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“Here.” Olish passed me the stoppered jar.
The wood was smooth and well-oiled. I shook it and listened to the liquid sloshing inside. “What is it?”
Leaning back, he planted his hands on the bison furs and cocked his head. “I’ll tell you, if you promise to honour your vow to pay me whatever I want for keeping you alive when you first arrived.”
I stilled. “Tiptu told you to choose something fair. I didn’t know at the time what that vow entailed.”
“It is fair. At least, I think so.”
I eyed him warily. “What did you have in mind?”
He grinned. “Nothing like what Aktor has in mind, I assure you.”
I laughed under my breath, feigning amusement, all while hiding the fearful twinge that always affected me when I thought about Aktor touching me. “I’m immensely relieved.”
Kicking out his legs, his feet almost ended up in my lap. “In that jar is magic.”
“Oh?” I squinted at the well-worked wood. “What sort of magic?”
“The sort you’ll want being forced into a matehood with a male you cannot stand.” Leaning forward again, his aura darkened from bronze to brown. “I’m not saying that you won’t grow to love him eventually. Arranged matrimonials usually work out in the end, but while you’re adjusting to being Solin’s acolyte and the many, many years of learning you have before you...I thought it might be best if you...if you—” He looked away.
Laughing a little, he rubbed his nape and shook his head. “It’s unusual for me to get tongue-tied about this sort of thing, and I hope you don’t get the wrong idea, especially if my intuition is wrong, but...I’m aware of how much you have to learn—not just Solin’s teachings but Pallen’s and the very heart of Nhil culture. You’ve been adopted, Runa, but that doesn’t automatically grant you our histories and futures.”
“You can tell me, Olish. I’ll always be so grateful to you for healing me. It’s an honour to repay you for that. Not that I’m repaying you, seeing as you’re giving me yet another gift.”
Taking the jar from me, he held it to the light spearing down from the smoke hole in the centre of the roof. Nothing could be seen in the opaque bottle, but his voice made my hair stand on end. “If I am to believe my medicine woman, then I must trust what she sees. She says that, just like most females, you carry the kernel of life within you. Unlike most females, you are not restricted to just youngling life. Flowers and trees sprang from your moon blood—they manifested from whatever power resides within you.” He cleared his throat. “With that sort of power of creation, Runa?” He shuddered. “When you mate with Aktor and share his furs, you will most likely find yourself with child very quickly.”
I blanched.
Horror chilled my blood as a vision unfurled of me swollen with Aktor’s offspring. Of his body inside mine. Of his touch—
With a quick snatch, I stole the jar back. “This will stop that from happening?”
He turned solemn. “For a time. Eventually, it will stop working as your body adjusts to the tincture and supersedes its strength, but...it will give you reprieve from the marriage bed. You can continue to study and become everything that you’re destined to become, without having to worry about motherhood too early.”
I met his eyes. “Aren’t you tampering with nature by giving me such a thing?”
“Yes, but just like we advise certain people of what to eat and drink, we prevent pregnancy for others to avoid matters of life and death. And for you...” He shrugged. “If you can create an entire grove of trees and a thicket of wildflowers from a single moon blood...” He whistled under his breath. “I think it’s best to protect yourself from a male’s seed for now.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “Especially a male you have no affection for.”
Clutching the jar, I asked, “How do I take it?”
“Drink the smallest sip each day you don’t bleed.”
“And what would you like in return?”
“What I’ve wanted since I overheard you speaking to your friend and his wolf.”
I frowned. “What’s that?”
He grinned conspiratorially. “I want you to teach me the dead language. The forbidden tongue. The words you and Darro speak so effortlessly, so fluently. You both slip from Firenese whenever you speak to one another. It doesn’t matter if you’re surrounded by Nhil. It’s automatic.”
Regret clogged my lungs as I looked longingly at the jar in my hands. I hadn’t thought about my future. I didn’t have the strength to imagine the day when I would no longer be betrothed to Aktor but firmly mated and bedded. But to have been given a cure against carrying his younglings...to retain a sense of freedom for a little longer was suddenly incredibly important.
But what Olish asked for in return wasn’t giveable.
