Allie's War Season Four (111 page)

He stepped towards me.

The motion towards me caused me to stiffen, then to back off.

The strange seer halted in place when I moved, then bowed towards me deferentially.

“My profoundest apologies, Esteemed Sister,” the seer said, using the most formal version of Prexci, the seer tongue, that I knew. “I can see that it is I, indeed, who has been rude. I wish you to know that I serve you, above all. That is my vow. Further, I wish to cause you no concern...” His eyes flickered towards Revik. “...On any front, beloved sister. But I cannot accompany you to your ship at this time. I must return to my own people, for I am on assignment, too. Like you, we have strict time parameters, and I have already exceeded my charge...”

Biting my lip again at the vagueness of this, I fought not to try and read him, which really
would
have been rude, especially given who I was.

“Then what do you want?” I said, struggling to keep my own voice polite. “Right now, I mean. You want something...right?”

The seer straightened from his bow.

Looking at his face, I couldn’t help noticing that he was handsome, even more so than most seers. He had a high-cheekboned face with darkish, almost olive skin, as well as other distinctly seer features: sculpted lips and those large, stunning eyes, light green with what looked like a violet ring around the irises. Both colors remained strangely visible even in the dim light of the docks, both contrasting and complementing one another.

“I wish two things from you right now, Esteemed Sister,” the seer said gravely. “With your permission, I would like to set up a secure means of communication between your people and mine, via Adhipan Balidor, that we might facilitate a more formal meeting at some point in the future.” When I gestured in agreement to this, a little impatiently, the seer hesitated, looking at Revik directly that time. “...And I would request a moment to speak with your husband. In private. If that is acceptable to both of you.”

I felt myself tense.

Behind me, I felt Revik tense, too.

Then, Revik blew me a subtle pulse of warmth.
It’s okay,
he sent, neutral.

I felt a faint reluctance in his light and that more protective bent in mine flared hotter.

...It’s okay, Allie,
he repeated.
I’m all right with it.

Maybe I’m not,
I returned, harder.

When he didn’t respond, I exhaled, not hiding my annoyance that time, either. I focused back on the green-eyed seer.

“My husband agrees,” I said, short.

“Does that mean you don’t, Esteemed Bridge?” the seer asked politely.

I felt my jaw grow tense. I didn’t like the implication that he knew what had passed between me and Revik just then. I felt the seer back off with his light even as I thought it, as if he realized his mistake. Deliberately looking away, I struggled to control my light, staring out over the water as I clicked softly under my breath.

“It’s not for me to have an opinion,” I said, my voice neutral that time.

I stepped pointedly out of the way. I realized only then that I’d positioned myself even more directly between Revik and this other seer than Revik had himself. It felt strange to remove myself, almost like an admission of defeat.

“Semi-private,” I said, my voice holding a touch of warning. Bowing to both of them politely, still without really looking at either of their faces, I made an accommodating gesture, and felt Revik’s light react. “...We don’t have time for you to go far, brother,” I said to the other seer, more politely that time. I motioned towards the guard’s booth, on the other end of the pier. “That will be about as well as you can do, I’m afraid. We really must go soon.”

The green-eyed seer looked relieved when I looked at him next.

“Thank you, Esteemed Bridge,” he murmured.

I watched as he motioned politely for Revik to walk ahead of him.

More than the nameless seer, though, I watched Revik.

Again, I found myself fighting to calm my own light, feeling more than seeing as Revik’s aleimi winced away from that of the other seer. Revik looked strangely younger to me suddenly, almost vulnerable, and something about watching him with the other male made my light grow hotter once more, noticably enough that I made myself look away.

Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I walked deliberately up to Balidor.

I didn’t wait for any more b.s. to come out of his mouth, but faced him, standing only about a foot away from where his armor and guns ended. Folding my arms, I stared up at him, my voice openly hostile.

“Who is he, Balidor?” I said.

Balidor clicked quietly, rubbing his face with one hand. He looked tired.

“They are a very old group, Esteemed Sister,” he said, still not looking at me directly. Balidor folded his arms, in a position that felt defensive, his voice close to businesslike. “I have heard of them, of course, but relatively recently. I was not made aware of them until––”

“I didn’t ask about his Bridge-worshipping
cult,”
I snapped, fighting not to smack him with my light. “I asked about
him.
That seer. Over there. With Revik. Who the
fuck
is he?”

Balidor let out another clicking sigh.

Turning, he narrowed his eyes, watching Revik and the other male’s backs as the two of them entered the guard post, about twenty yards from where we stood. When Balidor looked back at me, I was suprised to see a glimmer of sadness in his eyes, along with something that might have been compassion...or maybe pity.

I didn’t want to know if it was for them...or for me.

“His name is Dalejem,” Balidor said simply.

Something about the way he said it made me pause again, staring at him. As per usual with Balidor, I couldn’t feel a damned thing on his light, even standing this close to him.

That maddening, impenetrable Adhipan wall...

As the thought crossed my mind, it hit me again. That seer with the green and violet eyes...he had one of those walls, too. A wall that felt a hell of a lot like Balidor’s all of a sudden.

I was about to ask about that, when something hit at my light.

Emotion. Fear mixed with grief, something like anger...it hit at my aleimi in a wash of heat, hard enough that I turned without thought.

Balidor caught hold of my arm, trying to stop me, but I jerked free without sparing him so much as a glance.

Barely a thought slid through my mind as I began to walk, fast, heading for that guard house on the other side of the pier.

I WAS LESS than two yards from the opening before it occurred to me to question what I was doing. My mind had blanked in those few seconds, but now I remembered.

I’d told that seer, Dalejem, that I’d give them privacy.

I’d told both of them I would. That meant I’d told Revik that, too.

Now that I could see two shapes standing there, close together in the dim light, I felt a sudden flush of misgiving, and realized I’d made myself an eavesdropper. Or worse, a peeping tom. In either case, I probably shouldn’t be here.

Even as I thought it, I heard Revik’s voice.

“Stop it,” he growled.

The taller shape stepped back from the other, shoving at his chest forcefully with the flat of one hand. I felt a swirl of anger again, more of that confusion...I stood close enough to Revik now that I couldn’t
avoid
feeling it. I could feel Revik actively shielding his light from me, too, and from Balidor and whomever else, and somehow, that bothered me more than the anger itself, or even the denser thread of emotion I felt beneath that.

“Brother...” another voice said, almost pleading.

I saw him reach for Revik again, but Revik evaded his hand, shoving it back.

“Don’t do that again,” Revik snapped. “I’m married, goddamn it! I have a fucking
child
with her...”

“I am sorry, brother. I am sorry...I did not mean it like that.”

“Then what did you mean, exactly? What do you want from me...?”

“I did not come here to cause you trouble. I did not know you were here. I just wanted to talk to you, for a few minutes. It has been so long...”

“It’s been too long, brother,” Revik said, his voice cold. “I’m not even the same person anymore, Dalejem...”

Revik’s voice trailed.

I froze, feeling my body tense as he turned his head.

His light eyes shone at me from that dark, reflecting the light from the other side of the pier. I saw him close his eyes, longer than a blink, right before a pulse of fear whispered off his light. More of that confusion followed...and enough grief that I couldn’t help but flinch.

Then he turned, glaring angrily at the other male.

“We’re done here,” he said, his voice colder still. “We’re fucking done. All right?”

The finality in his words felt close to a threat that time.

The other seer was staring at me by then, too. I saw his eyes take in my expression, even as he acknowledged Revik’s words with a flick of his wrist. He lifted his hand higher then, making the gesture of respect and obedience specific to Revik’s title as the Sword.

“Of course, Illustrious brother,” he murmured, bowing his head.

I noticed neither set of eyes nor their light ever really left me, though.

Without giving the other male a second look, Revik walked out of the guardhouse and into the brighter light of the pier. I didn’t feel guilt on him anymore, but I felt anger, and what might have been frustration, along with a denser wariness as he looked at me. Walking right up to me, he frowned, then jerked his head towards the other end of the pier.

“Allie,” he said, gruff. “We have to go.”

“You go ahead,” I said, my eyes fixed on the seer that remained in the guardhouse.

“Allie,” Revik growled. Forcing himself into my line of sight, likely to get my eyes off the other seer, he tapped his watch meaningfully, not sparing so much as a glance for Dalejem in the guardhouse. “Tick-tock, wife. I have to go. Now.”

I turned, staring up at him. “I know. You go ahead.”

“Allie,” he said, his voice sharpening with frustration. “We don’t have time for this––”

“No,
you
don’t have time,” I said. My voice held a less ambiguous warning as I narrowed my gaze. “I have all the time in the world, husband.”

Revik returned my stare, unmoving.

Eventually, I looked back at where Dalejem watched us from the dark.

“Just give me a few minutes,” I said to Revik, my voice more subdued. “If you have to, send the boat back. I’d like a word with our friend here.”

When I glanced up next, I saw Revik’s eyes harden, along with his jaw.

It didn’t feel aimed at me, but it made my anger flare anyway.

When he opened his mouth to argue, I cut him off.

“That’s an order, Revik,” I said, holding his gaze.

Revik returned my stare, and I felt the fight seethe through his light, but again, it didn’t feel fully aimed at me. Even so, he barely hesitated before he acknowledged my words with a flick of his fingers and wrist, a brief salute and “yes” rolled into one. I saw his eyes shift back over his shoulder, narrowing as he frowned at the man standing in the darkened guardhouse.