Sei is still mulling over Kazia’s words when footsteps thunder down the hall outside—and a familiar voice calls out Sei’s name. Kazia sits up, watching the door gleefully. Sei rises to his feet just as the door flings open.
“What are you doing?” Marek demands—of Kazia.
Not Sei.
Because of course, Sei is never the one whodoesanything.
Except in this moment, when Sei’s well-trained composure shatters.
“Why the fuck do you care?” Sei snaps, and flings his beer at Marek.
?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Marek
Ale splashes through Marek’s shirt before he can dodge. He barely feels the wet cold, too stunned by the unbridled fury in Sei’s face. The rage seems too large for his slender form, too large for the mending room they stand in.
Marek opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. Behind Sei, Kazia gapes, just as stunned.
The wooden mug drops from Sei’s hand and clatters away. Sei waves sharply, gesturing to Marek or Kazia or the entire room. “Maybe Kazia didn’t do anything. Maybe I just wanted to socialize with someone who doesn’t tell me to wait a minute!”
Guilt spurs Marek’s voice. “I’m sorry, Sei. I lost track of—”
“Lost track?” Sei demands. “You weren’t tracking anything in the first place! You just do whatever you want, like a fucking boulder rolling over everything!”
Marek bites back a defense. He meant to come back to Sei. But that doesn’t matter, because he didn’t.
“I felt like shit for not getting you a birthday present.” Sei’s hands tremble until he clenches them into fists. “But that’s stupid. I know your birthday is twelve days away. How was I supposed to know you were celebrating early when nobody told me?”
“You don’t have to get me anything.” Marek feels lost, the ground unsteady beneath him. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”
Sei’s laughter is painful. “Of course. There’s no fucking point. I would have to ask you for the money anyway.” His laughter dies, and his gaze falls from Marek’s face. “The only thing I can give is myself, but you don’t even want that.”
If Kazia hadn’t been watching, his shock brightening to delight, Marek might have answered,I do want you.But the confession dies in his throat. “Let’s talk about this upstairs, okay? We can—”
“When is my birthday?” Sei demands.
Marek has no idea. It never occurred to him to find out.
Sei sneers at his silence. “You talk so graciously about not taking advantage of me. Real generous of you, Stormrider. But you don’t give a shit about me either.”
Marek stumbles backwards out of Sei’s way. He’s vaguely aware that other people have arrived to gawk in the hallway. They’re drab and unimportant compared to Sei’s bright-burning fury.
Sei strides down the hallway without faltering at the audience. “Fuck the rest of you too!” he yells before vanishing through the door.
The only sounds in the garrison are Sei stomping away. Then a distant door slams shut. It echoes in the slow claps from the mending room.
“Amazing,” Kazia says. “I didn’t think he had it in him.”
Marek didn’t either.
Without a glance at anyone else, Marek leaves to find Clem. Then he retreats to his balcony, under the enchanted heat lamps. Low clouds weave a canvas for the fiery sunset. Marek’s thoughts coalesce and scatter, a slow and indecisive storm.
Nearly two months ago, at this very table, Marek played aerie with Kazia, Vana, and Daromir. Marek knew something was wrong then. The shiver before a lightning strike. He just hadn’t known what.
Marek doesn’t know whether he would have agreed to the favor Vana asked had he known its consequences. Perhaps that’s the kindest thing Vana has ever done for Marek—saving him from the choice between his brother and his home.
