SYBIL

After the initial fainting spell of the Missing Mad Prince, Antonio de Cardenas, on my front porch at the sight of Henry, we made a good effort to assimilate him into his work. With an abundance of caution, we introduced him to the rest of the family, and reunited him with his friends from the transport. He seemed especially relieved at the sight of the strange man who looked at me with an uncomfortable reverence reserved for priestesses of old. He was nice enough. He was also particularly excited to be in the company of the young beastman who talked quite a bit more than necessary. Not that any of us minded, it added a rhythm to the day to day, and I quite appreciated how much it annoyed Via.

She could take a bit of callus building, I think.

I think they were surprised that instead of field work, they were working with my skeleton crew to build temporary homes across the property. Antonio certainly looked relieved. Oryx and Nicolas asked if they could help in the fields, so I switched them out with some of the other hands to balance out the groups. Lasis worked out hours and hourly wages for each of them, reflecting the wages of the employees we’d already hired. They would earn a living wage, and they weren’t restricted to living up at the farm unless they felt safer.

Simon and Antonio shared a room down at Yvolstein’s until they earned enough money each to rent rooms of their own. That took a few weeks. I was a nervous wreck being in charge of so many people’s livelihoods, but the money flowed well enough, and Lasis assured me we had nothing to worry about. I trusted them implicitly. Via spent the majority of her days sitting on the fence watching the construction, arms crossed over her chest and giving Antonio sharp smiles whenever he looked her way, laughing when he would get pale and quickly turn back to the task at hand. He was still getting used to the bones, too. Especially Henry.

I couldn’t blame him. His entire life had been spent hating the people like me and my friends, living and dead. It was going to take time to get over the knee-jerk responses. It reminded me faintly of the time it took for me to get used to Soleil. I was lucky that Haven had been around for many of our first encounters, and my resolve not to make a complete asshole of myself. Not to mention the sweet chemistry that had blossomed between us, in spite of his many additional appendages.

I found myself thoroughly enjoying our conversations late into the night when he came up to work on my roofs and other projects back then.

I smile at the memory, standing on the edge of the construction site, leaning over the fence next to a sitting Via.

“Are you sure about this?” Via asks me.

“What are you referring to?”

“Letting the prince stay.”

I let my head hang as exhaustion pounds my temples. I’d been helping with the harvest for the last several hours. Once the sun reached its peak, I sent people home. We would start in the morning with early dawn when it was cool enough to work, and just light enough to see our hands in the dark. In the meantime, I couldn’t follow Jun around through the farmhouse, and I was too tired to make the trip into town to see my amores–not that Soleil would be awake, and Haven would also be taking her own siesta. I was too tired to make sense of the goddess’s comment. “Can you elaborate?” I grumble, rubbing the back of my neck with stiff, aching fingers.

“Arceme’s deal,” Via says simply.

The words shift something in me and I stand straighter, neck pain forgotten. “I don’t know,” I answer her honestly. “It’s been a few weeks since he started, and Arceme hasn’t pulled me away. They haven’t taken me away…” I chew on my lip. “Maybe the prince is right, and he’ll fade out on his own when he’s ready, and I won’t lose my …” I can’t say the next words, but Via knows that I mean my second chance at life.

“These stones you are rolling might be bigger than any of us knows,” she muses.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“I hope they’re pebbles.”

She chuckles. “I like that we scare him.”

I roll my eyes and shake my head, “I’m glad that you’re enjoying yourself.”

“He can’t get over that I knew him.”

I scratch an errant fly away from my arm. “How do you know him? Do you know everyone?”

“No,” she kicks her feet, her heels smacking into the fence posting. “But I do know him.”

“You’re going to keep all of that mystical god nonsense to yourself, I assume?”

“Will it bother you if I do?”

I crack a grin. The banter between us has never gotten old. “Not at all.”

She pouts but I can see her eyes dance. “I know him like I know that Simon man,” she points over at the middle-aged man who is helping to raise the last wall of the fifth small building. I’m hoping to persuade Soleil to join us soon with his impeccable roofing skills… and maybe a leisurely vacation from worrying over the post whenever a letter came in. He had finally sent off his dissertation to the academy of druidic sciences two weeks ago, and since had taken to sleeping by the mail slot in his door so he wouldn’t miss a reply. This resulted in deep, dark circles beneath his eyes. All four of them.

Haven had even taking up urging him to come up my way for a retreat. She was on a regular circuit to Torsen, and while I missed her dearly, I knew she was making quite a bit of money to hold her over through the winter when business slowed. When the harvest season ended and her work slowed, we would be able to put our feet up by the fireplace and relax into one another like we had the past two winters.

“The druid-kin?” I ask aloud, letting my thoughts come back to me.

She nods stiffly beside me. “The druid trained in necromancy,” she chuckles. “One of the last of his kind.” She flips upside down, letting her pale hair drape over the ground beneath the fence. “Tony is like that. Except without the necromancy. He’s descended from one of the greats.”

I whistle low, “That’s pretty impressive,” I tell her. “And he doesn’t know?”

“I think he knows… but maybe doesn’t understand the implications. Like his affinity to magic…” her voice trails off meaningfully.

I wince. “He has an affinity for magic and can’t use it?”

“He doesn’t know he can.”

I shake my head, thinking of how integral my magic is to my character, and wonder what it would be like to never tap into it.

A tendril of magic touches to mine. It’s Henry. We’re nearly ready to go.

Okay, I sign back against his magic. I straighten and stretch. “Don’t let the blood pool in your head,” I nag Via, who sticks her tongue out at me and grumbles something about congealed blood, but I don’t stick around to hear the whole thing.

I swallow and shake myself, turning toward the farmhouse where I know many of my bones are waiting for me.

“Priestess!” I hear a voice behind me and I feel my hair rise uncomfortably. It’s Simon. He’s always calling me some weird variation of holiness. It grates, but I can understand it. Actually… I turn and see him walking toward the fence. “I didn’t see you there.”

He’s an older man with leathery brown skin, and as much as he gets under my skin, I do like the man.

“Yes, sorry. I was watching the buildings come up. I’m actually heading to a ritual, would you like to come along?”

I see a flicker of awe and pleasure cross his face and he bows his head quickly to hide it. I fight the urge to roll my eyes. “I’d be honored.” Over his shoulder, I see the mad prince approach.

“Are you heading out, Simon?” He asks after giving me a curious nod in greeting.

“I was inviting him to a ritual, would you like to join?” I offer, cocking my head.

I can almost see his dark skin turn white, but he composes himself quickly. “Is it about the bones?” He asks.

I nod, biting down the first tickle of grief. “I’m committing Jun to the earth, they’ve decided it’s their time.” This must spark his interest because he glances over his shoulder at the foreman. “You’ll be paid for it,” I assure him. “It’ll be good for you to see. For both of you,” I nod to Simon.

Antonio swallows and nods. I wave at Via, “Can you let Lasis know?”

She’s still hanging upside down on the fence, but she gives me a thumbs up with a wide, childish grin.

“Come on, they’re waiting for us.” I tell the men and I start walking toward the farmhouse, trusting them to follow me.