I understand what you meant. It’s definitely hard for me, too.”

“So Mother was actually able to resurrect you?” Sora frowned as they tried to process the implications. “It sounds like she was dosing you with something. What are the side effects? And please try to be as specific as you can. Mother uses a lot of different poisons and likes to experiment with combining them.”

I ran a finger over the back of my hand and tried to focus on the type of pain I was feeling. “Any new sensation is like a slicing, or cutting, feeling, but it fades after a while. For example, getting dressed was excruciating, but now, as long as my clothing doesn’t shift or bunch up in a weird way, it’s fine. It also makes anything that would normally hurt a lot worse. Especially cutting or slicing. Although, stabbing feels about the same.”

Thea growled, and I ignored the pain to set a reassuring hand on her knee, but she quickly pulled it away. “Bryce, I love you, but you need to stop hurting yourself for me. It’s just making me more angry at Mother.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” I lifted my hands in surrender, but couldn’t help but smile. I had seriously missed having her around to take care of me.

“Dammit, don’t apologize, and definitely don’t smile while you do it.” Thea scowled before turning back towards Sora. “Softie, please tell me you can fix this so I can yell at her without feeling bad about it.”

“Well, there’s definitely no fixing whatever this is.” They waved in our general direction and gave Thea enough time to roll her eyes before continuing with a smile. “But the good news is that I probably know what Mother used, and if I’m right, then we got lucky.”

“Nothing about this situation feels particularly lucky to me,” Ithnaa commented, and Sora shrugged.

“Okay, fair, but for what it’s worth, the damage could have been much worse and possibly even permanent.”

“In that case, I definitely feel lucky. What was it that she gave me?”

“Have you ever heard of a bliss wood tree?” Sora asked, and I said I hadn’t, so they explained. “It has an incredibly toxic venom that kills its victims by overloading their senses. Supposedly, it feels amazing all the way up until it starts melting your insides.”

“And Mother found a way to weaponize it?” I asked.

“Sort of? Really, she found a way to cure it, but that cure has a lot of very unfortunate side effects. And if you’re given it often enough, for long enough—usually every few hours for about a week—then it causes your body to start producing it on its own. Which makes those side effects a lot worse, and very permanent. So, unless you’re understating how much it hurts, then yeah, we’re lucky.”

“You can fix it, though, right?” Thea asked, but Sora shrugged.

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“You need to use the raw bliss wood venom to counteract it. I might have some left over, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask Sami to check when we get back. Either way, it should go away on its own in a few days.”

“Wait, why does Sami know where your poisons are? Are we sure that’s a good idea?” Thea paled as she asked.

“Around five years ago, Lyri, the mechanic who helped us escape, was captured by Mother. I didn’t take that well, and managed to catch one of the agents following us while they were alone. The place we were staying at the time was pretty small, and Samira couldn’t exactly go for a walk while we were on the run…” Sora trailed off, which caused Ithnaa to reach over and squeeze their hand. They smiled back at her before continuing. “So, anyway, she’s kept my tools hidden from me ever since. She’s always gotten them for me anytime I’ve asked, but I don’t actually know where she keeps them.”

I nodded solemnly before leaning back into the seat with a resigned sigh. “Well, I don’t see any reason to change that, but I would appreciate it if she could check for the venom. Assuming you know how to get the dose right. Otherwise, I’d rather suffer for a few days than risk dying from it.”

“Sure. I’ve done this more than a few times, and since you already have the anti-venom coursing through your veins, it doesn't really need to be precise. Besides, if I’m entirely off base here, then I definitely have some of Mother’s ‘cure’ left over. I know that much for sure.”

“Why do I get the feeling that this is going to suck no matter what we do?”

“Because it will.” Sora gave me an apologetic smile before continuing. “I’m sorry, Bryce, but you don’t get to oppose Mother with no consequences. She’s made sure of that. But, hey, at least you got a fancy new way to cast out of it. Where’d you pick that up from, anyway? Tess’s afterlife?”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure how much I can share. Tess didn’t have many rules, but the ones she did have were in place to prevent information from getting out, and at some point, I’m going to have to face her again. When that happens, I’d like to be able to say I didn’t say anything without it being a lie.”

“Makes sense. Is there anything you could tell us about the rest? What’s it like being dead?” Sora asked, but before I could say anything, Thea added her own request.

“Or maybe you could tell us about this brother of yours that’s looking for you?”

“Fuck my question. I didn’t know you had a brother. Tell us about that.”

“So, what exactly did you want to know about Tess’s afterlife?” I asked, which just caused Thea to push harder.

“No way. You’re not getting out of this just by offering us forbidden answers to the universe. Tell us about Silas. What do you think he wants?”

“Fine. I don’t know what Silas wants, but if he’s looking for me on Drassun, then it’s probably pretty serious.”

“What’s he like? Is he hot?”

I glared at Sora, but that just made them smile wider, so I answered their first question while completely ignoring the second. “Silas is an agent of the Federation. Same as Char, my older sister. In fact, my entire family going back a few generations works for the Federation in some capacity, and most of them are military. It’s one of the reasons I was disowned after I decided to go into academia, and why it got so much worse when I was publicly condemned for the Para Vista incident. It humiliated them.”

“So, he’s dangerous?” Ithnaa asked, and I nodded.

“Yeah, he’s dangerous, and there’s a very real chance he’s out to kill me. Or at least bring me in.”

“What are you going to do about him?” Thea sounded worried, but I smiled back at her.

“I’m planning on introducing him to my girlfriend. That’s what you do with family, right?”

“Right. In that case, I’m looking forward to meeting him.” She returned my smile, which made Sora audibly roll their eyes.

“Gods, how are you two so adorable, even when you’re threatening someone? It’s disgusting.”

“Softie, fuck off.”

“Would if I could, babe, but there’s nowhere to go.”

“Ithnaa, would you mind helping them fuck off?” I asked, and the djinn smiled back at me.

“Of course, captain. We’ll see you on the ship.” The two of them disappeared, so I raised an eyebrow at Thea, but she just let out a loud groan before sinking into the seat.

“Dammit! I swear I’m going to kill Mother so hard the next time we see her.”

“You can at least kiss me,” I argued, but she just pouted up at me.

“No, it’ll hurt you.”

“What if I told you it didn’t?”

“Then you’d be lying,” she grumbled as she somehow sank even lower into the seat.

“And if I were lying, you’d have to punish me, right? By maybe kissing me?” I fluttered my eyelashes at her, and I could tell right away that she was going to give in.

“Okay, fine.” She sat up with a huff and glared at me. I smiled sweetly back at her. “But only because I think you’re really attractive and I really, really want to. Understand?”

“I understand.” I nodded seriously before pulling her into a deep, and very long overdue, kiss. We broke it some time later, and she was back to the grinning devil I knew and loved.

“Didn’t that hurt?”

I stole one more quick kiss before letting her go with a grin. “Oh, yeah, really badly. But it was so incredibly worth it.”