Page 7 of The Pactbound Angel (The Soul Mirror Duet #1)
Seasons Change
As we maneuvered through the considerable crowd to the amphitheater, Ramiren turned his attention to the little gnome at his side. “Georgina, is it?”
Georgina glanced up at him, her legs pumping to keep up with everyone. “Yeah. That’s right.”
Ramiren’s eyes flitted to the automaton walking beside her. “And your automaton is M.A.L.C.O.L.M.?”
Georgina narrowed her gaze at Ramiren. “Yes. What about him?”
Ramiren looked ahead and smiled without pausing his pace. “What does M.A.L.C.O.L.M. stand for? Like most automatons, I imagine it’s an acronym and not an actual name?”
Georgina chuckled, tossing a casual look toward M.A.L.C.O.L.M.
“Yeah. It stands for Man-like Automated Live Combat Optimized Learning Machine. So, M.A.L.C.O.L.M. for short. When he was made, he was mostly for protection. I’ve modified him over the years, so he can do a lot more than punch bad guys now. ”
“Fascinating. I’ve seen very few automatons with such complexity. You must take a great deal of pride in him.”
For the first time, Georgina smiled.
When we arrived, there were swaths of people ambling about, waiting for the performances to begin. It appeared we weren’t too late.
Lifting onto my tiptoes to look around over the heads of patrons, I found what I was looking for. “Raewyn and I will head to the side of the stage. I think I see a line. Everyone else, I suppose find a seat.”
Georgina huffed and motioned towards the stands. “This had better work. I feel like I’m wasting my time.” She and M.A.L.C.O.L.M. climbed into the stands, and Raewyn walked off towards the line of singers now getting even longer, leaving me and Ramiren alone.
We looked at each other, but he spoke first, “I wish you the best of luck, Lady Nathalia.”
My head tilted. “Lady? I never introduced myself as such.”
He gestured towards me, lifting his hand up and down at me.
“Well, if you recall, I know your father, and I doubt Lord Protector Maxlian Swordhand would appreciate it if I didn’t give proper respect to his daughter.
Also, your posture looks as though it was beaten into you by a curmudgeon governess. You are, most definitely, a lady.”
You are not wrong.
A chuckle escaped me, and my hand flew to my mouth.
I’m just nervous. That’s all. Nervous energy.
“Thank you for the luck, Master Ramiren. But I carry a luck stone.” I took out the smokey-colored gem from under my chain-linked armor.
He raised his eyebrows, looking at it. “A mighty prize, indeed. What exactly does it do?”
My sister yelled from across the crowd, “Nat, come on! We’re going to be late signing up. You can bore him later!”
Thanks for the boost of confidence, Raewyn.
My smile felt strained as I responded to Ramiren. “I will accomplish our goal. Trust that.”
“I don’t doubt it.” He returned my smile with a pleasant one of his own and followed Georgina into the stands. My eyes followed him, noting where he finally sat down, and headed to Raewyn’s side.
The line of singers moved quickly. A few moments later, a sprite hovered at my eye-level with a tiny notepad in her hands. “Name of group?”
“Duet singers, please. Nathalia and Raewyn Swordhand.”
She jotted down my words, finishing with a flourish. “Duet. Swordhand sisters. Got it. Any music you’d like to accompany you?
I replied, “The melody to Seasons Change , please.”
She wrote again on her notepad, then peeked behind us. “Sure thing. Looks like you’re up last.”
I looked over my shoulder, seeing no one behind us, and faced Raewyn. “Like always?”
She grinned. “You still have the high notes?”
The one corner of my mouth raised. “If you have the low.”
She started to warm up her voice in a rich contralto that always surprised me. Such a big sound for such a small woman.
I sang an octave higher. We each adjusted our pitch automatically, looking at each other, and the sound harmonized.
The first few songs we practiced with were a little shaky, as we hadn’t sung together in so long, but eventually our voices balanced.
Like the muscle memory of riding a horse or swinging a sword, you never truly forget how to sing once you’ve learned it.
It was a long wait to go up, and the anticipation increased the closer it got to our time.
Many singers performed, some solo and some as an ensemble.
The competition, and our goal, did not hamper my appreciation for their talents.
But I felt my confidence rise after the last performance involving a tall woman singing off-key about cupcakes.
The sprite called out, “Swordhand sisters, you’re up. Knock ‘em dead! ”
She fluttered around Raewyn and me, shooing us onto the stage. Climbing up the steps, the bright stage lights floating around us made me squint .
“Ready?” Raewyn whispered to me.
“As I’ll ever be.”
A soft familiar melody began to drift up from somewhere, filling the entire amphitheater. Two clear notes emerged from each of us, the opening volley to the song. Raewyn and I sang in perfect unison, as though the years had never separated us.
In her silence,
After the violence,
He mourned devotion unsaid.
Drifting away,
He started to pray.
Chained to an anchor of dread.
Seasons change, the moon does too.
But my love remains.
Back I will bring you to stand by my side,
Through the wind, the sun, and the rain.
I kept my eyes on the audience, looking around at the faces staring back.
The song’s mournful, melodic tone never failed to get a reaction when I’d heard it performed.
It was an old obscure ballad, one that we had learned as children and often sang together.
Raewyn always found it romantic. It always saddened me.
My eyes found Ramiren in the crowd, and his focused attention encouraged me.
My song grew bolder, clearer, with his smile.
The crowd around him slowly began to blur into indistinct shapes.
Thanks to my lack of creativity, there would be no embroidery added to the song.
No embellishment. I simply sang it as I remembered it.
Not that I’d be able to add anything anyway, with Ramiren smiling at me with his warm, red eyes.
Unable to look away, a distinct flutter filled my belly. Childish crushes and infatuations that everyone experiences growing up. But that flutter sank lower and morphed into a pleasant throbbing.
His love was gone,
No hope for the dawn,
He knew no way to find her.
Little he knew,
The fey they drew,
The magic to raise, then bind her.
Seasons change, the moon does too.
But my love remains.
Back I will bring you to stand by my side,
Through the wind, the sun, and the rain .
Acutely grateful I knew the song so well, my cheeks flooded with heat.
The lights. It’s only the lights.
But the feylight gave off no such temperature, only brightness.
A plan devised,
By fam’ly advised,
To beg the monarch fey.
He cried, sir please,
Take coin or keys,
Whatever desire, I’ll pay. .
Seasons change, the moon does too.
But my love remains.
Back I will bring you to stand by my side,
Through the wind, the sun, and the rain.
The music crescendoed, and our voices with it. I’d never had such accompaniment to my singing.
My skin pebbled from the bracing exhilaration of the moment. Even Ramiren’s face blurred along with the crowd. We were nothing more than instruments, plucked by harpists with sure hands and unbridled love for song.
The fey came near,
He felt no fear,
But the terror of failure then.
She laid so still,
No breath, until,
Her eyes did open again.
Seasons change, the moon does too.
But my love remains.
Back I will bring you to stand by my side,
Through the wind, the sun, and the rain.
‘Til the world falls silent once more.
When it was over, the last trembling note gone, there was wild applause. Raewyn grabbed my hand to bow together.
“Yes! Well done,” yelled the sprite off the stage as we walked over to her.
“Now, we’re really going to have to get you bedded, Nat!”
When my eyes returned to where Ramiren sat, his seat was empty.
The throbbing dissipated to be replaced by a strange irritation.
The irritation vanished when Ramiren came through the crowd lightly applauding, with Georgina and her automaton M.A.L.C.O.L.M.
behind him. “Very beautiful, ladies. Very beautiful indeed. I can’t say I’ve ever heard that song before. ”
Georgina grumbled. “Yes, yes, lovely. I hope this was worth it. I’m pretty sure I sat in something sticky.” She looked behind her. “M.A.L., do I have anything on my bum?”
A soft beep sounded as M.A.L.C.O.L.M. replied, “YOUR BUM IS NOT STICKY, GEORGINA.”
“It’s an old favorite of ours,” Raewyn said. “Now, Nat, we need to find you someone. Surely, someone in the crowd will-”
I replied curtly, “No, Raewyn. Thank you.”
Ramiren chuckled. “She seems very determined.”
“You have no idea.” Exhaustion suddenly weighed on me.
She needs to stick with training noble girls.
An errant, brazen, wild thought popped into my head. Perhaps he could train me? After all, I’m comfortable around him. Plus, if Father trusts him, then I can, too. But what would I pay him with?
Rotating slowly, I turned to fully face the broodling. “Master Ramiren, you make deals, yes?”
His ever-present smile increased. “I do, indeed. Pacts, to be precise, if you recall.”
My tutors presented very little material on pact magic, the ability to bind two parties together magically for a contract or arrangement.
No one really knew where the center of pact thaumaturgy came from or where pactmakers trained, and any attempt to determine them was met with far more questions than answers.
Damn, I had forgotten. “Oh, yes, you are a pactmaker. Any kind of pacts?”
He inclined his head. “So long as both parties agree to the terms and no one is harmed or enslaved by the terms, yes.”