Page 17

Chapter

Ten

The next day, Sunday morning dawns through my window like a dream.

Instead of pulling the pillow over my face with a groan like I usually do, I bask in the rays of light slitting through the blinds and listen to the birdsong outside of the window.

Lazily I wind my arms around the only stuffed animal I brought with me from my New York apartment.

It’s a purple lavender-infused bear my mom gave me that’s supposed to ward off stress and help people fall asleep. Until last night, it had never worked.

I’m disgustingly sentimental and bubbling with optimism, and it’s all his fault.

Honestly, I’m surprised to be up so early. Although Noah and I left the diner at a reasonable time, and I’d dropped him off at his house soon after—following a sweet and woodsy-scented hug goodbye—he kept me up much later than that. The first text arrived midway through my drive back to Liam’s.

Noah:

they’re having a really heartfelt discussion in the living room and I super feel like I should not be hearing it

sadieeeee

Sorry, sorry I just got back haha. What are you gonna do?

can I watch anime with you?

The thought had crossed my mind to invite Noah over so we could keep talking and he could have an escape, but it’s Liam’s house, and…well, whatever’s happening between two of his players, I should probably talk to him about it first. Soon.

I’m already in pjs, I cannot possibly be convinced to leave the house again, even for you

try this

He sent through a link to a website where we could watch my show—a supernatural anime about yet another high school fighting evil—while also typing our reactions and more with an included chat room add-on.

oh hell yeah. this works

do you want me to start the season from the beginning?

ofc not, just pick up wherever you left off. I’ve seen it enough times I’ll be able to follow along:)

I’d told him I had only enough energy in me for a couple episodes before the carb coma from the pancakes would inevitably take me out.

And yet, we binged the whole thing.

After an additional half hour of discussing theories for the next season and Noah begging me to share any fanart that the show inspired, I’d finally passed out.

This morning, I tiptoe downstairs, but there’s no sign of Liam yet.

I check my phone again to make sure I hadn’t dreamed his late-night text to assure me he got home safe.

In the kitchen, I’m greeted by Howard’s gravelly meow, and I prepare us both breakfast before scampering back upstairs with my spoils.

Over my morning coffee and my standard PB toast, I doodle a winking face—not Noah’s favorite pink-haired, tattooed villain, but a smirking Loren sipping a milkshake.

It’s a messy sketch, but hell, I’ve drawn so many elves over the years that it barely takes me any time at all.

I text it to him along with good morning, bard, and immediately toss my phone onto the bed and jump into the shower before I can be tempted to wait for his response.

For the next half hour, I take my time getting ready, allowing myself a long shower and a thorough skin-care routine to follow it.

I’m surprised I’d had the optimism to even pack all of my cosmetics, given how they’ve mostly gone ignored for weeks until now.

After a refreshing mask, I run my fingers idly through my hair.

Initially, the short hairstyle had taken a while to grow on me, but now I love how quickly my curls dry and effortlessly frame my face.

I throw on some leggings and a cropped tee and do my makeup before finally checking my phone.

Noah:

my boy!

you’re right, vanilla would be too basic for him. he seems like a red velvet motherfucker

good morning

Ah, yes. Extremely satisfying.

ready for dnd today?

you bet

tho tbh I don’t know where the hell we’re supposed to go from here

to Shira’s tower right??

there’s no way in hell we’re ready to fight her lmao

I bet Liam’s got something else up his sleeve

bc we’re way too low level to face off against someone on the assembly

Admittedly Shira does have Final Boss Energy, but I guess we’ll find out. I collect my sketchbook, character sheet and notes, sparkling gold dice, and a few colored pens before trotting downstairs.

The whole world stretches out before Jaylie: sprawling fields of green, an endless expanse of blue sky, and a well-worn dirt road that disappears over the horizon.

This is the first time she’s left the city since…

before. Until now she had no reason to leave.

She loves Belandar, especially the plush accommodations, the excitable people, and her close circle of friends at Marlana’s temple.

Though she’s eager to win back Donati’s favor, she’s loath to leave the city of her heart—and her perfect feather bed.

But she reminds herself of the teachings of her goddess: Luck is out there where you least expect it, and opening yourself up to new experiences is the surest way to find it.

But surely sleeping in the dirt and shitting in the woods aren’t the sort of new experiences Marlana is referring to, are they?

Although Jaylie and Morgana squint skeptically at the wide-open sky, for the first time Kain and Loren are agreed: they’re thrilled to be free.

A sudden rush of air stirs the pale curls around Jaylie’s face as Kain bounds out into the grass the moment the gates groan open.

It’s almost cute; the scattering of blue and yellow wildflowers gives the impression that the big man is frolicking.

Loren trails behind him, playing an energetic waltz to accompany the tiefling’s leaping dance.

Jaylie isn’t surprised by Kain’s reaction, as she expects he’s more excited by the potential for some action on the roads than by the change in scenery.

But Loren’s enthusiasm catches her off guard.

Jaylie assumed that for someone with such a love of fine things, he would be as reluctant to leave Belandar as she.

But no—he’s traded in his silk shirts for stylish and form-fitting leather traveling gear and pulled back his red mane of hair into a sporty tail.

His grin stretches from pointed ear to pointed ear.

“Cheer up, Jaybird,” the bard singsongs, blowing her a kiss. “You’re finally getting the opportunity to fly the nest.”

Jaylie grumbles under her breath and readjusts the pack’s straps on her shoulders.

Donati gave the group detailed directions to Shira’s tower, and for days all they have to worry about is travel.

But while the main road might take them a good two weeks to reach their destination—crowded as it is with wagons full of fresh summer produce, arguing merchants, mages hoping to join the Academy, and more—taking the less traveled trails through the surrounding farmland and wilderness will cut their journey in half.

With the help of his intimidating guardsmen and their very sharp swords, Donati had impressed upon them the importance of haste.

It quickly becomes clear that Loren is no stranger to travel as he marches ahead of the party, masterfully navigating them past a series of friendly, red-roofed farmhouses and deeper into wild rolling hills dotted with clusters of trees and flower-sprinkled fields.

Eventually he stops them at the base of a slope circled by a ring of trees, summons up a merry campfire, and sends them to a restful sleep with a lullaby.

The next morning, Jaylie wakes to the sounds of bacon frying, eggs sizzling, and the guttural speech of devils.

She leaps from her sleeping roll and grabs her holy symbol to ward off evil only to see Kain leaning over a frying pan positioned above the campfire.

He flips one of the eggs with utter gentleness, careful not to break the yolk.

Jaylie blinks rapidly, looking around. The others begin to rise as well, Loren rubbing at his eyes while Morgana groans and pulls her dark red jacket over her face.

“What was that?” Jaylie asks earnestly. “I thought I heard…I thought I heard talking?”

“I’m catching up with my father,” Kain explains, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he pokes at the bacon. There’s a hissing, dark laugh that catches at the edge of Jaylie’s hearing—but perhaps she’s just imagining it.

“What do you mean ?” Morgana asks, her voice muffled under her coat.

Jaylie moves to Kain’s side to inspect the breakfast— He really did not strike me as the cooking type, she muses—and notices how the flames from the fire seem to curl around the frying pan with a mind of their own. She bends down closer to the heat and gasps when she sees it.

There’s a face in the flames. The tongues of fire weave together to form the edges of a horrifically wide grin full of sharp kindling teeth under two burning black pits for eyes.

Bull horns identical to Kain’s sprout from a wide forehead and curl into smoke that spirals up between the leaves of the trees overhead.

Immediately Jaylie’s palms fill with holy light, an instinctive defense.

Kain looks decidedly unbothered.

“Priestess, I’d like to introduce you to my father: Lord Maglorbizel of Hell, Ruler of the Bone Pits, Prince of the Flames, Burning King of the Damned, Betrayer of Man.” Kain lists off the devil’s titles like he’s reciting a nursery rhyme, they’re so familiar to him. “We communicate through fire.”

“ Any fire?” Jaylie says. Her voice comes out high-pitched and wavering.

“Any fire,” Kain confirms. “When I was a boy, staying with my human mother in her home on our dairy farm, he would come to me in the candle on my bedside table to tell me bedtime stories.”

“What sorts of fucking bedtime stories were those?” Loren asks. He’s standing now, green eyes wide with horror.

Kain smiles wistfully. “Tales of conquest and slaughter, legends of strength and vengeance.”

“ I am a very good storyteller. ” The flames crackle and pop with the hiss of a deep voice.