Allie's War Season Four (22 page)

Jon stared at him, watching Revik’s hands as they stroked Allie’s long, dark hair. His pale fingers wove absently through the loose curls, combing through them tenderly.

“How?” Jon said finally, still watching them, morbidly fascinated in spite of himself.

Revik shrugged. “I don’t know. She just... knew. How to do it, I mean. Wreg and I had to stop her once...” His eyes grew uncomfortable. “...To give her a fix, I mean. She can’t go very long yet, not without getting really upset. But once she was... better... she went right back to working on your light. It was unbelievable... really...”

Affection filled his voice as he finished, what had to be love, even as he tightened his hands on his wife, caressing her face when she looked up at him. Watching the two of them, Jon could only feel sick. Sick with worry, sick with a kind of dread at the flat look in her eyes. He should feel like Revik obviously did. Relieved. Happy. Overjoyed to have her back, in some form at least. Somehow, though, seeing her awake and broken made it all so much worse...

“She’s not broken, Jon,” Revik said.

Jon looked up, and saw Revik’s eyes on his, cold as ice.

“I mean it, Jon,” Revik said, his voice an open threat. “Watch your fucking mind right now... and your mouth. I don’t care who you are... I really don’t.”

Jon nodded, swallowing.

Without thinking, he reached out, rubbing Allie’s back, maybe partly in apology. Allie turned to him when he did it, frowning at him in puzzlement. Jon swore he saw a faint flicker of hurt there, though, a kind of lost look in her jade green eyes.

He hoped like hell he was imagining it.

The depth there that he remembered, that clarity and light, it was just gone.

“She can fucking hear you,” Revik muttered, glaring at him again. “Jesus. Pretend you give a shit. She maybe can’t understanding everything right now, but, gods––”

Jon couldn’t bear it though, and cut him off.

“––I’m sorry, man. I’m really fucking sorry.”

Hearing Revik’s words belatedly, the grief he’d been fighting worsened, turning into a kind of pressure around his ribs and heart. Remembering what he’d been thinking just then only made it worse. His throat tightened painfully. That pain in his chest sharpened when he looked up and realized Revik was close to tears.

“Gods, man. I’m sorry...”

“She’s still your sister.”

“I know, man. I’m sorry.”

“Show some fucking respect...”

Jon nodded again, closing his eyes. He wanted to crawl into a hole. He almost wished they’d just let him die. Instead, he made himself watch, feeling more helpless than he ever had in his life as Revik pulled her hands off him again, murmuring softly against her ear and neck and kissing her as he placed her hands carefully back on his arms and upper body.

Jon forced his eyes off them again, though, when the pain on Revik worsened, even as the tall seer pulled her tighter against him, until she was almost lying on him.

Jon could feel the grief on the other man more than any of that, though.

If anything, the pain felt like a welcome distraction, maybe for both of them.

Even as he thought it, he realized he could feel Wreg’s mind again, too. The ex-rebel’s light moved differently than it had before; his muscles exuded more tension from where they pressed against Jon’s shoulder, back and legs.

Wreg was awake. He’d been listening to them talk.

Jon wasn’t sure how he felt about that, either. Truthfully, he couldn’t remember ever feeling so confused and completely messed up in the head as he did at that particular moment, with Wreg laying behind him and Allie and Revik jammed up against the two of them on the same bed. Somewhere in that pause, he felt Revik come to some kind of decision, too.

“You feel all right?” he asked Jon, his voice cautious, but still holding that warier edge. “You need to eat something, Jon. Like... now. In the next hour, anyway.”

Jon nodded. Again, anything to distract him from...this. Whatever the hell this was.

“Yeah,” he said.

Revik shifted his weight so that he was almost sitting up, bringing Allie with him. He leaned over to the bedside table on his other side, gripping Allie with his free arm and bringing her with him as he stretched over that edge of the bed. He fumbled up something off the antique table that turned out to be a headset, which Jon watched Revik fit in his ear.

Revik’s eyes closed briefly right before he spoke, probably from Allie pressing her face against his neck.

“Yeah,” he said, glancing down and smiling at her again, pausing to caress her face. “Yeah, bring something for Jon... and for brother Wreg,” he added, glancing at the seer behind Jon. From the look on Revik’s face, Wreg’s eyes must be open, too. “...I’m coming down in a few, so I need Yumi in Allie’s room.” There was a pause, then he nodded. “...Fine. Neela, then. Just make sure she knows the rules. I need a few hours of work-only time.”

Whoever was on the other end spoke.

Revik nodded, his expression clearing.

“Good. Tell her I want her to check in with me every half-hour. I don’t care what I’m doing.” Pausing to kiss Allie’s cheek, he nodded. “Yeah. Fine. Perfect. Tell them to prep the chair, too. Yeah. Another paired run.”

Revik clicked off, still stroking Allie’s back absently as he refocused his eyes on Jon’s face.

His clear irises looked slightly out of focus now, and it occurred to Jon that Revik was scanning him, looking over his light with almost clinical-feeling flicks and probes of his aleimi. The Elaerian clicked out moments later, his eyes sharpening as he continued to stroke Allie’s back and shoulders. Jon saw a satisfied look flash briefly in his eyes.

Then his expression turned grim.

“Cass is in New York,” Revik said, his gaze unwavering.

The Elaerian waited for his words to penetrate.

In that long-feeling pause, Jon felt his whole body tense. He opened his mouth to speak, but Revik spoke aloud before he could.

“...I’m going,” he added. “Soon.” He glanced down at Allie, his expression briefly pained as he caressed her neck and face. “The timing isn’t great, but I’m not waiting.”

“But, Allie––” Jon began.

“She stays here. With Wreg and ‘Dori.”

Jon could only stare at him, unable to speak.

“You should come, too,” Revik added, his voice unchanging. “With me, I mean.”

Behind him, Jon felt Wreg stiffen.

Every muscle in the man’s body seemed to clench in the same set of seconds. While it threw Jon briefly, it didn’t tear his attention off Revik’s face. He studied Revik for a long moment, trying to read behind what he could see even as he did his best to ignore the anger he felt seeping out of the light and skin of the man holding him around the chest.

This wasn’t about Wreg.

Anyway, he would never be able to be with Wreg, the way things were now.

Pain left the seer behind him, along with a grief that briefly cut Jon’s breath.

Clenching his jaw, Jon didn’t take his eyes off Revik’s face. He watched the male Elaerian study him just as closely. He really wanted Jon to come. He didn’t much care what Wreg thought, when it came down to it. This wasn’t about Wreg for him, either.

It hit Jon then, just what this
was
about for Revik.

This was about family.

Still staring up at Revik’s angular face, and those glass-sharp, clear irises, something else occurred to Jon, too. Revik still fully intended to go forward with his plans. He was still going after Cass. He was still going after Shadow, and Feigran, and Ditrini.

He was going after his child... Allie’s child.

“Yeah,” Jon found himself saying. “Yeah, I’ll come with you, Revik. Of course.”

The man behind him gripped him tighter.

Jon felt it, but he didn’t take his eyes off Revik’s face.

Revik looked only at Jon at first, his expression unchanging. Then, after another pause, he nodded, and Jon saw a flicker of gratitude touch his clear eyes, even as he reached over briefly to clasp Jon’s arm, sending a warm pulse through his skin.

Letting him go an instant later, Revik averted his gaze, staring off the foot of the bed as he coiled both arms more tightly around Allie’s back.

Jon just watched, feeling numb, as his brother-in-law wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand, right before Revik nodded again, seemingly to himself that time, staring off without seeing anything in front of him.

Studying the other man’s angular face, Jon realized something else.

This was about family for him, too.

8

RECONNECTION

TARSI WALKED IN without preamble, and certainly without knocking.

She found herself staring around a room filled with computer terminals. The
rik’ali dentus
things looked about as old as the ones they’d used back before she retired from the Adhipan. Glancing around at the dead-looking screens, she realized only a moment later that the power had gone out again. No wonder she’d felt an overwhelming desire to take the stairs.

She’d thought it had been for the exercise.

Harumphing a little in the back of her throat, she gave another glance around the room.

She could feel that the person she’d come to see was in here, but her eyes were less sharp than her light these days. Before Tarsi could locate her, the woman moved, raising her head.

Once she had, the younger seer came abruptly to her feet, bowing and holding up her fingers in respect. The ancient, paper magazine she’d been reading by candlelight got shoved hastily onto the nearest console.

“May I help you?” Anale said politely. “...Most venerated sister?”

Tarsi grunted. “Venerated, huh? Embalmed, you mean.”

Anale smiled, but only just. “Is there something you needed, aunt?”

The voices had risen in Tarsi’s mind once more, though, pulling her attention off the room. Both of them, really, arguing like children, using Tarsi’s light as some kind of playpen.

“Quiet...” she muttered.

Anale blinked at her, but didn’t speak.

Seeing the other female’s expression, Tarsi sighed a little on the inside. All these damned youngsters probably thought she was senile anyway.

“Yes, there is something I needed, sister,” Tarsi said, deliberately ignoring the discussion going on in the higher reaches of her aleimi. “...I need you. Need to talk to you about something.”

“Of course, aunt,” Anale said, bowing again.

“Good. How you feel about working for me?”

Anale blinked again. That time, she had less success hiding her surprise. Her mouth twisted faintly, stuck between humor and confusion.

“For you, sister?” she said. “Do I not serve you already?”

“Yes, yes,” Tarsi said, impatient. “I mean for real work for me. Instead of my confounded nephew. I might need you, before this thing is over. I need to know if you’ll follow me if I ask. Even if my nephew tells you something different. Even if brother Balidor tells you something different. Can you do that, sister Anale?”

Anale stared at her. Her eyes looked wary now.

“Can you do that?” Tarsi asked again, sharper.