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“These will be fine.” Nava joined them and began rifling through the pile with a smile. “I’ll be glad to be out of these clothes, even if I have to wear a potato sack.”
“Who hurt you, miss?” Leela’s fingers reached out to touch the scars left behind by the demon’s claws. The wet, white shirt stuck to Nava’s ribs, revealing the darker color of her skin and the makeshift bandage Orion had created beneath.
“The Zorren,” Nava said in a soothing tone he remembered her using with her little brother. It didn’t work with Leela, whose face twisted with fear. “I’m fine. I’m desperate to change and toss these clothes. They smell like smoke no matter how much I wash them.”
Orion wanted to see the back of them as well. They only reminded him how close she’d been to dying—an inch more and she wouldn’t be here. They’d almost lost, and all before they’d even given that bastard emissary a good fight.
Leela took a few steps away, her eyes still wide. “I will run you two a bath. I got some new oils from the market a couple of days ago that will help with healing.”
She was out of their sight faster than Orion thought anyone could move with the layers of her dress. No matter how all this ended, Leela deserved some reward for helping them without asking hard questions he wouldn’t be able to answer.
When he turned to Devon, his eyes were trailing the curves of Nava’s body with far too much interest. Her breasts were now visible under the layers of her sheer, wet shirt.
Orion stepped in front of Devon’s line of vision and glared down at him.
Nava covered her torso with the item of clothing she was holding, but it did little to help matters—it was the type of frilly thing he’d rather Devon not see in the context of wherever his mind had clearly just ventured.
“I’m going downstairs to get clean,” Nava announced, picked up a few things from where Leela had dropped them, and followed her friend to their room below.
“I wasn’t looking…” Devon said, and his face turned bright red as he glanced away toward the fireplace. He took a quick breath before reaching for the tea. “Not like that. I just realized why it took you so long to get back here.”
Rubbish. But Orion wasn’t about to get into this fight, even if his blood was rushing wildly within him. “The demons hurt her, so we stayed until she was out of danger and could fight if we encountered trouble in the city.”
“And what happened to the second Beekeeper—Arisfaeus or whatever?”
“He is fine.” Arkimedes rifled through the clothing, trying to find something large enough to fit him. The awkward silence extended. “I see you’re feeling better.”
Devon shrugged, his face still hollow. The shadows under his eyes were more pronounced in the flickering light of the fireplace. “Better, but not great. The potion and whatever Nava did helped. I improved within a day.” He refilled his mug and sat down in the chair. “Leela went and bought more healing potions today since I ran out and my energy has been dwindling.”
“It wasn’t the potion that helped you, Devon, it was Nava’s magic.” Orion shrugged off his shirt and reached for a black one. It was at least a size too small, with ridiculous billowing sleeves.
Devon settled against the chair’s backrest. “I thought I’d dreamed that. Her healing me.”
“No. The other Beekeeper confirmed she has the gift of healing—which is why she’s walking around right now instead of fighting an infection back in the forest.” Orion sniffed at the clothes. A mild scent of mildew and dust lingered on the fabric, but it was dry, and that was an improvement.
To his surprise, Devon didn’t comment at all about Nava’s powers. Instead, he sat quietly for a while, observing the hissing pot hanging over the fire. “What happened with the emissary?”
Orion told Devon all that he could, leaving out only the details about Aristaeus’s cave and the magical pool inside it. He hooked his fingers under the waistband of his trousers as he spoke but stopped when he thought better of it. While he had no qualms about undressing in front of his brother, he was not about to get caught in the nude by Leela.
“Let me get this straight. You want us to find some pirates and make a trade for an artifact? Have you lost your mind? They kill for those.” Devon laughed, although the sound lacked emotion.
“I’m well aware. But it’s either that or going to my father and asking him if he has an artifact we can use. We have better odds with pirates than with escaping my father a second time.”
“I’m not insinuating we should go back to the castle.”
Orion’s shoes squeaked as he made his way toward the couch. “If it were up to me, we’d leave this place and never look back.”
“Isn’t it interesting how the mind works? Last month you were moping about it, and now here you are—making strides to become the old you. I bet Nava’s happy.”
Devon was right, much to his chagrin. Orion had groveled about the man he’d been without his memories. But as appalling as his actions had been before, things had changed. His father had attempted to hurt Nava, and nothing else mattered as much as she did.
“Let’s not pretend you care how happy I make her and move on to what we need to do next.” Orion pushed the words past stiff lips. Who could blame him for wanting to punch Devon’s shit-eating grin off his face? Especially when he’d caught him gawking at his soulmate mere moments ago.
“It’s been a while since we’ve tracked illegal trades in the ports.” Devon stared past Orion’s shoulder, out of the large window above the dining table. Perhaps he was remembering all the times the Society of Crows had sent them to fight pirates. “Are you expecting us to recognize some of the old crews from the Iron Kingdom? I’m confident they aren’t running the black markets anymore.”
“The life of those who live at sea is fleeting. We both know that.” Orion sighed, rubbing the exhaustion from his eyes. Had he secretly been hoping for that? Finding a familiar face would save them time from sorting out the pirates from the regular sea merchants, but he wasn’t that naïve. “I’m just grasping at straws, really.”
“Even if we stumble over someone we know from the past, I doubt they’d be happy to see us, let alone work with us. They will never forget the Reaper.”
