My attention is on the bowl and the impossible-to-stir dough – but I still feel Seth go still.
“No,” he says softly.
He grips my left wrist and pulls my sleeve back, revealing the old shackle scar.
“He didn’t have any family by then. He didn’t even know who he was or that this world existed before Mother found him.”
I swallow hard.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean,” I mutter, pulling my arm free to continue stirring.
“Pax will tell you, I guess. When he’s ready.”
But right now I don’t want to talk about Pax or the conversations we haven’t had. That list is getting chuckin’ long.
“OriginSeeds,” I say, stabbing the spoon at Seth to remind him what we were actually discussing.
“That’s about all I know. OriginSeeds took Seeds of what they needed from the world around them and turned those into power. Origins were around before Sabers really existed. They made us. But unlike Origins, we get our specific abilities passed down from our parents. I was born Chaos. My children would have been ChaosSeeds. All of this happened before the Mortal Wars and the border existed. That's all I know, and then it’s not so much knowledge as myth. Roarke’s convinced they never existed. Here," he says, taking the spoon. “You’re making this look harder than it is.”
“Easy for you to say, you’ve got muscles.” And biceps that I couldn’t get my hands around even if I tried.
And that thought makes me want to try.
Which makes my hand reach for his arm. I redirect it, just barely, and instead end up propping my hand underneath his forearm – like I’m about to lift his arm up, without putting any actual effort into it. Because I’m not trying to support his arm – I’m trying to avoid playing with his muscles.
And I’m me – Shade – the epic master of distraction-by-doing-stupid-shit.
“What are you doing?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at me.
“Holding your arm,” I say, shrugging and fully committing to my actions.
“Why?”
“You know, so it won’t fall off.”
He chuckles like that’s the worst joke ever.
“Oh, you’ll thank me for it when your arms start feeling as sore as mine.”
He keeps stirring, and I keep holding his arm up so it doesn’t fall off.
“If OriginSeeds can just take what they want from their environments, then why wouldn’t they be all-powerful? You know, get thrown in a river by Killian and start drowning – get WaterSeed. Sore arm from stirring – get StrengthSeed.”
He shrugs. “Because when in life is anyone ever that good? There would have been limitations on their abilities. There had to be – there’s none left in the world now, so they were pretty flawed in some important way. Something about their power got them all killed.”
As he talks, he puts the bowl down and moves to the larder – I shuffle off the bench, stagger a little as the room tilts then rights itself, and follow him. Five steps makes me stick to his shadow pretty closely.
Turns out he’s just getting more wine. No complaints from me. What’s this? Eight? My tolerance must be going up.
Wonder where it will end? I think, gripping the bench and trying three times to reclaim my seat before Seth takes pity on me and picks me up.
“Good Sethy,” I mumble, making him laugh.
When I get tired of cleaning the workroom and stressing about Kitten sleeping, I rejoin the fire. Sweet bread in the oven teases my stomach, but I leave it, Seth, and Kitten in the cottage and beeline to Pax, Killian, and Jada.
Pax – who should tear my head clean off for opening my mouth and letting my voice out. Aeons, it felt good though.
And Killian – who should growl at least two words, ‘Never again.’
She’s mortal. I know!
So why the fuck did I risk singing with her?
Jada clears her throat, intently watching the dainty little patterns she’s scraping into the dirt with a long stick. But none of them say anything.
“I…” I begin, but lose the words. “It…” I try again, but that sentence doesn’t feel right. I set my gaze on Killian, hoping for answers. “Did –”
He cuts me off with a sharp head shake, and Jada suddenly getting to her feet highlights that maybe this is not the best time to have this kind of conversation. Maybe she’s worked it out, or worked something out, but she can’t see threads – so there’s also every chance she’s completely unaware of the complexity of Kitten’s existence.
And, in that case, I want her to stay that way.
My stomach tenses as I shove all of my fears down, burying my hopes beneath them. Then I swallow hard and turn my attention back to Pax.
“Again?” he asks, and he’s not referring to my feelings in any way.
I sigh, running a hand from my hair.
“Again,” I agree.
No one argues. Everyone getting to their feet, and together we explore the forest once more. Going over every rock and every track. Around every tree. Again.
And again.
I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve looked.
Rose has orders to pass on to Zuri’s triune as she travels. Jada was supposed to get them here, but they’re clearly not going to make it. Other assignments, she’d said, there’s only so much she can do.
Zuri and Eliijah will both move through the other Springs, the other domains, as soon as they can. Both of them are strong enough in the wisdom department to at least alert the Masters of their desire to gain access, if not actually walk through the barrier.
Zuri’s going to start with the Sound Spring, Eliijah on the Wood Spring, then leapfrog around the border. Since Lithael is intent on keeping the Elite close to the border, passing on orders and gathering intel should be one of the easier parts of this plan. But in truth – nothing is ever that easy.
At least now we have a plan.
Or at least I think
