Chapter Fifty-Four
Rhylix, Raimie
Rhylix
“…might become a problem,” I finished with nary a flourish.
When Raimie stared at me without comprehension, I sighed.
“I’m stuck in a cycle, one that follows the same routine every time,” I said. “In each of them, I’m born into a new family, one that’s inevitably murdered. I find Arivor, kill him, and return to the bedrock of reality, the front for Ele and Daevetch’s Eternal War. Sometimes, I can find Arivor before he falls to Doldimar, and sometimes, as in this cycle, I arrive to find out that bastard has held sway for a while instead.”
With my words stolen from me, I clenched and unclenched my hands a few times before clearing my throat.
“He and I have done this… I don’t know how many times. I’ve lost count,” I said. “After a while, the years started blurring together, and frankly? For the last dozen cycles or so, I’d given up hope of fulfilling my promise to Arivor. I thought we’d never see an end to it, but then, you came along.”
I didn’t know what else to add, so settling into the leaves, I waited for Raimie’s reaction. I’d hoped to never have this Conversation with him… or at least, to be a lot vaguer with it, but Teron had started bearing down on him, and I couldn’t see a way to save his life without revealing myself.
“And here we are,” Creation said.
Yes, here we were again, although the circumstances were different this time. Usually, Creation was much more resistant to me having The Conversation with my ally, and I wasn’t sure why that had changed with Raimie.
Usually, my ally and I weren’t sitting near a cooling corpse either, but given our states of relative exhaustion, I hadn’t thought we could do much better than this.
“That explains what happened in the forest, when you were shot full of arrows,” Raimie said. “It means I killed you.”
“Technically? Ren killed me,” I said, “but yes, pulling the arrow out of my back did hasten that death along. Remember, though, that I asked you to do it.”
“Uh-huh.”
With nothing else, Raimie returned to contemplative, and I was left wondering when he’d express his outrage. Always, always my allies found offense in how much I’d hidden from them, not that I could blame them for it. They had a right to their anger.
Tapping his fingers on his lip, Raimie drawled, “So… have I been using the wrong name for you this whole time? Should I call you Eriadren instead?”
He was thinking of my comfort?
With a cough, I said, “No, Rhylix is fine. My name isn’t as important to me as it is to most people, although I appreciate you asking.”
And again, with the silence! I tried to fight through it, to give my friend the time he’d need, but eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Please, say something,” I whispered.
Glancing at me, Raimie shook his head.
“Honestly, Rhy, I have a lot of questions for you, but I don’t know where to start,” he said. “For instance. Is this what you meant when, months ago, you said you wished Ele’s version of healing worked differently? That’s close to what you said, at least.”
I… barely remembered that conversation. It had taken place so long ago, and when I’d said what Raimie was referencing, I’d been in a highly emotional state, but that didn’t matter. I knew what he meant.
“You want me to explain Letting Go?” I asked, just to be clear.
When Raimie nodded, I looked away with a sigh.
“It’s an extension of the healing application you already know,” I said. “At times, an Ele primeancer can assume someone else’s wounds, but unlike with me, it takes a great deal of concentration and will for them. Also, if they do it, the transferred injury won’t heal like it would for me. That’s the singular benefit of my cursed existence.”
“I see,” Raimie said.
After a pause, he gestured at me.
“And I’d guess it’s still painful. The assumed injuries, I mean.”
With a smile at his awkwardness, I said, “Unfortunately, although that doesn’t bother me anymore. I’ve developed a high pain tolerance.”
Clicking his tongue, Raimie waved my reassurance away.
“Yeah, sure. I get that. Sometimes, I can ignore pain too, not that I’m trying to compare us,” he said. “That doesn’t make the pain just vanish, though. It has to go somewhere. All of which is to say that I can see why you wouldn’t want to use this power.”
Blinking, I tried to understand everything Raimie had said but… no. It wasn’t processing. Ignore pain? Not many people knew how to do that.
Perhaps it was best if I replied generally.
“Yes, that’s one reason for it,” I said, “but over the years, I’ve also learned that if I take someone’s injury from them, it inevitably leads to consequences for them. Save for rare exceptions, my patients die shortly afterward, usually due to something far worse than the malady I assumed from them.”
“That makes sense,” Raimie said. “Such powerful magic would have to come with a cost.”
Then, he swallowed hard, visibly summoning his courage.
“That’s why you haven’t fixed my dad’s paralysis, though, right?’ he asked.
Oh. Of course he was asking about the healing side of my story first.
“That’s right,” I gently said. “I’m sorry.”
Nodding to himself, Raimie abruptly stood. He cleared his throat, looking anywhere but at me.
“You’ve given me much to think about, and a lot of it makes me question if I even know you,” he said. “It’s a lot, as I said, so… I’m going to take a walk. Clear my head. While I’m doing that, though, you should get some rest. We’ll sleep here tonight, considering how little we could help the others right now. Taking some time to recover would be better for us, and we can figure out what happened with the battle in the morning.”
He paused, and with a heavy heart, I gave my friend the answer he was expecting.
“Sounds good.”
Slowly breathing out, Raimie jerked his head in a nod.
“Good night, then.”
He wandered into the trees as if in a daze, and while I’d like to follow so I could keep an eye on him, I stayed where I was.
“Give him time,” Creation said. “You know him. With time and space, he’ll understand.”
“I certainly hope so,” I said.
Because I didn’t know if I could bear to lose the only friend I’d made in millennia.
----------------------------------------
Raimie
“Do you get why I hate him now?” Dim asked. “By me, he’s such a cheater.”
With a frustrated growl, they reached out as if to strangle the air, and I sighed.
“Dim, please keep your opinions to yourself, just for a little while,” I absently said.
I couldn’t have them influencing me right now. To my great surprise, they didn’t protest my request, even if they made an ugly face at me.
That was one splinter taken care of.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Bright?” I asked, half-expecting they wouldn’t reply.
Boy, if they didn’t surprise me.
“It wasn’t my secret to tell,” they said. “Given what my whole…”
They paused to take a deep breath.
“Given… everything, letting him choose when and how to tell you seemed the least that I could do.”
An acceptable answer.
I didn’t know why I felt so cast adrift right now. I hadn’t been this detached in ages, and reaching a clear state was giving me much more trouble than usual.
Some small things were helping. The rustle of leaves in the breeze. The clean smell in the air. The colors that the sunset was painting across the sky.
When I’d woken up this morning, I hadn’t thought I’d see another of those. By now, I thought I’d be long dead, and a huge reason I wasn’t was because of Rhylix.
Why was I having such trouble with his revelation? This didn’t feel like a betrayal. I’d asked him to explain himself when he was good and ready, and once he’d given up the illusion that I was still in the dark about his secrets, he’d been nothing but honest with me about why he hadn’t wanted to share.
So, when he’d told me his truth, why had it felt like the ground had fallen out from beneath my feet? Was it the enormity of what he’d shared? Champion of Ele? How could I relate to a man who’d been fighting an unseen war for millennia?
Why did part of his situation resonate so highly with me? I wasn’t sure what that part could be. Maybe his despair at feeling trapped? That could relate to my situation with having the responsibility of ruling a kingdom forced on me, but… it didn’t feel quite right.
When Rhylix had shared about the pain that Reive had perpetrated through his sadistic experimentation, a part of me had cried kinship, which only confused me. I’d never been hurt like that. Never. Before finding Shadowsteal, my life had had the typical ups and downs, but besides those, it had been perfect.
So, maybe I related to fighting an invisible war, although that also didn’t fit. When it came to the Eternal War, I’d refused to choose a side.
Like I’d said, I didn’t know what the problem was. I looked at this dissonance in me, all raised when Rhylix had shared his secret, and had to wonder if he’d been right all those months ago. Maybe I did have a secret of my own, one I’d hidden from myself-
Does it matter? came from the depths of me.
And I stopped short, kicking up the leaves around me.
“…Nyl?” I said. “Is that you?”
As soon as the questions left my mouth, I wanted to take them back because as I’d feared, my splinters turned toward me with concerned expressions in place. I waved for them to relax, all while cringing inside. It seemed a little strange that I’d care whether my invisible sources to Ele and Daevetch thought I was crazy, but… I did.
Once they'd returned to aggressively ignoring one another, I turned inward.
If that is you, Nyl, are you ok? I asked. Back with Teron, you seemed… upset.
I was aware of how much of an understatement that was, but I didn’t know how else to put it.
Can you blame me? came a grumble from inside.
It was him!
Suppressing a chuckle, I resumed my hike through the forest.
You didn’t answer the question, I said. Are you ok?
For the most part, Nylion said. Given time, I will stabilize again.
I bit off my questions about how I might help with that. Nylion had never liked me noticing when he was in pain.
How did communication between us open up again? I said instead. I thought getting to this point would require more internal work. Not that I’m complaining! Hearing directly from you again is wonderful.
I am enjoying it as well.
A wash of relief followed that statement, and we took a moment to revel in it before Nylion moved on.
In answer to your question, I am not sure. You are quite detached right now, so maybe that allowed me to break through the barrier. Is the cause important, though? Much as I understand your hesitancy about your friend, I would prefer it if you returned to him soon. In this place, he is the greatest source of safety that we will find.
That was a good point. Frowning, I made myself turn around so I could head back.
What do you think about all of this? I asked. Am I overreacting?
Nylion was quiet for a while, leaving me wondering whether our ability to communicate had suddenly failed. I was also curious why I’d asked for his opinion on this. He was my other half, yes, but even still, this problem didn’t seem like something I should bother him with.
I think…
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
When Nylion broke off, it brought to mind an image of him sucking on his lip, which had me softly laughing. He was always so hesitant and cautious when answering my questions, especially those that were sensitive in nature.
I think that long ago, you chose to be Rhylix’s friend, and that is not a decision you would have made lightly, he eventually said. So, while your discomfort about this is understandable, it is not what you should focus on. Instead, ask yourself. Do you still want to be his friend?
As Nylion had finished speaking, I’d stepped into the clearing that Rhylix had earlier led us to, and glancing over it, I approached him on silent feet. He’d fallen asleep, as I’d suggested, softly snoring with the tension that he normally carried wiped away.
“No nightmares tonight,” Bright said beside me. “That’s a relief.”
Eyeing them, I asked, “Why’s that?”
“He used a large piece of the whole today, and you heard what he told you. I’m sure you’ve surmised how highly connected he is to the state of the whole,” they said. “Spending as much of it as he did today… he’ll need to recover, which he couldn’t do with his typical nightmares interrupting his sleep.”
And he’d done all of that to keep those volunteers alive.
Would you look at that, Nyl? I said. As usual, you’re right.
He didn’t reply, but that was ok. As I sank to the ground beside a man I could never hope to understand, I smiled.
“I am honored to call Rhylix my friend.”
----------------------------------------
Rhylix
When next I woke up, it was because someone was jostling me, and with a decidedly inelegant snort, I shot upright with my hand on my sword’s hilt, scanning for danger. A glance around me revealed no threats, although it was bright beneath the forest’s canopy.
It was morning, which meant I’d gone an entire night without nightmares. How was that possible?
The wonder of this impossibility was pushed aside, however, in the face of the soon-to-come consequences of last night’s choices. Standing over me, Raimie had his hands on his hips with his foot rapidly tapping.
“Finally,” he said. “Gods, you sleep like the dead, Rhy.”
I laughed at that, although I disguised it as a cough, and Raimie rolled his eyes.
“If you’re awake now, we should get going,” he said. “We have a lot to do today.”
Hell. He’d chosen rejection.
Squeezing my eyes closed, I breathed through my nose, releasing the pain that I felt on the exhale. I’d gotten well-practiced with this routine, although it was only used for the most extreme of things.
When I opened my eyes, Raimie had turned away, pacing across the clearing, and I watched him for a moment.
Then, I said, “I’m sorry to have distressed you. I will endeavor to remain in the shadows going forward, but unfortunately, I can’t remove myself from your presence. I-”
“Why would I want that?” Raimie asked.
Never having stopped pacing, he looked at me with a wrinkled nose, which was… odd.
“Because…”
Must I spell it out?
“Because you consider our friendship over, which is understandable,” I said. “I wouldn’t want to be friends with me-”
Raimie interrupted me again, but it was with a laugh this time. Slapping a hand to his mouth, he struggled to control himself, all while I tried to figure out what this was.
“Oh, Rhy… you think I hate you?” he said. “No! I could never do that. Last night, I just needed a moment to clear my head, and I took it. That’s all. You and me? We’re good.”
With a sharply indrawn breath, I just blinked at this unbelievable kid, and while I considered what he’d said, Creation leaned into view.
“I told you he’d understand,” they said.
And then, to my utter embarrassment, my shoulders started shaking, and I collapsed on myself, sobbing into my hands.
“Hey, hey, hey!”
Crashing through the leaves, Raimie rested a hand on my knee.
“It’s ok!” he said. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry.”
“No!”
My face might already be coated in tears and mucus, but still, I lifted it to him.
“You don’t understand,” I said. “Countless times, I’ve told my story, and nobody, fucking nobody has-”
I cut off with a gasp, and with a lopsided smile, Raimie applied slight pressure to my knee.
“Accepted you or your reality?” he said. “Yeah. I gathered that, and it’s awful. I’m so sorry about that and every other horrific thing you’ve endured.”
This, something I’d always longed to hear, only made me break down further, and I didn’t know how long I lost it like this, but through it all, Raimie stayed with me, occasionally patting my knee.
When I eventually calmed down, scrubbing my face, Raimie rose to his full height, offering me a hand.
“Are you ready to go now?” he said. “I’d like to know how yesterday’s gloriously delightful events ended for everyone else.”
Thank the gods that he wouldn’t dwell on what had just happened.
With a manic giggle, I accepted Raimie’s help up.
“Yes. Let’s find out what sort of mess we need to clean up.”
With nothing further, I followed my real, honest to gods friend into a new day.
----------------------------------------
Raimie
When returning to the battlefield, I hadn’t been sure what to expect, but it certainly hadn’t been this. Save for notable exceptions, the scene was tranquil. Quiet. The only movement found here was in the sway of the nearby branches, the ruffle of tent cloth, and the bob of seemingly abandoned ships on the sea. I’d find it quite lovely if it weren’t for the bodies littering every bit of the ground between.
This sickening addition, combined with the rank smell twining through the air, made me glad that I had yet to fight free of yesterday’s detached state.
Beside me, Rhylix and my splinters were watching me with pinched eyes. Were they worried by my lack of a reaction to this?
What had they expected me to do? Lose what little of my last meal remained? Turn into a jittery mess and sink into the grass? Scream at humanity’s callous cruelty?
How I’d like to do any and all of these things, but I couldn’t let myself feel it now. I couldn’t feel anything until I knew what had happened.
So, I picked my way through bodies to the pitiful remnants of my people’s camp. What little tents had been left standing yesterday morning were half upright now, and so many firepits had been kicked into disrepair. I chose to focus on that instead of the familiar faces, screwed up from their final moments, that I passed.
On entering the camp, I turned in a circle before shaking my head.
“This doesn’t look good,” I said. “I’d hoped to find an indication of whether our people retreated but…”
There was nothing here. No clues to follow.
And I couldn’t ask my splinters for ideas. I’d been avoiding acknowledging them since last night. If I thought about them, I also had to consider the threat that they’d placed on my life by proxy.
“Maybe if we visit Tiro, we’ll find friendly faces there,” Rhylix said.
Grimacing, I said, “If we do that, you’ll have to leave me far away from the city. Pretty sure its residents are still primed to kill me on sight.”
Which would be wonderful to deal with going forward.
“Our people won’t be pleased to see me either, what with the revelation of my primeancy,” Rhylix said. “Do they know about yours?”
“My family, Gistrick, and Marcuset do. Not sure about the rest,” I said, “but I wouldn’t be surprised if the secret’s out for me too. I wasn’t exactly subtle yesterday.”
“Great,” Rhylix sighed, “and the complications abound.”
With a smirk, I nudged him.
“Like that’s new to you,” I said.
Rhylix just blinked at me, which I could understand. Since his first life, had anyone been close enough to tease him like that?
Still.
“What do we do?” I asked.
As if you have a choice, Nylion whispered with a laugh.
Somehow, I kept from flinching. Grateful as I was for the recent change with my other half, his random comments did catch me off guard at times.
“First, we return to cover. This display of death will surely draw rogue Kiraak to it soon,” Rhylix said, “but then, we’ll start toward Tiro. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find signs of the others before then, but if we don’t, the city will be our best shot at locating them.”
That was about what I’d thought.
“Today will be lovely, won’t it?” I sighed.
Rhylix laughed at that, and as we returned to the tree line, I let that noise lighten my mood. As we got closer to it, though, my friend caught my shoulder, pulling me to a stop.
Drawing his sword, he said, “There’s movement.”
Just fabulous. We’d have to fight before getting anywhere close to our goal.
When I sought out the disturbance Rhylix had mentioned, however, I relaxed.
“It’s fine, Rhy. Just some fabric hanging from a branch,” I said. “In fact…”
Pursing my lips, I squinted at that distant, flapping motion before grinning.
“I know exactly what that is.”
In the last week, I’d seen it used often enough.
Not long after this, we were heading toward yet another strip of cloth, hanging from a branch, when someone stepped out from behind a tree.
“Oswin!” I shouted with my arms spread wide. “There you are. Knew you’d be around here somewhere.”
“Here I am.”
Striding to me, Oswin took hold of my uniform’s collar, pulling me so close that our noses almost touched.
“You are the most difficult charge I’ve ever had to protect,” he said before releasing me.
It was so sudden that I stumbled backward, only stopped when he dragged me into a brief, bone-crushing hug.
“I’m glad you’re ok,” he whispered in my ear.
When I was freed from this, he’d returned to his usual self.
“What’s the plan, sir?”
Still a little caught out, I coughed, giving myself time to gather my thoughts.
“That will depend on what happened here,” I said, inclining my head toward an abandoned battlefield. “How many of us got away?”
With a bright grin, Oswin said, “The majority, actually. It was strange. Not long after you left me, we started retreating, and soon after that, it was like the life drained out of the Kiraak. They stopped pursuing us, going dead in their tracks—”
“—and that’s where my people came in.”
Coming from the opposite direction as Oswin, Ren advanced on the three of us, almost in a swagger.
“I see you found him,” she said.
Nodding to her brother, she turned to me, and I wondered why I exhaled with relief at seeing her safe.
“I joined up with my neighbors shortly after Rhy and your volunteers finished their heroic stand. Apparently, Dury had sent them out shortly after changing his mind,” she said. “Some of us guided the volunteers to Tiro while the rest helped your army with clean up. Listless as they were, leaving no Kiraak standing was easy, and given their addled state, I have to ask. Is Teron…?”
When she lifted her eyebrows suggestively, I knew I was supposed to respond to her, but for some reason, I could do nothing more than stare.
Why was I so happy to see her? Sure, I’d been worried about her during the battle. Who wouldn’t feel like that about an ally? This reaction to her presence—my inability to tear my eyes off of her face—seemed excessive, though.
After an awkward pause, Rhylix cleared his throat.
“The Enforcer’s dead. Raimie killed him.”
That drew my gaze away. I most certainly hadn’t done that.
Rhylix, however, refused to recognize my incredulous stare, instead turning to Oswin.
“Let me fill you in on our side of the story while Ren finishes with yours,” he said.
Oswin did not like this idea—I could tell—but even still, he smiled.
“An efficient use of our time, I suppose,” he said. “Sir. Can I trust you to stay here and not get yourself in trouble?”
Here, he flicked his eyes to Ren, and I frowned. What sort of trouble could she cause?
“I’ll do my best,” I said.
With an explosive sigh, Oswin said, “All right.”
He followed Rhylix out of sight, leaving me alone with Ren. Meanwhile, she was looking at me with saucers for eyes, and I wasn’t sure why.
“You killed an Enforcer?” she nearly screeched.
Oh. That was why.
Did I dare refute Rhylix’s claim? What if he’d intentionally given me credit for the kill? I didn’t know why he’d have done that, but he must have had a reason.
To be safe, I shrugged one shoulder at Ren, sheepishly smiling, but I said not a word.
“That’s amazing!” she exclaimed. “Once news of this spreads, Dury can’t keep you out of the city.”
And… now, I felt awful, although I was glad to hear that one of my future problems had already been fixed.
“It just happened. No big deal, and honestly, I’d rather not talk about it,” I said. “So, tell me what happened after you… cleaned out the forest.”
I knew the massacre had been necessary, both to maintain Tiro’s secrecy and to ensure my people’s safety, but that didn’t mean I was happy about the loss of life.
“Are my people safe?” I asked.
“Oh!”
Ren seemed confused about why I wouldn’t want the accolades for something she considered unbelievable, but fortunately, she left that alone.
“Yes, everyone who survived the battle is ok,” she said. “I led them to Tiro and- whoa!”
At the confirmation of their safety, I’d started swaying, and when my legs gave out, Ren rushed to catch me, which was strange. I welcomed her help, but hell, if my chest didn’t unpleasantly tighten at the contact of her skin on mine.
Also, why was I having such a strong reaction to the news she’d shared?
The soldiers… are like family, Nylion said. The one… we wanted.
Why did he sound so distracted?
Didn’t matter.
Hastily extracting myself from Ren, I cleared my throat a few times, brushing down everywhere she’d touched, and gradually, my heart rate slowed back down.
“Thank you for telling me,” I gruffly said. “I’m glad they’re ok.”
Ren was watching me with an odd look in her eye, one I didn’t know how to interpret.
“You truly care for them. I thought so before but this…”
As she trailed off, I cocked my head.
“Of course I do,” I said. “They are like- like family.”
Hell. Nylion had been right.
Now, I could read Ren’s expression. Her features had hardened into the most determined of lines, and before I could figure out why, she muttered.
“Fuck it.”
Then, she grabbed my shoulders while rising to my height, all while pressing her lips to mine.
If I’d had a strange reaction to her previous touch, this one was brutal. A hysterical shriek started in my mind, building until it was all I could hear, and my skin went cold and clammy while my stomach started bucking and-
As abruptly as these sensations had appeared, they vanished, leaving me… bereft, for some reason, and confused. What the hell had that-?
Wait. Ren was kissing me.
This thought permeated my mind as thoroughly as that strange shriek, and for a time, I could only look at it, turning it so I could see it from every angle. What… did this mean?
Before I could move beyond that question, Ren pulled away with a wince.
“Sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t help-”
Reaching out, I tangled my fingers in her hair—gods, it felt as amazing as I’d been imagining—and leaned down. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, watching myself move as if someone else was controlling my body, until my lips met hers, and after that, so much heat blasted through me that I couldn’t give the conundrum conscious thought.
Not right now.
Gods, it wasn’t enough. Releasing one hold on her hair, I laid my hand on the small of her back, tugging her close, and when she gasped, I took advantage, and hell.
It still wasn’t enough.
Then, Ren’s hands were on me while she kissed me back, which only made this hunger worse. Damn, it was strong, and I didn’t know how to satisfy it. I didn’t-
Raimie, please! came a wail from deep inside.
Nylion’s voice froze me solid, which Ren noticed. With her face entirely red, she backed off while I touched my lips. What had that been?
“Damnit. You do like her.”
Spinning fast enough to make myself dizzy, I found Oswin at my back, looking at me like I was a disobedient puppy. When had he snuck up on me?
Crossing his arms, he said, “I told you not to cause trouble.”
“I… I don’t-”
I didn’t know what to say. What had just happened? Why had it felt amazingly, wonderfully right and yet, oh so wrong?
“Oh, give him a break. He didn’t start it.”
Flinching, I said, “Rhy. Hell. I’m…”
I’d just repaired my relationship with him, and here I went, messing it up again by kissing his sister. That was considered a violation of our friendship in this context, right?
Laughing under his breath, Rhylix raised a hand.
“It’s fine. You and Ren are adults, perfectly capable of taking care of yourselves,” he said. “Besides, she seemed to like it. Isn’t that right, Ren?”
The three of us turned to her, although I was cringing while doing so, and at the attention on her, Ren drew her parted mouth into a thin line while the distraction in her eyes relented to a glare.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but… yes.”
For that last bit, she glanced at me, which had heat rising in my face, and I couldn’t stop it. Why couldn’t I stop it?
“There we go. A delightful outcome all around,” Rhylix said. “Ren? Don’t you have something you should be doing? Maybe let Tiro know why the army of Kiraak at their doorstep fell to pieces? That might make our welcome there a bit… warmer, so to speak. I can lead these two to the city, taking the long way around.”
With a cough, Ren said, “Right. Yes. I- I’ll see you all later?”
But the question seemed mostly directed at me. I mutely nodded, freeing her to melt into the trees, and I only found my voice again once she’d left.
“What the hell was that?” I harshly whispered.
That question had been meant for myself, but Rhylix lifted an eyebrow at me anyway.
“You… kissed her,” he said. “Pretty self-explanatory.”
“Yes. Of course. That part is,” I said, rolling my eyes, “but why would I do that? I don’t understand what came over me. Why…?”
Now, Rhylix was frowning at me with his eyebrows drawn together.
“Have you never…?” he said as if to himself.
Never what?
Fortunately, Oswin didn’t find this confusing, although he still looked upset.
Sighing, he said, “Sir, you like her. Really, truly like her. As men sometimes do with women and occasionally, other men, Alouin, this’ll make things so much more complicated.”
I still didn’t understand. Of course I liked Ren. She was smart, could defend herself, and kind, once you got past her abrasive outside. How did liking her lead to kissing?
A loud, internal groan rattled through my head.
Please, do not fret too highly over this, heart of my heart. I will explain everything later, Nylion said. For now, let us focus on getting somewhere safe. Yes?
That was right. I needed to get back to my family, both the old and the new.
“I’ll have to take your word on that, Oswin,” I said. “In the meantime, we should head for Tiro. I still need to take stock of everything. So?”
When neither of my friends moved, I scowled at them.
“Rhy…?” I drawled. “You need to lead the way?”
Shaking himself, Rhylix glanced at Oswin.
“I need to ask you some questions later,” he said.
Fortunately, though, he didn’t delay further, setting off into the forest. I should follow him, but before I could, a temporarily forgotten worry came to mind, and I wanted to smack myself for letting it go for so long.
As Oswin passed me, I grabbed his wrist with my throat working.
“Oswin,” I said, “about the primeancy that Rhy and I displayed…”
I glanced toward my rapidly disappearing friend while the spy removed my hand on him.
“Not to worry, sir. While you were gone, me and my people worked our own kind of magic,” he said, “although those efforts were greatly helped by everything you two did during the battle. Not many people are willing to rip their saviors apart, no matter what they might be. For now, the soldiers will give you the benefit of the doubt, although you’ll need to keep an eye on Tiro’s citizens. So, please. Until this situation dies down, no more running off on your own, and… no more trouble. Understand?”
That I was walking on precariously thin ice right now? That I needed to avoid Ren like crazy for a while?
“Yes,” I said.
As Oswin released a held breath, Nylion laughed inside.
So… life will continue as normal, with its constant peril and all, he said. How gratifying to see that nothing changes.
Much as I wanted to click my tongue at him, I ignored him instead, hurrying after Rhylix. Together, he and I had far too much work to do, but I wasn’t worried about it. For once, I had the resources and abilities to face life’s challenges with confidence.