Page 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Let me tell you about our mission,” I say a little louder than necessary, determined to drag Coryn’s attention away from Jaimin.

“Do you have to?” he asks.

The stone thrums, so I ignore what I really want to do and instead say, “Yes. You need to know what we’re facing so you’ll be prepared.”

Again, his face immediately becomes alert. It seems the secret to managing Coryn is to speak to his sense of duty. “I’m ready.”

“A month ago”—has it been so long already?—“the life stone returned to the continent and made itself known to the combined councils of mages, healers, and riders.” I pause for the usual gasp of surprise.

He just looks at me blankly.

“You do know what the life stone is?” I prompt.

“The source of all creation,” he replies, and I swear, Jaimin sighs in relief.

“Yes. You probably also know that it disappears from the world except when there are situations of great need.” I decide not to go into the vagaries of the prophecy. Let’s not make this more complicated than it needs to be.

“And now’s one of those times? It has to be if the stone’s here, right?”

I nod. “Right.”

He beams.

“The stone revealed to us that necromancers have begun raising zombies, and?—”

Coryn scoffs, the smile disappearing. “If you’re going to tell fairy stories, just don’t tell me anything. I don’t need to know. All I need is for the king to tell me to protect you, and I will, whatever you’re doing.”

Tia pinches the bridge of her nose, and I reach out to her. “It’s fine.”

“I don’t love putting our safety in the hands of someone who doesn’t use deductive reasoning to make decisions,” she snaps.

“Then put it in the stone’s hands. That’s what he is—another tool of prophecy, just like us.” I hate that concept so much, but there’s no denying it. Not anymore.

She nods curtly.

“It’s not a fairy story,” I tell Coryn. “You can speak to the king about this—or Master Haftel. They’ll confirm what I’m saying. A long time ago, necromancers raised zombies and used them to wage war against the nations of the continent. It was long and bloody, and millions died. We won in the end, and in an attempt to prevent it from ever happening again”—these words are bitter on my tongue, but I force myself to say them—“most of the details were wiped from history. Our ancestors believed that if people thought zombies were only a nightmare, a tale to scare children, nobody would ever again try to raise one.”

He frowns. “So how come you know this?”

“We’re taught a little more at the City of Knowledge. Part of the history classes at the academy include a very brief segment about the zombie wars and how terrible they were. Not enough information for anyone to know how to raise them—or how to stop them once they’re raised.”

The frown deepens. “Then how did someone raise some?”

Excellent question. I spread my hands. “We don’t know. It’s not the most important part right now—the stone told us that there’s a person, a champion, who can defeat the necromancers and the zombies. This is also in the prophecies, so we have a very obscure instruction manual. Our mission is to find that champion. The other side is trying to stop us, since they don’t want to be defeated.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

Cautiously, because this is where I might lose him again, I say, “Some of our attackers the other night were zombies. They looked just like ordinary men, but they wouldn’t die until I used magefire on them. Not even when we dismembered them.”

His eyes widen. “They wouldn’t die? Wait… zombies are when dead people are brought back to life, right?”

“No,” Jaimin interrupts sharply. “They are not brought back to life. It’s impossible to bring a dead person back to life, because their soul has departed from their body. Zombies are merely reanimated corpses.” Seeing Coryn’s confusion, he continues, “A necromancer finds a corpse—a dead body—and makes it move around like a living person—kill like a living person can—but it’s not alive. It has no thoughts or feelings, doesn’t need to eat or drink or sleep or breathe.”

That, Coryn understands, and sick revulsion is clear in his voice when he says, “Like a human puppet?”

Jaimin nods. “It’s desecration of the worst kind.”

“I don’t know about that, but it’s wrong to treat dead people that way,” Coryn declares. “You gotta stop them.”

“That’s our plan. We just have to find the champion and let them take over, and we need you to make sure we don’t die before we can do that,” I remind him.

He worries his lip with his teeth, making it red and puffy and entirely too pretty. “Did you say they don’t die? I’ve never fought an enemy who doesn’t die. That would change the odds—every one of theirs would become…” His face scrunches in concentration as he struggles to come up with a number. “…a lot.”

“They go down for a short while,” Tia assures him. “Dismember them if you can and get their weapons away from them. It won’t stop them, but it buys us time. The only two ways to kill them permanently are magefire and dragon fire. Luckily, we have both—Talon and Leicht. So your job—and mine—is to disable them long enough for Talon to kill them.”

Coryn nods confidently, his worry gone. “I can do that.”

“They’ll likely also have living humans with them, but it might be hard to tell the difference,” Jaimin warns. “Treat them all the same until we know otherwise.”

“Yeah, you said that before, that they look like normal. But I thought zombies were supposed to be all rotting and falling apart. Because they’re dead people. ”

I let Jaimin handle this, since he was the one who found the answer to begin with.

“We thought the same, but after the attack, the stone confirmed our theory that the zombies we met were made from the newly dead. Men who hadn’t died long enough ago to begin deco—uh, rotting.”

“So they might look normal, and I should treat anyone who attacks like they’re a zombie. Killing blow, disarm, dismember,” he recites. “Got it.”

I wait, but that seems to be it. “Do you have any questions?”

“When do you want to leave?”

“Uh…” Never is what I want to say, but instead, I reach for the pouch around my neck. “We should ask the stone, I guess.”

Coryn’s face lights up, and he leans forward. “You have it with you ? The life stone? I get to see it?”

I swear, if he had a tail, it would be wagging. “I have it with me,” I confirm. “Of course you can see it. You’re… Did I mention that the stone was the one who said you were coming? It gets to choose everyone who travels with us.”

His mouth opens in an O shape. “Really?” he breathes. “It knows my name?”

“Sort of? I mean, yes, but… It can’t really… Let me show you.” It seems easier to let the stone handle this than to attempt to explain nonverbal communication. I tip the stone into my palm and then stand to set it carefully on the low table before me. Its presence is a warm hum in the room.

Coryn glances at it, then looks at me expectantly. “Are you going to go get it now? I can escort you to your room, if you like.”

Tia chokes back a groan, but I smile. “That’s it.” I point to the stone.

He looks at it again. “Are you sure?”

“Very.”

“But… it’s a rock.”

“It’s not a rock.”

“It looks like a rock.”

“Well, it is a rock, technically. A stone. The life stone.” I cling to my patience. Meanwhile, the stone, the one entity whose contribution would be helpful right now, remains completely silent. Stupid hunk of gravel.

“Sure, but it’s… a rock.”

“Coryn, what were you expecting, exactly?” Jaimin breaks in. He’s using his gentle tone again.

Coryn shrugs. “You said the stone told you stuff, so… I thought it would have a mouth, at least. Like, a talking stone, that’s pretty cool. This is just a rock.”

“It’s not a rock,” I snap. “It’s the source of all creation, for the sake of all the fucking gods.”

He looks contrite. “Am I being stupid again? I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to.”

Hello, guilt. “You’re not stupid,” I tell him, ignoring the memory of calling him an idiot earlier. “Don’t let anyone call you that. Just because this kind of thinking isn’t where you do best doesn’t mean you’re stupid. You’re really good at the fighting stuff, and you knew our first plan for Leicht to protect us was a bad one, even though all of us didn’t.”

He looks at me with the same starry eyes he gave Jaimin before, and I’m not going to lie, it doesn’t suck. Even better is the warm smile Jaimin aims at me. Who knew being nice to people was the way to get the attention of attractive men?

“I know it looks like an ordinary rock,” I continue. “It’s even kind of ugly.” I get vicious satisfaction from saying that. “And it doesn’t have a mouth. It can’t ‘talk’ to us, exactly. But it can make itself understood. Isn’t that right, stone?” I prod it mentally. If you want him to come with us, you’d better damn well respond.

~Yes~

Coryn’s mouth drops open and then stretches into a wonder-filled grin. He moves away from the mantel and leans over to examine the stone, then lifts his gaze to mine.

“Can I pet it?”

My sputtering goes on for longer than I like to admit. “Pet it? Can you pet it?”

Coryn nods. “It’s nice. It feels like a hug. Can I pet it?”

“I—No—Well…” I sigh. “Sure. Go ahead and… pet it.” If the stone doesn’t want him touching it, it’ll let us know.

The source of all creation remains quiet, however, and Coryn bends over the low table and gently strokes two fingers over the top of the stone. “Aw,” he murmurs. “That’s nice, isn’t it? I bet people don’t pet you very often.”

I have no words.

The stone continues to fill the room with its warm, soothing presence, and I reach out to Tia.

“Am I experiencing some kind of delusion? This isn’t real, is it?”

She meets my gaze. “If it’s not, I’m having the same delusion. I guess the stone likes to be petted?” A tiny smirk teases her lips. “Maybe you’ve been falling down in your duties, Talon. You should be petting the stone twice a day.”

I send her a mental image of a rude gesture as Coryn straightens. “Thank you,” he says politely.

“Anytime. Consider petting the stone to be one of your duties on this trip.” I rein myself in before I say something I’ll regret. It’s not his fault he’s so… sweet. Though I can’t be the only one who finds it odd that someone so seemingly innocent is apparently a ruthless fighter. “Stone, is there anything else for us to do here?”

~No~

“So we can leave when we’re ready?”

~Yes/No~

I sigh in frustration.

“Let me try,” Jaimin murmurs. He has that little smirk on his face that gives me so many feelings, but I gesture for him to go ahead. “Should we leave tomorrow?”

~Yes~

Dammit. I was hoping to stretch out our stay for a few nights. The sidelong glance Jaimin gives me says he’d guessed as much.

“Tomorrow it is,” I concede. “Coryn, is that enough time for you to prepare?”

He nods. “Yup! I’m used to being sent out on short notice. I could go tonight, if you want.”

“No.” The word tumbles from my mouth. I want at least one night in that delightful bedroom—and a chance to eat some more crumpets. “Tomorrow’s fine. Uh, you have your own horse?”

“Of course.”

“You’re probably an expert at this, but you need to pack light,” Tia tells him. “One pack of personal belongings.” She looks at Jaimin. “Do we need another packhorse? With his bag, extra food, and his bedroll?—”

“Oh, I can share Talon’s bedroll,” Coryn says blithely.

“What?” I ask blankly, even as Jaimin snaps, “No!”

Coryn blinks at the tone, and I hide my frown. Is Jaimin interested in Coryn?

“But I don’t mind,” Coryn assures us. “That way I get cuddles.”

I swear, I can hear the stone laughing in my head.

“Cuddles,” I repeat, and he nods.

“I like cuddles, but people don’t always like to give them. That’s okay, though. I don’t mind sex, and it means I get cuddles after.”

Tia’s shock and pity echo through my head with my own.

“I see.” I pause, trying to decide what to say. “I see. Well… uh, I’m…”

Jaimin steps in. “What Talon’s trying to say is that we’re all happy to give you cuddles whenever you want them, no sex needed.”

“Really?” Coryn looks between us, and the naked vulnerability on his face makes me swallow down my instinctive refusal.

“Yes. Uh… of course. I… love cuddles.”

“Me too,” Tia chimes in, opening her arms. Coryn’s grin is instant, and he swoops in to grab her in a big bear hug.

“Cuddles are the best,” he says, his voice slightly muffled.

I meet Jaimin’s gaze. He’s smirking at me, and I swear, that smirk is almost a dare. Bastard. He knows I’m not the cuddling type.

Not without sex, anyway.

Does that make me the kind of horrible person who’s been taking advantage of Coryn? Because for all he said that he doesn’t mind sex, I got the distinct impression he only does it to get cuddles.

No. I wouldn’t have taken him up on his offer. Though if he hadn’t said anything, just crawled into my bedroll one night, I might not have asked as many questions as I should. I mentally flinch away from what that says about me.

“Okay,” I say as Coryn finally lets go of Tia. “That’s settled then. Coryn gets cuddles whenever he wants them. And I suppose we need another packhorse?” The ratio of humans to horses just keeps getting smaller. Pretty soon, there will be enough horses for them to plan an uprising and kill us all. Sweetie would be their leader.

“Yes,” Jaimin confirms. “Coryn, who’s the best person for us to speak to about that?”

“I can do it,” he offers cheerfully. “I just need official orders from the king to say I’m coming with you.”

“We’ll go talk to the king, then.” I stand. “And then make plans to leave tomorrow. Maybe after lunch—that will give us the morning to?—”

~No~

Dammit. Tia laughs outright, but Coryn seems confused.

“Doesn’t the pretty stone want to go?”

“It wants to leave early,” Jaimin explains, sounding far too amused for my liking. “Is that right, stone?”

~Yes~

Stupid chipped gravel. “Fine,” I grumble. “We’ll leave in the morning. But after breakfast. None of this sunrise bollocks.”

“Talon doesn’t like mornings,” Tia informs Coryn. “Or afternoons, to be fair. Or people. Or horses.”

“Please, continue,” I invite acidly. She makes it sound like all of that is unreasonable.

“The list is too long, and we don’t have time. Don’t you need to talk to the king?”

I narrow my eyes and snatch up the stone. “There are times I wish I was an only child. Come on, Coryn.” The sound of her laughter follows us out of the room.

“You don’t really, do you?” Coryn asks, trailing after me. With a glance over my shoulder, I slow my pace so he can catch up.

“Don’t what?”

“Wish you were an only child.”

“No. But Tia and I are very good at annoying each other.”

He nods, lips pressed together. “I annoy my brothers too. Sometimes…” He sighs. “Sometimes I did wish they were different. They’re not nice like you and Tia are. Not to me, anyway.”

Hmm. When this is all over, I think a visit to Coryn’s father and brothers might be in order. Someone needs to dangle them by the ankle over a ravine. “Do you need another hug?” I ask, a little grudgingly. It’s not something I particularly want to do, but the last thing we need right now is for the king to see him all mopey and think we had something to do with it.

He immediately brightens. “Yes, please. Just a little one, though.”

I hold out my arms and he steps into them. At first, it’s strange. He’s taller and wider than me, and I’m not used to hugging or being hugged. But it’s also… nice. It obviously makes him happy too. Is this what doing nice things for other people feels like?

It’s not terrible.

“There!” he pronounces, letting me go and grinning at me with his beautiful face. “Much better.”

“Much better,” I echo. “Thank you.” Did I just… thank him? For a hug?

The stone must be playing with my mind. Stop that .

There’s no response.

Back in the small ballroom—so named because it can only fit “intimate” groups of three hundred—the crowd has thinned considerably. Most of the soldiers are gone, probably to the real party in the barracks.

“If you want to go to the barracks party, we can delay our start tomorrow morning,” I tell Coryn, trying to sound casual. A short visit to a party and a later departure sound wonderful to me.

To my disappointment, he shakes his head. “Nah. I’ve partied with those guys more times than I can count. And the commander never knows what to say to me. He wanted to train me to take over one day, but I just want to do my job. Leadership seems stressful to me.”

He’s right. In the past two weeks, I’ve learned that leadership is stressful, mostly because of the way the people you’re leading keep telling you you’re doing it wrong.

I look around and spot the king and Haftel talking to several others. I’ve taken five steps before I realize Coryn is no longer with me.

“Is there a problem?” I ask when I’ve retraced my path to him. The happy smile is gone from his face again.

He scuffs his boot on the polished stone floor. “Noooo.”

The gods must hate me. I swear, they do. “Coryn, tell me what the problem is.”

His pout is a thing of beauty. Seriously. How does the man make pouting look attractive? “Nothing. It’s fine.” He darts a glance toward the king’s group, and a worried gleam appears in his eyes before he looks away.

I turn around and study them all. He was fine with Haftel earlier, and from the enthusiastic way he talks about the king, I doubt he’s the issue, either. My gaze slides to the other three—two women, one older, one about my age, and an older man with the same supercilious, stick-up-his-rectum expression my father wears.

My eyes narrow. The man is tall, blond, and has the same nose as Coryn. “Is that your father?”

He gasps. “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess. Come on.”

“Wait, Talon…” He catches my arm. “It might be better if I don’t come with you. My father… he doesn’t like me much. If I’m there, he might say something mean to you.”

My mouth stretches into a smile. “I’m counting on it.”