Page 66 of By Mistake
That great scythe swung out, slicing Farthing across the chest, right through the orange light that had been protecting him until that moment.Farthing coughed up blood, clutched at his chest, the orange light flickering in and out before fading completely.
The scythe swung again, and this time the necklace around Farthing's throat flew apart, the pieces lost amidst the rubble at their feet.The orange light returned, surging from the ring on his finger into Farthing, spilling from his open mouth, his ears and nose and eyes, the gaping wound on his chest.
After what seemed like forever and no time at all, the light vanished, and Farthing collapsed, barely caught in time by Shimari before being gently laid out.The hood slipped back, revealing a skull with red light where the eyes should be, focused entirely on Farthing's still form.
Andrus ran, through the shields, over and around rubble, stumbling and nearly falling several times, until he was not quite close enough to touch."Shimari?"
The skeletal figure looked up sharply, then seemed to flinch, and a resonating voice said, "Andrus…"
"Are you all right?Can you…" He wasn't even sure what he wanted to ask.
A bony hand stretched out toward him, and Andrus took it without hesitation, tangling their fingers together, palm pressed to palm.There was a sound like a winter wind through bare trees, and then suddenly the boney hand grew firmer, warmer, flesh and blood once more.
The cloak of shadows slowly withdrew and folded in, red eyes fading to green as the terrible, frightening figure returned to the beautiful, almost dainty figure Andrus knew so well, the binding settling back into place as easily as that."Shimari!"He let go of his hand to throw himself at Shimari, holding on tight."Are you all right?Do you need blood?To res—"
"Shush, human," Shimari said, and kissed him, sharp and hungry, that same claiming way he had the very first time they'd kissed.Andrus shivered against him, all the terror of the past too many minutes draining away, leaving him abruptly wrung out and exhausted.
Shimari drew back, cupping his face with both hands, thumb stroking his cheekbones."You are not scared of me at all."
"What's to be scared of?"Andrus asked, fighting a yawn and suddenly heavy eyes."I've seen you strut around as a bossy cat and drink overpriced wine and fuss over my clothes not being up to your standards."Nevermind all the kissing and fucking.It was hard to be scared of a man who'd sucked his cock and let Oresti bend him over a table."Are you all right?"
"I'll be fine," Shimari said softly."Thanks to you, pet."He looked out across the ballroom and sighed."I wish everyone had listened to me."
Kressen bent and lifted Farthing, slinging him over his shoulder."I'll take him down to the basement and watch over him.Call if you need me, Mari."Then he was gone.
Shimari sighed again."So much to do, so much to fix."
Oresti stepped in and cupped the back of his head."I'm sorry.I should have argued with my sister instead of just doing what she said.We all knew this was a bad idea."
"It doesn't matter.What's done is done.At least I got Renik back.Let's go see your father and sister, and then we'll proceed from there."He took their arms, and they vanished from the ruins of the ballroom.
Nineteen
"Never thought we'd simply walk into Farthing's home and help ourselves," Andrus said as they stood in an obnoxiously ornate entryway that had everything from overblown marble statues to velvet walls and gold trim on literally everything."This is hideous."
Oresti sighed dramatically."So I should cancel the purple velvet wallpaper I arranged as a gift?"
"I will choke you with it and then bury you wrapped in it," Andrus retorted.
Chuckling, Oresti pushed further into the house.His footsteps echoed on the marble floor, emphasizing howemptythe house was, not even a single servant remaining.Behind them, clerks and guards came through the door and quickly dispersed to begin exploring the house.He'd also brought along a few mages, who immediately set to work looking for any traps and other nasty surprises, wardings in strange places, other things that would require Oresti's attention.Shimari could do all of that himself, but he may as well use the resources he had.Shimari still needed rest anyway.
"Hardly," Shimari said."You both fed me quite well this morning."
Andrus's cheeks flushed, but he didn't say anything, only hurriedly opened the nearest door and stepped inside.
"Be careful!"Oresti said.
"That room is safe," Shimari replied."I would have stopped him otherwise.Go poke around.We're fine down here.Call if you need me."
Oresti lifted his arm in acknowledgement then headed upstairs, because he had a feeling that anything of importance was not kept on the ground floor.It was either going to be up, well away from where the average person could easily reach it, or in a hidden basement like at Andrus's house.Though he couldn't see Farthing wanting to go to that much trouble all of the time.People like Farthing were ultimately lazy when it came down to it.
The upstairs was mostly comprised of unused bedrooms, with a few dedicated to things like sewing, music, and other pastimes.At the end of a narrow hall that was easy to overlook, though, he found what he sought: a door heavily locked and warded."Three keys seems excessive.Shimari."
Shimari appeared beside him and placed a hand on the door."This requires his blood to break, one second."He vanished, then reappeared after a couple of minutes.Hand covered in blood, he placed it on the door, and his eyes glowed as he broke down the warding.
"I'm impressed the blood still works."Oresti went through the countless keys on the heavy ring his father had given him, meticulously trying each one until he had all three locks undone.He turned the knob and pushed the door open, but didn't step in quite yet.The smell of patchouli and evergreen wafted into the hallway, and Oresti wrinkled his nose.He hated patchouli; it reminded him of the miserable fucking math tutor who'd been certain Oresti must be a spoiled brat somehow cheating his way through lessons because he so rarely struggled.Thankfully, that tutor hadn't lasted long, and the woman that replaced him had been much smarter and kinder.
Shimari stepped into the room first and looked around, nose wrinkling the same as Oresti's."No further traps that I can sense right now.I'll do a more detailed exploration, but I think he relied on nobody making it this far and didn't bother with further protections inside."
