Page 88 of Black Onyx
Everyone is obviously hungry because they don’t even make a single sound of protest.
Storm clears his throat as he opens the envelope and pulls out the parchment inside, “The Void beast is about an hour away, and it gives us another map.”
“Is that it?” Killian asks.
“Well, it’s written in fancier words, but yeah, look?” he hands the parchment to Killian.
As soon as his fingers touch the parchment, it goes up in purple Fae flames.
“Fuck,” he curses as he curls in his fingers, and his tail whips up and starts smacking the piece of paper that’s still alight to put it out.
“Shit, please tell me you already memorised the map?” Reaper asks Storm.
“I got a glance at it. It should be enough for me to get us there.”
“Are you alright, mate?” Zev asks Killian.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I think it just caught the end of my fingers.” Killian answers with a wary smile.
“So, I guess it's safe to say that if something gets given to one of us specifically that the rest of us can’t touch it, we risk it disintegrating and could potentially lose important information.” Zev summarises.
“It could just have been that particular piece, but I think you’re right. We shouldn’t risk it.” Mayhem agrees.
“The cook touched it, though?” I point out.
“He probably had permission and wouldn’t have been able to open it anyway. He was literally just the delivery system for the Fae Realm.” Mayhem tries to explain.
“That makes sense, I guess,” I reply.
“First thing in the morning, we’ll set off, I don’t think it’s too far from here, but I would’ve needed a longer look to be sure.”
“It’s really impressive that you have that skill,” I compliment him.
Shadows flash through his eyes, and not the shadows of his magic, “It can be a curse.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Idon’t have the words to reply to that; at least, nothing that I feel would be enough. I know he’s seen some shit in his life, and I know he can remember it all vividly. He doesn’t get to view things through the hazy lens of time that the rest of us take for granted. So instead, I reach across the table and grasp his hand, surprised when he flips it over and threads his fingers through mine, squeezing tightly, and the fire that sparks between his horns does that slow smoulder thing that I have no idea what it means. After that, we finish the food quickly, all feeling tired thanks to the long journey and the excursion to kill my father. Not to mention that we were already running on empty before that, thanks to the assassination attempt and meeting Ryu.
By the time I get up to the room, any awkwardness that I felt at sharing a room with Loki and how it was going to work is completely dissipated, and I fall into bed. Lifting the covers when Loki stands there looking awkward and like he’s going to fall asleep at any moment as he sways on his feet. The bed bounces as he falls in and settles. I don’t even think of pretending to protest as he pulls me to his side, and I lay my head on his chest, falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat below my ear. It fleetingly occurs to me that I should probably warn him that I have very loud nightmares, but I’m fast asleep before I can even get the words out.
**********
We start off early the next morning, early enough that the sun is only just starting to peak over the horizon, and although I slept well last night, I’m still yawning and wishing I had a second cup of coffee. I’m riding at the back of the procession today and turn around in my saddle to look back at the tavern longingly.
“What the fuck,” I loudly exclaim, causing Revel to shift underneath me thanks to the loud outburst.
“What’s happened? Are you alright?” Rival barks, turning his horse around and scanning the area for threats.
“The tavern’s gone,” I point to where the tavern we literally just left was and the empty field that now stands there.
“Erm, what the flying fuck?” Loki states eloquently.
“Where’s it gone?” Zev asks, looking around like he might find it.
“Maybe it was another one of those gifts from the Fae Realm?” Mayhem suggests sceptically.
“But wouldn’t that mean the people, the building, and everything that was in there weren’t actually real?” Rival asks.
