Page 16 of The Bone Doll
Syra studied him then – his coppery hair, his amber eyes, the angle of his lips. She knew what he wanted to be. He wanted to be a great warrior who fought monsters. But what did she know about him? She knew almost nothing beyond that he worked for a lord who wanted her to use the Bone Doll. And for most of this journey, she hadn’t cared to know more. But he could be generous and sweet, and perhaps sheshouldknow more. Just a little.
“When I have bound the spirit and have returned to the tundra,” she asked, “will you go home?”
Viktor hooked his thumbs in his belt. “I prefer to stay on the road.”
“Your family must want you to visit at least,” she said.
He smiled bitterly. “I’m not sure they miss me.”
“Of course, they do,” she said. “I would miss my brother, if he was traveling most of the year.”
“Your family must miss you,” Viktor said quietly. “Have you ever been away from them?”
Syra swallowed against the lump that had formed in her throat. She would give almost anything to be back in her family’smya, sitting and chatting with her parents, playing with her baby nephew, bickering with her siblings. “They know I’ll return.”
They fell silent for several moments as the puppeteer packed up his materials and then left. The twilight faded into night, and no one else walked this road. But Viktor and Syra remained.
Viktor tilted his face towards the sky. “You said your grandfather could walk in the sky. What does that mean?”
Even with her weak magic, Syra felt the stars’ pull as though they wanted her close but could not reach her. The Sirtian Hunter’s seven stars burned brightly tonight. Her grandfather said that the Sirtian Hunter always foretold magic, but the stars did not deign to tell Syrawhatmagic they prophesied.
“A long time ago, there was only Sky, and people lived in the Sky,” she said. “But when the Sky birthed the Earth, the people were split. Their souls were split: half of the soul lived on the Earth and half lived in the Sky. For a while, everyone could feel that they were sundered in two, but eventually that faded. But just because we cannot feel it doesn’t change the fact that each star in the Sky is half a soul, a twin for someone on Earth. Thevidutana, the Sarnok sky shamans, still have that connection to their sky-souls, and through that connection they have magic.
“Mostvidutanacan read the stars for omens and prophecies, but the strongest ones have other abilities. Some can manipulate moon- and starlight. Others can create powerful talismans like the Bone Doll. And still others can detatch theirsouls from their bodies and let their souls wander amongst the stars. My grandfather could make talismans and he could detatch his soul and travel into the sky to commune with our star-souls.”
Viktor raised his eyebrows, still gazing at the sky. “So, somewhere up there is star-Viktor.”
The possibility of Ruthenian star-souls had never crossed her mind, but she said, “Yes.”
“I wonder what he is doing up there.” His voice was distant. “I wonder if he has made something of himself.”
“Perhaps he's wondering the same about you,” she said.
Viktor turned to face her, still casually leaning against the retaining wall. “He would be sorely disappointed.”
“Or perhaps he would be envious of all you’ve done.”
Fidgeting with his belt purse, Viktor glanced down quickly and then back to her. “I have done very little.”
“You have traveled from your home in the heart of Ruthenia all the way to the tundra. You have enough to pay for food and lodging. And you are kind. Some might consider you fortunate.”
“Do you find me fortunate?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter what I…”
The words died on her tongue as he lifted her chin with a curved finger. “When I look at you, I see a woman who is strong and can survive anything; a woman who knows more about the wilderness than I ever will; a woman who knows magic; a woman who loves her family and her people.”
Her mouth was painfully dry. She should have been nothing more than a job – deliver her and the Bone Doll to Zoldrovya. But instead he sawher. Not the woman with too little magic to continue her grandfather’s legacy, with too little magic to protect her clan from the Bone Doll’s curse – butSyra. Herchest tightened as she realized how terribly he must want to be seen, in the same way he had seen her.
“How do you find me, Syra? Fortunate? Well-traveled? Generous?”
“You aspire to be a good man, but you don’t see that you already are.” Heat emanated from where his finger rested beneath her chin. “You shared your food with me on the road, when you did not have to. You comforted me when I could not sleep. You shared your bedroll when mine was wet. These are the acts of a good man.”
His gaze grew soft, and he trailed his finger along her jawline, turning Syra’s stomach to knots. His skin was soft and rough, cool and warm all at once. Gently, he bowed his head forward. The starlight caught in his orange hair, shimmering like a crown. Syra felt like a star glimmering in the darkness.
Then, Viktor kissed her.
Her eyes fluttered close as a pleasant heat, like a summer breeze, swelled inside her. His hand slid to cup her cheek, his kiss still gentle but intent. Instinctively, she leaned into him, parting her lips. He tasted like cinnamon and yearning. She rested her hands against his chest, his heartbeat wild beneath her palms.
