Page 15

Chapter 15

Argos

T hough we are both brimming with unspent tension—or at least I am—we help Cyrus load in wheels of cheese, ham hocks, baskets of greenhouse/magic-grown vegetables, and even three kegs of brew from the brewmaster one town over. I don’t mind the physical labor. It is good to work beside Tully and not have to talk. I don’t know what to say after what we did. I’m afraid to bring anything up in case my words ruin any possibility of that happening again. Because that’s all I want. Well, it’s all I can think about, anyway. And I never did get to finish, so the sweating and labor are making that more bearable.

Gods, she is gorgeous. I have to figure out what is happening between us and how I can possibly satisfy her without hurting her.

I watch her use her magic to fling a sack of beans onto the highest shelf in the store room behind the pub’s kitchen. I tuck another round of cheddar onto the cooling platform near the icebox. The gaslight flickers as Tully bespells the door open for Cyrus who is shouting and has his hands full.

The store room is full to bursting by the time we finish and snow is coming down in thick curtains of white.

“Does Romulus usually leave town during the winter? I’d have thought that would be a no-no considering his position in town.”

“No, he doesn’t leave at all normally,” Tully says.

Two more helpers—an orc and a human male—trudge down the stairs. They’re carrying an awkwardly large sack. I assume it’s laundry or covered furniture that needs repair—some such chore. The whole pub is busy with those Cyrus asked to come give him a hand. His regular deliveries were moved up a day because of the incoming storm, so everything that usually takes him a four-day period is taking place in one day. It’s managed chaos.

A female pixie, a male human, and a female fairy crowd around him, and he is flirting like it's just his way of life. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s sleeping with all three. You don’t have to be a seer to know that Cyrus gets around. He appears to have the goodwill of everyone in town though so he must be mindful about choosing and accepting partners.

Tully picks up our thread of conversation as we return to the main room of the pub. “Rom and Laini went to visit her sister, Sorina, beyond the Veil in the human world. She’s hoping to talk some sense into her.”

“They’re on the outs?” I ask.

Cyrus is pouring over a list and making one of his lovers laugh.

“Always have been. Laini is too good for that brat of a sibling. I don’t know why she bothers with her at all. If they do bring her back, that human is going to get a very big, very nasty piece of my mind.”

I grin. She is a mean thing, this witch, but she’s a loyal friend.

A crack sounds, and then there’s a bang on the roof. Cyrus swears and runs out of the front door. We follow him only to see a tree limb the size of two orcs stretched out over the thatch.

“I have to get that thing off of there,” Cyrus says. Snow is already blanketing all of our heads. “Tully, think you can help me out?”

“I can,” she says.

She looks tired though, probably from all the magic we did on the mirror and the work she’s been doing with the unloading for Cyrus.

“How about we let our resident witch have a break? I can climb up there and roll it off.”

“That’s a big ask,” Cyrus says. “You sure?”

“Oh yeah. Minotaurs are pretty strong.” I wink at Tully.

She narrows her eyes before releasing what appears to be a reluctant grin.

Cyrus chuckles and heads back inside, his dragon tail swishing through the snow. It’s already two feet deep. Everyone was saying this storm didn’t have magical elements like some do, but there is a sheen on the powdery stuff that makes me wonder if they’re mistaken.

I use a smaller tree beside the tree in question and climb up to the roof. Once there, I begin shoving the limb with a boot, rolling it toward the edge. The slight slope of the roof helps the limb along too.

“Make sure all is clear!” I call down.

Tully’s commanding voice barking at folks carries up through the flurries of white.

“Ready?” I shout over the edge.

“Yes!” Tully shouts.

I kick at the limb one last time and it pitches over the thatched roof’s uneven edge. Despite the snow, there’s a tremendous smashing sound as the limb hits the ground. The whole pub trembles and I fall on my arse.

I’m slipping down the snowy thatch.

“A little help, Tully?”

I am falling clean off the roof by the time the words are out of my mouth. My heart climbs into my throat.

This isn’t going to be pretty.

But then an invisible hand of magic cocoons me and floats me like a feather to the ground. I find my feet and look up at a very smug witch, wand in hand. Circles hang under her alluring spring green eyes and the skin around her red lips is more pale than what is healthy.

“Thank you so much, you gorgeous, scary witch.”

She nods, then crumples. I dash forward to catch her and am just barely able to get my arms under her knees and around her back before she drops into the snow.

“Damn it,” I whisper, staring into her face and willing her not to be too worn down.

“We have to get everyone inside. This is thundersnow.” Cyrus’s part-time cook, a massive orc, looks at Tully, eyes wide in his green face. I think his name is Halvard.

“Did the limb hit her?” he asks.

“No, she saved me from falling and did too much magic today.”

The orc opens the pub door for me. “Really? I’ve never seen our Mistress Tully run out of power.”

I hurry Tully inside. Cyrus is talking to some of his staff, his fisted, scaled hand lifted.

“Damned thundersnow. I haven’t seen this in years,” he is saying. “Horrible. Do not under any circumstances try to clear the snow, or Blessed Stones forbid, go out in it. It’ll eat you up and beat you senseless.” The dragon shifter’s gaze snags on Tully. He races around the bar and moves a chair so I can get to the stairs more easily. “What happened to her?”

“Thundersnow?” I ask. I’ve never heard of it. My mind is whirling.

“Argos says she ran out of magic,” Halvard orc says. “She saved him. He fell off the roof when the thundersnow gave its first shake.”

Cyrus looks from me to the orc to the door. “Too much is going on at once. I’ll fly to the healer.” He grabs a sack from a table and slings it over his shoulder and one wing and then he’s out the door in a flash of green and gold.

I leave the rest of the staff downstairs and take Tully up to my room. I’ll have to set her down somewhere to move the mirror off my bed…

I kick the door open, my temples pounding. She hasn’t even cracked an eyelid.

The mirror is gone.

My khymeia are gone from the desk.

Panic bolts through my chest and I settle Tully on the bed. She mutters something and I kneel beside her to push her hair away from her face. Her skin is pasty white now and dotted with perspiration. She’s murmuring something I can’t hear.

“Say it again.” I lean my ear close to her mouth.

“Wrap mirror and stones in blankets or sheets. Sprinkle dill over them. Cyrus has some in his kitchen.”

“Dill?”

“Keep thundersnow from…” She splays her fingers in a motion that indicates an explosion.

“But the mirror never reacted to your magic or the other storms before I arrived with the stones, did it?”

She opens her eyes and I exhale, so relieved to see her awake. “We activated the chaos mirror. It might not react to just my magic alone. Didn’t seem to. But this storm…”

I help her sit up and hand her the half-full cup of water on my nightstand. She swallows it all down, her hand around mine as I hold the rim to her lips. Her fingers are trembling. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and eyes the storm through the window.

“Thundersnow is no joke. It’s like a chaos artifact of its own,” she says.

“Is that why you’re so drained? The orc and Cyrus both found it odd that you were suffering.”

“Halvard and Cyrus don’t know the work we did on the mirror earlier. As I was saving your clumsy arse, I felt a power tugging at me. I think the mirror is pulling from me.” She lies back down and I maneuver the covers over her. “The storm probably threw some magic at it, something like a smashing or dislodging spell, and the mirror decided it likes using my energy.”

“Damn it.”

“Yes, damn it a lot.”

“Why? How?”

“Because I stupidly gave it my magic’s signature when I studied its makeup. I didn’t realize it was sentient.”

I pull back, a chill sweeping through my bones. My tail whips the space behind me like an enemy is on the prowl. “The mirror has a mind of its own?”

“Apparently. And we don’t get on.”

I almost laugh and run a hand through my hair. “Okay. How do we fix this?”

“Where is the mirror?”

“I assumed you had it moved.”

She sits straight up, her head nearly colliding with my chin. “I didn’t.”