A spirit of winter.
That was what Khan thought of Little Water when he first t her. A particularly bad storm caused him to shelter beneath an ice formation for three days. When he woke on the fourth to a blue woman standing at the mouth of his shelter, he thought the isolation had finally driven him insane.
She looked out of place seated in the living room of a noble’s estate, long tail laid across her thighs. Her pale skin and blue scales were ant for land of ice and water. The normal furs she wore in the north were replaced with oversized clothes and a oversized cloak, designed to hide her features. Though they swallowed her figure, they couldn’t dampen her natural grace. Her cold eyes turned to him, but he felt nothing but warmth, like huddling under a blanket of snow.
She rose as he stepped into the room, tail lashing. He grinned as the tip of her blue tongue pushed past her lips, tasting the air. Tasting him. He’d learned quickly not to make assumptions based on her beastly traits and habits. The estrazi were an ancient people with deep knowledge. As an unfavored daughter, she didn’t receive many of those benefits, but that still ant she was better, in many ways, than the average citizen of the kingdom.
“Khan.” Like the fateful day of their eting, she was the first to reach out a hand. He took her slim fingers in his own, guiding her to retake her seat as he settled beside her. “You look well. Better than before.”
His lips turned up in a wry grin. She had never been good at complints but that small acknowledgent was more than most. It made the effort worth it.
“You look…good yourself,” he forced out, fighting a rising flush. He wasn’t the best at complints himself. “How are you? Are you safe?” It was his biggest concern when he wasn’t grappling with his own problems.
“I’m fine. The people of the Myriad Zone are too jovial to be concerned with strangers that never show their faces. My biggest concern is finding purpose.”
“I suppose there isn’t you can do while remaining unnoticed.”
“Very little.”
“I’m surprised Lou hasn’t asked more of you.”
“Why would she? Her brood is more than capable.”
“That they are.” Khan sucked down a large breath, steadying his heart as he took a tighter hold of his finger. “When they visited this morning, they told that they cannot undue what was done to .”
“Unsurprising. Great is not a title given lightly.”
“Your sisters’ competence ans that they cannot fulfill their deal with my father.”
Her gaze sharpened. “They will have to kill you.”
“Thankfully, they aren’t as unreasonable as my father. They’ve offered to spare but the price…I can’t return to the north.”
He studied her reaction; she didn’t have the sa tells as a human, but they existed. The curling of her tail. The way her foot pawed at the floor, the small claws on her toes making the faintest scraping sound. She was tense, but that was as far as she would go. She wasn’t one to panic.
“That is a precious chance. One that many wouldn’t give you.”
“You think I should take it.”
“Of course. The other option is death.”
He moved closer, pressing their thighs together. There was a coolness to her, but it wasn’t unpleasant. “I have an idea.”
Her tail stilled. “Oh?”
“Lou has the final say. My father…I don’t dare say he fears her but he doesn’t want to alienate her. I’d go as far as to say he doesn’t want dead either. If she supports us, he won’t fight the decision.”
“But she does not,” she replied, bluntly cutting to the heart of matters as usual.
“We have to convince her.” He raised her hand, fighting little snowcats jumping in his stomach as he kissed her fingers, imitating the charm of fantasy princes. “She may not believe in either of us, but she does believe in bonds.”
“Lou loves love,” the estrazi agreed. It was an obvious conclusion to anyone who’d observed the noblewoman for anyti.
“If we speak to her together—”
“It’s useless.”
His brows furrowed as she moved her hand from his. “We have to try.”
“Why?”
What kind of question was that? “Everything depends on this. On us. You know what will happen if my family keeps marching. If they discover the estrazi.”
“What would have happened.” Little Water slid away from him, tucking herself into a corner of the couch, Khan feeling the inhumanness of her eyes as her slit pupils thinned. “The situation has changed. Drastically. The brood will have to rethink its stance on humanity. No, they already have.”
“What…do you an?”
“My human is not so simple.” He shivered as her tail brushed along his leg. “Think. The brood is the vastly superior force. For five hundred years, they have successfully fended off the humans of the north, never giving a thought to diplomacy. Why would a group that has never changed suddenly enact plots and sches?”
“Sothing must have prompted them.” From there, the next conclusion was obvious. “Lou. She’s just a woman.”
The tail stroking his calves froze, slithering away. “It doesn’t matter what she is, only that she is a powerful force. Two mountains are about to collide. Small things like us can only move out of their way.”
“You don’t believe that.” Not the ambitious woman who was willing to challenge two species to change her future.
“I do believe we cannot be as direct as we planned. I had hoped that putting our troubles in the open for all to see plainly would spark discussion. There is no longer a need for that.”
“Then that’s it? If you think there is nothing we can do, why are you here?”
She eyed him speculatively. “Little to do doesn’t an nothing. I can hardly return to the brood as I am. I must find a way to bring value or my sisters will break my neck before I have the chance to explain myself. Is it not obvious that it’s the sa for your brood?”
Her nonchalance sucked the heat from his indignation. Her blasé tone made him feel like his asured argunts had suddenly transford into whining. Was it really so simple? “You’re…okay with that?”
She slowly blinked, a quirk he knew was the estrazi asuring her words. “I have no other choice. Being upset will change nothing. Thoughtless defiance will see dead. We knew when we concocted this plan that it was risky. There were no guarantees. We failed. Thank the majesties we can escape with our lives.”
“…what about our marriage?”
She cocked her head. “There is little point in it now.”
There it was. The true source of his dread. The fear lurking behind his flimsy thoughts of saving the world. From the mont he t her, he had been infatuated with the strange woman. Khan wasn’t an unattractive man but he was never comfortable in relationships. He’d never been comfortable. He didn’t know what made Little Water different. Maybe it was where they t, Khan having always been more comfortable outside of walls. Maybe it was her direct manner, that could be awkward if not outright hostile. Maybe it was the scales.
Whatever it was, he had fallen for her hard, for the woman herself and what she represented. She was the chance to be more than the shadow of the north, the forgotten son.
But he’d always known that she didn’t feel the sa. They got along, but she didn’t love him; he doubted she could love, at least in the way he would hope. Khan was a pleasant ans to an end. Theirs would be a political union in the truest sense.
She was right; there was no point in it now. His hands balled at the thought.
“I…still…want to be together.”
“Why? I’m not human, Khan. We cannot make offspring together. You would be better finding a human mate.”
“It’s not about that!” he snapped, deflating a mont later, recoiling from his own tone. “You know it’s not about that.”
“No, not for you humans.” From her tone, it wasn’t a trait that impressed her.
“That’s it? Just like that, years of planning is tossed aside? Our plan? Our dreams?”
“There are always more plans,” she said, tail thwapping the cushions. A faint wrinkle in her nose spoke of her disapproval at his outburst. With a huff, she rose. “When Lou releases you, you can co to , I find you pleasant enough, but you would be better off forging your own path. I don’t wish to see my human die a pointless death.”
“Wait!” He didn’t know what he was thinking as he surged forward to grab her wrist. It was useless; her dismissal was as cold as it was final. Above all, Khan was weak. A single smack of her tail reminded him as much, the blow instantly breaking his hold and causing his entire arm to throb.
The look she gave him was full of tolerant exasperation. Like soone enduring the tantrum of a child. It made him feel sick to his stomach.
“I will visit you before you are released.”
He blankly stared at the doorway she disappeared through, his determination and grandiose thoughts sheepishly retreating to the darkest depths of his mind. He wasn’t hurt; that would co later. Numbness took over his mind and body as he dropped back onto the furniture. He didn’t notice Earl as the steward placed a tray on the table in front of him, only coming to attention when a glass was forced into his hand and the earthly sll of mushrooms flooded his nose.
Earl t his dead gaze with a pleasant smile. “The lady has opened her pantry to you. Drink.”
He chanically followed the instruction, sipping the contents of the cup. The liquid burned going down; the heat was almost uncomfortable but it was good to feel sothing. He took a larger sip, hissing as the burn intensified. Then he tossed the rest of the glass back.
The steward wordlessly refilled the glass as the wanderer bent over, groaning as he endured the raging inferno in his guts.
User Comments
0 comments from readers