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Owen was on his back before I finished the question, the plates on his armor rattling as he shook silently. I looked back at Abdiel, confused, only to see him look up at the night sky and swallow a laugh.
“They are shields, Gwyn—not disks. And that’s information sensitive to the Time faction.”
Owen let out a whispered gasp, careful not to wake Kalen as he sat up. “Diel’s only being tight-lipped because he doesn’t have a shit clue. No other Astralites can summon them outside of us.”
“It was a gift from Gabriel when we were Yielded,” Abdiel finished.
“You two?” I gasped, my eyes bugging.
“Actually,” Owen rose and clapped a hand against his friend’s shoulder. “Diel’s the one heart-matched to the King. I Yielded to an immortal in Gabe’s court, but I still get the perks because I dominate in the fighting ring.”
Owen’s thick brows danced along his forehead, causing Abdiel to blush under the lamplight. “Yeah, definitely because youdominate, and not because I asked him to let you summon.”
“Way to sell me short, brother.”
“Brother?” I felt like my mind was going to explode. “You two are related?”
“No.” Abdiel shook his head, and the three of us fell quiet again. “No, we aren’t related,” he said. “Not everything is so literal, Gwyn.” Running his hand through his hair, he looked at me with inexplicable sadness. “Gods, it’s so strange to see you like this.”
“Like what?” I spoke. “Feeble-minded and without my sword in your stomach?”
I could never stop the memories from coming back whenthey did and now was no exception. I played with the bread in my hands, pulling the plushy dough from the loaf’s husk, concentrating on dulling the emotions on my face. Here I had thought we’d been bonding. Yes, there was that stiff shuffling through our conversation, that string of awkward delight that wound itself around every new beginning of a friendship. But I thought whatever this small moment was, sharing bread and laughing and blushing, it would bring the three of us together. Heal something, in myself and them. Erase the memory of the cruel immortal who used to gut the two of them for fun. But again, those seventy years cast out would cost me.
Abdiel rose and I thought the two men would leave, but instead, he plucked the food from my hand and tossed it out to sea. “Time for rest,” he said with a stern brow and a crooked mouth. “If you eat any more of that bread, you’re going to be sluggish tomorrow, and trust me, you’ll need your energy.”
I would have been offended, but truth be told, I couldn’t stomach eating any more than what I had after such a rotten day. When it landed in the water with aplunk, the Astralite reached his rough hand back out to me. It was still dirty, a light wash of rust color staining the lines of his palm. I took it in mine, which was just as unclean, and looked at the warrior in front of me. He nodded, his face glowing in the moonlight. He pulled and I pushed to stand, feeling a few decades lighter.
Later that night, onceKalen had woken, I held him tightly against my side, struggling to get down the stairs in one piece as the boat rocked against the waves. On the second to last step, my foot slipped, sending us crashing into the wall. The Preserver let out a slew of curses. The hull of the ship was pitchblack, slivers of moonlight sneaking in between the slats of wood whenever the boat turned this way or that, and I could barely see anything in front of me.
The room was suffocating and filled with supplies; stacks of produce and weaponry, fine clothing and jewels, and anything else the Faders had ransacked from the port once they had stormed it. In the corners, kegs of drykkja were stacked between the supporting pillars. Any time I took a breath, the smell of rotting wood and turned liquor burned in my lungs. I sat Kalen on one of the kegs near a porthole and decided it was better not to breathe at all.
“You might as well just leave me down here when we dock,” Kalen said, looking around. I unfolded the replacement leathers Abdiel had stolen from the barracks and began scrunching up the pant legs. “I’m just as useful as imported goods at this point.”
“Stop that,” I said. Though I knew he was joking, attempting to thin out an otherwise densely terrifying day, the words twisted in my chest sharper than they should have. I couldn’t explain it, but seeing that arrow strike his leg, watching him fall to the floor, and not knowing for sure whether he’d ever get up, it had done something irreparable to me. He was important to me, clearly, but I’d not known how much before this morning. “None of us would be here without you.”
“That’s definitely not what I want to hear right now, Gwyn.”
I rolled my eyes at him, swallowing the acrid taste in my throat, and bent down to the floor. Surveying me from such a position, Kalen cocked his brow. I ignored it.
“Pants first. Get the worst over with.”
Kalen grunted as I lifted his bad leg, pulling the stiff material over one calf and then the other. Sweat began to pebble above my lip and my hair stuck to my chin as I huffed a breath and tugged his pants as hard as I could. They wouldn’t budge.
Kalen did his best, wriggling his hips with as much effort ashe was still able to manage. It wasn’t working. I rose slightly, twisting my body to get a better angle at the same time Kalen bent his leg. We both realized what the other was trying to do simultaneously, but it was too late. Kalen’s knee slung into the side of my face, knocking me into the empty crate behind us.
My jaw stung and my ear rang, but even still, I laughed. Kalen made to stand, but couldn’t, so he winced and cursed himself which set me off to laugh even harder. Somehow the fact that he was still completely bare from the waist down made the entire thing even funnier to me. The Preserver stuttered a chuckle as I clutched my belly, a tear pricking the inner corners of my eyes.
Very still and very concerned, Kalen sat, watching me slap my knee with the palm of my hand, his new leathers still dangling half-heartedly from his foot.
“Gods,” I breathed, regretfully taking in the dank air around us. “Is it wrong to laugh? When everything is so dire? When you are like this?” I wiped the sweat from my stinging eyes. “Tomorrow everything could fall apart. The whole world could end as we know it, and I can’t get your pants on.”
My laugh turned quickly into a sob.
“Gwyn,” he said quietly, motioning for me to join him on the barrel. I went to him until I was standing with his legs between mine, my waist gripped steadily in his hands.
One side of his face was so dark I couldn’t make it out, while the other flashed opal as the ship tilted once more. A ghost of a smile appeared upon his lips. Kalen reached for my face, tucked away a strand of my hair, and traced his hand from my ear down to my neck. The rough feeling of his hands raised the bare skin of my shoulder. Gently, he slid his fingers beneath my robe, tracing the curve of my breasts. The Light that bloomed on Kalen’s face was still weak, but my heart gave a solid thump in response.
“Kalen,” I breathed, watching his eyes turn molten beneath his lashes. “Your leg.”
