Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) (30 page)

On a more interesting note, however, Mathieu had met the oddest pair of people who were also now in his bathroom. Ayame and Akira were their names, and they were siblings. Ayame was a spy in the Unithian Court for Korinth, posing as the right hand of one of the top brass. He was tall with black hair that he kept short and greatly resembled his sister who was the feminine version of him. To say that Akira was pretty, though, would have been incorrect. She was stunning, but not in a traditional way with a rather oval face, a button nose and eyes slightly too big for her face. But she was apparently beautiful enough to land the King. After all, Akira was the man’s mistress.

“Solomon is so temperamental.” Akira said as she stood beside him, primping her hair and wiping the corners of her mouth, cleaning up any residual lipstick. Her tone was light, yet slightly stuck-up and fit her personality
well. “So when you kissed him, was it like full on or not really?” She batted her lashes at him, curious.

Ayame rolled his eyes. “Akira, it’s not your business.” Despite the six year age difference between the siblings, they got along incredible well. “Just because you’re a succubus doesn’t mean that everyone else’s sex is your business.”

Wrinkling her nose and throwing her brother a tart look, Akira turned to Mathieu. “If Ayame doesn’t want to hear the gossip, he can ran away and go play with the boys. But I want to chit-chat.”

Ayame pulled his little sister into a headlock, tugging on her ear. “If you’ll remember, you insisted upon me coming into this dinky little place; I didn’t volunteer.”

Kiev laughed at them and poked Mathieu with her toes. “Seriously though, tongue or not?” Her eyebrows wiggled.

“Jeez. No tongue. And I doubt it’ll happen again, so don’t bring it up, ‘kay? I don’t need him to glare at me any more than he does.” Mathieu did a very bad impression of an angry Solomon.

“Not that it’s my business, but have you tried, you know, talking to him? He’s generally pretty reasonable.” Ayame said, folding his arms. He was thin and tended to look at people through his bangs.

“That stupid ass is avoiding Mathieu like the plague. I’ve witnessed it.” Kiev said derisively, nodded in agreement with her own words. “It’s like that time that Mina lost his riding boots. Remember that?”

Akira laughed, tossing her head back in a way that made her practically sparkle. “That was such a great night!”

Rolling his eyes, Ayame caught the other male’s eye. “So, I got in contact with Venee, as supposedly requested by you
..
She was devastated to hear about Avian and says that anything she can do to help, she will. Then, she passed the news on to Narrie and
she
says that as soon as she can get the money together, she’d headed here. I gave her directions on how to get here, so she should arrive in a week or so.” The spy shrugged one shoulder.
“Just thought you’d like to know.”

“Thanks. I know that I’m asking a lot of you, but I need you to find one more person for me, if you can.”

“I can find anyone. Who is it?”

Mathieu looked away slightly. “Well, it’s an old man that goes by ‘Grandpa’ and works in a knick-knack shop in the industrial district. Tell him that you know me and what happened to Avian. If we can, getting him here will be beneficial. He knows things people shouldn’t.”

Ayame nodded in understanding. “I would, except that Narrie said that she would talk to him, already. I didn’t know who he was, but I didn’t want to argue with her.” Flushing slightly, he looked away. “I hate to admit it, but she was kind of scary. All this hollering and throwing of things…”

“I appreciate it very much.” Mathieu said, completely understanding how someone could find Narrie a bit scary. “Well, how do I look?” Mathieu puts his hands on his hips and turned to the girls, faking a smile. “I’m supposed
to meet Lenore about making my sword. I should have done it sooner, but I thought Solomon would be going with me…”

Kiev patted the top of his head. “Oh, don’t worry. She’s very forgiving. Do you want me to go with you?”

“Uh, would you? I haven’t really met her and you know how bad I am at first impression.” He made the joke at his own expense about his small ‘tantrums’ when he first started living at the manor.

Laughing, she jumped off the counter. “I don’t mind going at all. Are we going to take a tuvash over?”

Mathieu’s eyes went wide. “I don’t think so. Tesla can turn into a big thing, so I’m hoping he can carry us both
.“
Tesla?

I’m here. Is it time to go already?
The deep voice filled his mind in a familiar way. It was a comfort to know that even with Solomon mad at him, Tesla was still there.

Can you carry two? I want Kiev to come with, if that’s okay…

A short huff preceded a response.
Yes, that’s fine. I’ll meet you outside.

“He says he can take up both. Are you ready to go?”

Nodding, Kiev tucked her arm into the crook of his elbow and smiled. “I’ve never ridden on a Shadowrider. Lead on, darling.” She blew a kiss back over her shoulder at the siblings, who waved them off.

“Bye guys.” Mathieu took her outside and found Tesla curled up in the sun, currently in his largest form. “Tesla, get up you fat, lazy-”

A growl broke his sentence as the Shadowrider stood to his full height, taller than either of them. His fur had becoming like armor, and his fangs were downright scary, but he nuzzled his nose against Mathieu’s hand before kneeling down so that they could mount him. Helping Kiev up first, Mathieu hopped onto the beast behind her and told Tesla where to go. “Thank you for coming…”

“No problem. Can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can.”

The blonde girl patted the Shadowrider’s neck, “Did you and Solomon ever figure out who has custody of these darlings? I mean, he made them, but they walked out on him. Then you show up and you’ve got them and they’re kind of attached to you…”

“That’s another thing that he’s pissy with me about. Tesla still likes him well enough, but Nikola pretends he doesn’t exist. I swear
,
I should just go limp whenever I go see him anymore. He acts like I’m trying to ruin his life or something. What does Avanon say about it?” It hadn’t escaped Mathieu’s attention that everyone in the house gossiped about everything.

Kiev sighed as Tesla ran, his muscles bunching a relaxing under his armored skin. “Oh, she thinks he’s being unreasonable. I told her that you guys kissed and that now he’s being weird.
She
says you should just give him a good thump on the head, but that the next time they’re
alone she’ll talk to him. If anyone can talk some sense into him, it’s her.”

Mathieu frowned slightly. “I hope that’s soon. It’s kind of awkward when we run into each other in our room. He charges at me like a bull until I move and I jump out of the way so we don’t make contact. I’ve given up wearing red because of it.”

Kiev tossed her head back with a giggle. “I don’t think you have to be that extreme.”

“Red was never my color anyway.” He joked. “So, Ayame and Akira are pretty interesting.”

Kieve leaned forward and relaxed against Tesla. “Oh yes they are. They’re a bunch of sillies. Akira is great for certain…
tips
,
and Ayame will do boring stuff with you like keep you company while you’re doing paperwork and stuff.”

“Cool, cool. I think they’re people I could hang out with.”

“If you’re lucky.
They’re always in Unith anymore. Oh! We’re here.” Kiev thumped on Tesla’s shoulder sweetly. “Good job! Please let us down.”

“Er, we are?” Mathieu said in a disbelieving way. They had come to a stop in the middle of a large field with nothing in any direction that he could see.

Kiev slid off of the Shadowrider and landed smoothly on her feet, looking back up at him
.“Yep.”

Getting down too, he held out a hand for Tesla, who
changed into his purple ball of light and rested in his palm. “Alright, where is this place?”

“Well, dear one, I will show you.” Kiev looked around and decided on a particular direction to face before taking three large steps. Using her toes, she felt around in the grass until she found a metal ring and tugged. A trap door opened somewhat to allow them entrance to a steep, narrow staircase. “Lenny likes being underground because the fires don’t cause any problems there.” Kiev held the trap door open for him, smiling. “Don’t worry, scaredy cat. She has plenty of light down there.”

Wrinkling his nose, Mathieu started down the stairs into the dark, Tesla lighting his way with the bioluminescent of his inactive form. The stairs were rickety and creaked ominously under his steps as he descended them. The further down they went, the cooler it got, ironically, and he could hear running water nearby. “How far down is it?”

“Not much further,” Kiev said, a few stairs behind him, “but the stairs are going to turn left here in a second.”

Tesla pulsed soothingly in his palm, and guided his hand when it was time to turn.
There’s a door just ahead. Don’t run into it.
The comment was nice enough, but the sarcasm that echoed from the voice in his head made him roll his eyes.

“Oh thank you, Tesla.” His response was equally sarcastic, but if the door hadn’t been brought to his attention, he’d have plowed right into it. Instead, he opened it as soon as his fingertips brushed the wooden surface. “Hello?” He called in an uncertain way.

“Hey, Lenny, we’re here!” Kiev hollered past him, pushing against him until he was forced into entering the room. Their voices echoed around the high ceiling room and back down at him. Looking around, Mathieu realized he was standing in something comparable to an armory. All the weapons were sectioned out by type, or so he thought, but he didn’t have time to get a closer look because a head of dark brown hair popped into the room. The sudden movement caught his attention.

“Hi!” Lenore bounced over to the pair of them, wearing a pair of overalls with her hair pulled back in a messy bun. “I’m glad you came. Hi Kiev! But where’s Solomon?”

“Ugh.” Was all Mathieu
said.

Laughing, the blonde hugged the other girl. “Solomon is being weird, like normal, so I told Mathieu I’d come with him to meet you.”

Lenore’s head bobbed as she motioned them deeper into her lair. “Come in, come in.” She led them into the room that she had
emerge
from: a forge. “No one comes to visit me anymore; it’s annoying.” She scowled. The woman continued talking while going to a piece of steel and starting to hammer it out. “So, I hear that Mathieu needs a weapon,” she said over the ringing hammering. “Word is that Darcia and Solomon had to basically teach you to fight from scratch. Completely unusually, but I don’t mind.”

Mathieu scoffed at her, arms folded. “You know, I’ve been taught somewhat before. But being taught by someone else who is…gifted, compared to someone normal is significantly different.” As he spoke, he sat on a stray chair, watching the way the petite brunette worked
at the metal.

“Yeah, that’s understandable. So I feel so left out. I’m the only one who hasn’t gotten to really meet you. Tell me about you.” Lenore set down her hammer and slid her fingers along the metal, subtly shaping it and adding a fuller. She turned it this way and that before dousing it in water.

Watching with more interest in her work than his past, he told her in vague detail about his childhood and his life in Ateri. When he got to joining the resistance, his description became more saturated with details; that was something he felt comfortable talking to this woman about.

“Wow. You’d had a full life already. Tell me, do you
want
a sword? I can make anything that you’d like.” With just her hands she was sculpting the final shape of another weapon she was working on creating. “Don’t let those stupid boys bully you into a sword.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about that.” Mathieu admitted with a blush. “I’d like a weapon that could be used with my energy. If I had to use my gift in order for my weapon to be effective, I think that I might get a better hold on it. I’m a bit…unrefined.” He admitted sheepishly.