Page 28 of Light Up the Night

Chapter Ten

Time Will Tell

Keif

It’d been four days since the Torch of the Sea exploded. Ender constantly fussed over Chalice and her health. She’d gotten sick of it and threw us both out, so now here we were, taking turns camping outside her bedchamber. It was my turn, so I tipped my head back and closed my eyes.

Ender shifted on the windowsill where the looking glass had been set up. I peeked with one eye but found nothing out of order. The next thing I knew, it felt like my neck snapped and I was jarred back to consciousness. Ender snorted on a laugh that only added to my embarrassment.

“At least I wasn’t snoring,” I quipped.

“Says who?” Ender quickly retorted.

“Shut the fuck up out there, both of you,” Chalice called from the other side of the door. We both fell silent and looked expectantly toward the door. “Get in here and give me an update.”

We both moved for the door and went inside. She looked up from her pillow and laughed at the pair of us.

“Both of you,” she groaned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“They haven’t tried to move since the eruption. It won’t stop them forever, eventually they will test your magik,” Ender predicted.

“For fuck’s sake… magik,” Chalice exclaimed, slapping her hand on her thigh.

I placed a knee on the bed and started to join her, but she stopped me in my tracks and pointed toward my pants like she was offended they were still on. Ender’s belt buckle clicked, and he was nude and beside her in an instant.

“Real or not, they are a superstitious people and they believe it… so,” I pointed out.

She made a throaty sound of confirmation and snuggled in between us.

“Relax, get some sleep. Sir Bard will awaken us if trouble stirs. You two can’t go to the battlefield if you can’t keep your eyes open,” Chalice chided.

I fell asleep in a blanket of her perfume while her long nails teased my scalp. When I awoke, I became acutely aware that the weight atop my head was too heavy to have been Chalice’s hand.

Dreadlocks draped over the side of me while I blinked Messiah into focus. I instantly hugged him so tightly he was hauled into the bed with us.

“Your men?” Ender sprang to life, and nearly broke his neck trying to get out of the bed.

“They are resting while we await my brother,” Messiah offered.

“Where is he?” Chalice sleepily asked.

“Trying to secure a bride’s price.”

“A bride’s price…” she repeated without amusement.

“Mhm,” Messiah mumbled, looking everywhere but at her.

“For whom?” Her voice could have frozen the Torch of the Sea in that moment. I wanted to leave them to their banter, but something deep inside me told me that I needed to stay.

“You. He intends to deliver Azaria to earn your favor,” he explained.

I brought my hand up to my mouth and did my best not to laugh. He was serious, after all.

She stared at him like he’d spoken in one of the New World’s tongues, for so long that I began to wonder if she had heard him at all.

“Please tell me you’re not lending thought to it. I only told you to lighten the mood and give you time to plan,” Messiah chided.

“Plan for what?” She slid from the bed and a weird smile twisted at one side of her mouth. “I don’t have time to sit around and think of ways to crush his ego. He will bring me Azaria, and if he thinks I will be extorted during her delivery… he can join her in the cells.”

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