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I’d only been gone for a few weeks and he seemed bigger and better coordinated. Magic dampeners kept the attacks he threw at the evil fish to simple sparks, but as he grew more excited, they became stronger.
He shrieked as I cheated, erupting from a pillow mound, and the nearby cushion exploded in a shower of stuffing. His magic at work.
Elise walked in and blinked. A weary expression crossed her face. Delicate and fragile in build, she dressed to emphasize her blonde prettiness. The fringe of her bangs covered her jade; unlike many people born to the first families, she saw no need to have it always visible. Her eyes belied her expression: lively and alert, with a generally concealed gleam of humor.
“Sea, Alys?”
“Yup,” I said cheerfully. Dmitri ran to her and grabbed the hem of her skirt, babbling. She picked him up, and he smacked a wet kiss on her cheek.
“Muffer!”
Jealousy and anger curdled my stomach. I looked away, trying to ungrit my teeth.
“Go to Mama; I have to go to work,” Elise said. “Alys, did you go to Otero? Someone attacked an Administrator there…” Her voice trailed off as I smiled at her. “I… see. Well. I’ll let Silver know you arrived safely. Be good, Dmitri.” She strode from the room.
Then she looked back in the door. “And Alys, no more playing Sea! Those cushions are expensive!”
Dmitri helped me pile the cushions back on the furniture, and we left the stuffing for the robots to pick up, since I had no idea where the trash had been moved. He was yawning, and I picked him up and put him into my bed.
He grinned at me and dove under the pillows, piling them over him. A few wriggles later, I shifted the pillow near his head, maneuvering it to keep his face in shadow. Then simply stood, watching him, my chest tight because it felt too full.
He cared for them, too. I needed to find a way to persuade Ethan to kidnap them as well.
But first, I had to finish my report. Elise had been warning me. I loaded the draft from the LawBook to my comm and began the tedious task of finishing unnecessary paperwork. The forms never had specifics I could check; it was always ‘other’ and ‘please explain’.
By the time I finished, it was suppertime and Dmitri had awakened. His food sat forgotten in his playhouse as we played Defend; Dmitri tried to use his wooden knife to stop me-as-Ridden from getting into his house to steal his lunch. I stole tickles as well when I got under his guard.
“Alys?”
I turned my face when Kara called from the dining area, and my inattention was rewarded by a square smack across the nose from Dmitri’s toy knife. “Ow!”
My nose aching, I fell over in death throes. Kara and her companion, a pale young woman a few years older than her, watched as I twitched and gurgled, and Dmitri threw himself on top of me.
“Eee!” Then he patted my cheek and looked at his reddened fingers.
“Can you say ‘blood?’ Dmitri wins!”
He squealed.
“We have to wash up now.” I took his hand.
“This is Joan Cameron,” said Kara. “Joan, this is Alys and Dmitri. I met her at school.”
That explained the age difference. Kara wasn’t very good with people, so whoever this Joan was either had to be kind or sucking up to a potential patron. I reserved judgment.
“Interesting,” said Joan, pale blue eyes wide. “Toddler gladiator games. Is this a thing now? Don’t know if I want to have kids…”
The stone she bore on her forehead was colorless, glowing in the soft light. I’d only seen stones like that once or twice. A few old families could pass that specific rank down to their children, but transparent quartz was usually a one-time award after a service to the Guild. A kind of catch-all to grant a degree of status and responsibility, but no money or political power.
“It’s an Alys thing,” said Kara as I passed them, leading Dmitri toward the fresher. “Alys, Dad’s home early.”
“Joy.” I rolled my eyes and turned down the hall. Dmitri let go of my hand and ran to Robert, who stood in the hall, still immaculate after a day of hard work legislating. Dmitri led with the bloody hand.
He waved it at Robert. “Poppy! Blut! Blut!”
With reflexes honed in action as a battlemage, Robert pulled a packet of wipes from his pocket and caught Dmitri before impact. “I see! But you clean up blood when you find it, Dmitri. Messy.”
He carefully cleaned Dmitri’s hand. “Alys. Would you go to my office? We need to talk. I’ll drop him off with Kara.”
