Page 70 of Songs of Retribution

CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE

NEIA

Kirsi handed me a mug,and I accepted it, curling my hands around the wood cup before taking a swallow of mead—a sweet and fragrant drink I knew Elisa would love. I missed her with every beat of my heart. Orman and I had spent the last few days lying low in Kirsi's hideout, a small, square room with a crude washroom attached to it.

Kirsi handed Orman a mug as well, sunlight gleaming around a sheepskin hanging over a window, making the cup glow. Orman took a sip then grimaced and rubbed his jaw. "Your punch has improved—and that's saying something."

"Your ability to not complain about it hasn't." Kirsi turned away from the table and crossed her arms. "I should go."

Kirsi had barely lingered around the hideout after stashing us here. Orman stood, shoving the mead towards the bread and bowl of dried cherries she'd brought. "Kirsi."

The woman tensed and took a moment to turn towards him. "What is it Orman Kuninkaan?"

He moved slowly around his chair and walked closer to her. Her eyes narrowed tighter with each step he took until finally he stopped at a distance from her. "We cannot stay hidden away forever."

"Would prefer to be dead, hmm?"

His eyes flashed. "They'll know you're hiding us. At the least, we ought to run, to lead them away from you."

"Why?" The word came as sharp as an arrow. "Don't think I can handle myself?"

"Your Father—"

"I'm aware of what my father did. I asked around after that speech you gave to the council members." Kirsi stepped closer to Orman, her expression fierce. "Do you think I saved your ass after you showed up with some other woman…" She gestured in my direction without acknowledging me. I longed to slip into a different space but there wasn't one. The washroom was only separated by a tattered piece of animal skin. "…and I didn’t understand the situation for what it was?”

"Neia and I ain't—"

"I know that." Kirsi looked at me then. "No offense meant, fairy, but you seem too smart to get caught up with this idiot."

I parted my lips to add something that might break the tension or at least say something in Orman's favor, but he shook his head before turning back to Kirsi. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I was trying to protect you."

Kirsi whipped around, pulling a blade off her hip in a blink and pressing it to Orman's ribs. "That, Orman Kuninkaan, is what hurt me the most." She spoke through her teeth. "Do you think I couldn't fucking protect myself?"

He looked down at her, his expression soft, and I shifted to studying the pale liquid in my glass and running through memories of Elisa’s freckles for a distraction as he responded. "From your father with his hold on this city? Maybe not. It wasn't worth the risk to me, kulta."

She bared her teeth. "Call me a pet name again and I'm going to decorate this floor with your blood."

Orman cocked his head to the side and offered her a lopsided grin. It made sense Orman would fall for someone who could kick his ass. I'd always imagined if he ever ended up in a romantic relationship it would be with someone like Elisa, someone tender for all his rough edges. But this dynamic somehow worked. Kirsi clashed with his personality like blades engaging, an impact that produced sparks.

Orman shifted to lean on the wall as if she didn't have a weapon pressed on him. "We have friends waiting on us, Kirsi, relying on us."

"Oh." She slammed the knife back into its holster. "It's nice to know you've learned loyalty in your years away."

Orman winced. "I'm a bastard and I’ll apologize as much as you want. I'll grovel even if you like it. But this is about more than me now."

"Yes, I could see that when you stood on a fucking dais and were about to let them burn your ass to helvetti."

"Why did you save me?" Orman whispered.

Her eyes flashed. "If you ask that, then you haven't changed as much as you seem to have. What's with the way you speak now?"

"You try living with pirates and in multiple different countries and see if your speech don't change a bit."

"Were you as much of a kyrpä otsassa with the pirates?"

"Nah, but that's only because they weren't elves. It's easier to be less of a dick 'round humans, ya know? They don't see what an idiot I truly am."

I turned my face to hide a smile. Orman had always lightened the mood when tensions ran high in our group and that didn’t change even if he faced the woman he’d left behind and clearly still loved.

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