Page 17 of Taking Orders in the Underworld

“In the broom closet? You said ‘And I’ll tell you another thing’.”

“Oh, that. It doesn’t matter.”

Nika narrowed her oval eyes to slits at him. “What?”

“I’ve already called you stubborn and foolish this evening. I don’t want to push my luck.”

“The fact you think you have any luck to push in the first place is quite frankly a testament to how stupid you were coming here.”

Tomas sighed. “There you go again, being classically cruel Nika.” He turned to face her fully. “You know why I really came here? Because I figured you needed someone to show you they cared about you, Nika. That you were more than just a good teacher for me, or a good waitress that I could replace. Butgods damn, sometimes you make it really hard to care. That other thing I was going to tell you? That you made me a damn good waiter. I could replace you, you know. You trained me that well. We did just fine without you these last few days. So, actually, maybe you should be grateful I came looking for you at all.”

Nika stood there, stunned. He’d never stood up to her like that. She’d always teased him about his long-fuse, that she was going to break him in, but here he was – in Tartarus – at his limit, because she couldn’t seem to accept care and concern in place of scheming and self-defensive smart remarks.

Nika cleared her throat. “I’ll, um, leave you to it. See you tomorrow.”

***

Remaining up until dawn with her thoughts, Tomas’ and her parents words circling through her mind, Nika had come to an uncomfortable decision by the time her mother had returned to the house. She would attempt to take everyone at their word – that their offers of help were genuine.

First, she tried making eye contact with Tomas at the breakfast table, to apologise for what she’d said in the late hours of last night.

His eyes remained firmly on his plate.

“Are you still angry at me?” she hissed across the table.

Tomas looked up. “What? No. I was angry, now I’m not.”

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

“Because now I’m hungry.” He sent her a dashing smile, and she realised his anger from last night truly had gone. If only she could let her suspicion of others slip away so easily …

Mentally resolving herself to try again, she kept eating her own breakfast – a delicious dish of barley bread, wine to dip it in, and figs – when her mother entered.

In her hand, the lyre.

Nika pushed her chair back immediately, her mouth still full of food she quickly swallowed, as she walked towards Nyx and the most beautiful, golden lyre, covered in stardust. Bending down to examine it more closely, the lyre sneezed, covering Nika in a spattering of stardust.

Tomas laughed.

Nika wiped it off and rose back up to look at her mother. “Thank you for this.”

“I did not realise that our lessons when you were younger had effected you so. The trips to the cave, their purpose, it was not to beat you into submission,” her mother stated.

“Okay…”

“My mother was Chaos. When Chaos is all that exists … it is not a world any others have known. It is not what I would have our world descend into again. Duty, rules, a way things are done – these are the things that I was trying to teach you. A way to stop Chaos reigning again. But I fear I made you loathe me as I loathed my mother. I can see now that there are more than enough creatures in this realm that someone will inevitably come to take the role of another.”

At this, Nyx cast a pointed look at Tomas before turning back to Nika.

“Your happiness, dear daughter, is just as important as the duty you decide to undertake.”

Tears threatened to spill out of Nika’s eyes. She tried to viciously blink them away, but one large, heavy droplet escaped.

Nyx stepped forward and wiped it away with one long, elegant finger.

“I do, however, ask for one more request.”

Nika half hiccuped, half laughed. “Oh yes? And what is that, Mother?”

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