Page 56 of Ryld's Shadows
What did he mean by that? Ryld knew he meanttoo many people are listening, but why? Ryld waited patiently until they had gained their suite and closed the door.
“We saw…” Hank shook his head, rubbing at his arms. “We saw a pixie slum near the edge of the forest. It was, um, not good. And we visited the orphanage, which, I dunno. It looks like a nice place? But it gave both Kai and me really bad feelings.”
“If you felt bad, then there is something wrong. You had bad feelings when you met Cress too.”
“Well, my instincts aren’t always right every time,” Hank said, sitting in one of the comfortable chairs.
Ryld sat next to him, then changed his mind and moved to sit in Hank’s lap. Hank needed comfort, and touch was comforting. “You have not been wrong in your judgments since I’ve met you. I would trust your bad feelings.”
“I think I do since Kai’s alarms were going off inhishead even louder, I think. Thing is, I’m not sure why and neither is Kai, and I’m not sure we can do much about it.”
“If something is wrong, Kai will find it. If Kai finds the thing that gave you both the bad feeling, you will help fix it. Because you are good, and you do not give up easily.” Ryld kissed his temple. “I am grateful you did not give up learning to understand me, even when it has been difficult.”
“It wasn’t any more difficult than learning anyone else’s speech patterns,” Hank grumbled as he hugged Ryld tight. “And I liked you from the first moment we met. Um, strike that. The first moment, I was too drunk to remember properly. The first time we had an actual conversation.”
Whatever Ryld had wanted to answer flew out of his head as Kai burst through the door with his messenger bag over his shoulder and a small pack of servants at his heels.
“There, on the center table, please,” he directed in his voice that Ryld associated with Kai speaking to subordinates. “Thank you. Your efficiency is much appreciated.”
The servants, five of them, trooped in to place trays of food, flagons and dishes on the table before they all hurried back out again. Kai let out a breath that sounded like he might be deflating as he sank into one of the cushion piles by the long, short-legged table.
“Come eat, my dears,” he said as he rummaged in his bag. “I’m going to fire up my laptop, and Ryld can tell me the extent of Yarrow’s foolishness today.”
Ryld slid off Hank’s lap and onto one of the cushions, and Hank joined him. While he gathered his thoughts, Hank uncovered dishes and filled his glass. Ryld took a sip. “Yarrow believes in order to control the shadow beasts I must first learn to unleash them at will. I told him this was unwise. He said I was being difficult. I tried to explain that he didn’t understand the beasts. He believes I am simply afraid of them and doesn’t see that I’m afraid for him and Yew. That his magic might contain them, but if he failed, they would attack him and Yew. He insists. I agreed I would try if Kai was present and also agreed.”
While Kai’s fingers flew over his keyboard, Ryld knew he was also listening. He proved it when he quirked an eyebrow at Ryld without lifting his head. “If you could be fully aware and mindful when a shadow grows and is let loose, this would be a good step. However, I do agree with you that Yarrow is…less informed than he thinks, and that the shadows would hurt the twins. I very much doubt that he understands tuning mage fire to the shadows’ energy in order to stop them. And we know a protective circle or shield will only hold against them for a moment or two.”
He went silent, fingers dancing patterns on the keys that maybe only Kai understood. Then he let out a soft sigh. “I’m willing to try if you wish to, Ryld. I will be there to protect and to banish if the exercise is, hmm, less than successful.”
“Kai, what are you doing exactly?” Hank filled a plate and shoved it in front of Kai. “And don’t make me force you to eat. You’re getting a little gray around the edges.”
A crooked smile tugged at Kai’s mouth. “I’m returning to my roots and doing nefarious things. Hacking. I’m hacking systems. And I’m not about to do it with the computer they supplied me with in my suite.”
“Hank.” Ryld’s voice held an edge to it, and he grappled with the irrational spike of emotion. “Please don’t feed Kai.” That came out a little less spiky but still sounded tense.
“Like he’d let me.” Hank took Ryld’s hand and gave him a squeeze. “I was teasing him and wouldn’t actually do it. But he’s our friend, hon. We watch out for our friends.”
“I know, here.” Ryld touched his head. “The rest of me doesn’t understand as well.”
“It’s an ‘elf thing’,” Kai said, still tapping away. “Feeding another person is, culturally, part of courting rituals.”
“Oops. Well, I’ll keep that in mind.” The edges of Hank’s ears had gone pink, something Ryld had discovered meant he was embarrassed or uncomfortable. “No feeding other elves.”
The tension eased, and Ryld squeezed Hank’s hand in conscious imitation of Hank’s soothing gesture. “Thank you. This feeling is hard to control.”
“Jealousy is something like your shadows.” Kai finally stopped to pick up one of the little bowls of vegetable stew and take a bite. “Difficult to control. Even difficult to anticipate when it might leap out. It can be a vicious, damaging thing and nearly ended my relationship with Tenzin, even though we were already bonded.”
“How did it do that?” Ryld couldn’t imagine Kai having shadows like his that would attack Tenzin.
Kai glanced up at him and his forehead furrowed in concern. “Not actual shadows. Jealousy doesn’t create those. But emotional ones. Tenzin thought I was having an affair with a certain young aelfe. I was keeping secrets that perhaps I shouldn’t have, but it wasn’t that. He…left me for a time. For a dreadful, anxious, wearying time.”
Ryld’s eyes widened. That it was Tenzin who had felt the jealousy and not the other way around was a shock. That he had left Kai for any time because of it was even more shocking. “It must be very powerful. Jealousy. I know Hank isn’t having an affair and still it whispers lies in my heart.”
“It does that.” Kai glanced at his screen, tapped a bit and returned to his dinner for a moment. “But if we are aware of it and its whispering, we can keep it controlled. I have had to learn the difficult lesson that being forthright with one’s love and actually, ah, telling them important things is the best way to keep it at bay.”
“That seems a more reasonable response than letting the shadows eat them.”
“Quite,” Kai said in a dry tone. “In the spirit of communication, has Hank told you what we saw today?”
