light, the cool relief in her bones, that Shiih had finally disappeared below the horizon, taking a third of Aa’s relentless hatred with it.
One less sun beating upon her back. One sun closer to truedark.
And then …
“How far to Amai?” Bryn asked.
Butcher simply shook his head. “A good ways yet, sister.”
“I’m wetter than a spring bride on her wedding nevernight.”
Bryn’s griping was met with general grumbles of assent. Bladesinger was riding beside Mia’s wagon, wringing the rain from her saltlocks. Butcher’s battered face looked darker than the clouds above. Everyone’s spirits seemed buried in the mud beneath their hooves. But Sid had served as Second Spear in the Luminatii for years before his servitude in Remus Collegium, and Mia soon learned he knew how to keep his cohort’s spirits up on the road.
“First woman I ever bedded was from Amai,” he mused aloud.
“O, aye?” Butcher said, perking up.
“Do tell,” Bryn grinned.
Sidonius looked around the group, met with a chorus of nods and murmurs.
“Well, her name w—”
“Wait, wait, wait…,” Mia said.
The girl covered her little brother’s ears with her palms and pressed hard. For his part, Jonnen kept hold of the reins and simply looked confused.
“All right, out with it,” Mia said. “Spare no detail.”
“Her name was Analie,” Sidonius said as thunder rolled overhead. “She moved to Godsgrave as a young lass. Became one of my ma’s customers at the seamstry. She was a little older than me—”
“Hold now, how many years is ‘a little’?” Bladesinger asked.
“Maybe … eight?” Sid shrugged. “Ten?”
“How old were you?” Wavewaker asked, incredulous.
“Sixteen.”
“Braaaaah-vo!” Ashlinn said, giving Sidonius a slow clap from the wagon bed.
“Lucky little bastard,” Mia grinned. “She’d have eaten you alive.”
“Can I tell my fucking story or not?”
“Fine, fine,” Mia said, rolling her eyes.
“Right,” Sid said. “So, I knew she fancied me, but being green I’d no idea what to do about it. Fortunately, Analie did. I used to do deliveries for my mother, and one turn, I arrive at Analie’s palazzo, and she answers the door in … well, basically nothing.”
“Direct and to the point,” Bladesinger mused, wringing her locks. “I like it.”
“So she drags me inside and bends over the divan in the entry hall and demands I get to work, so being the obliging sort, get to work I do. And we’re about ten, maybe eleven seconds into proceedings, and I realize I’ve got two pressing problems.
“Problem the first: being somewhat over enthused as most lads tend to be on their first trip into the woods, I’m about three seconds from the end of my tether. Problem the second: the front fucking door is opening. Turns out Analie is married, and her husband has come home unexpectedly.”
“’Byss and blood,” Bryn chuckled. “What did you do?”
“Well, more than a little flustered, I turned to face problem the second at the precise moment problem the first resolved itself.”
“O, no…,” Mia gasped.
“O, aye.” Sid smacked his hands together. “Like a shot from a crossbow, it was.”
“Fuck off,” Butcher gawped. “You didn’t…”
Sid nodded. “Right in the poor bastard’s eye.”
Howls of amusement rang among the group, echoing along the muddy road, louder than the storm winds. A farmer toiling in a nearby field turned to stare, wondering what the fuss was about. Mia was laughing so hard she thought she might fall from the wagon seat, clinging to either side of her brother’s head in desperation.
“What is so amusing?” the boy murmured.
Mia cracked the seal on his ear and whispered, “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
“What did you do?” Bladesinger demanded of Sidonius.
“I ran like a fucking jackrabbit, what do you think?” Sid said. “Out the door, down the road, stark naked, all the way home. Fortunately, the wolf was too spunk-blinded to give chase, so this particular rabbit lived to fuck another turn.”
More laughter all round, Butcher shaking his head in disbelief as Mia wiped the tears from her eyes on her sodden sleeve.
Sid sighed. “Still the best fourteen seconds of my life, though.”
“First time I ever finished a man with my mouth, it came out my nose,” Bryn said.
“You fucking what?” Mia gasped.
“Light’s truth,” the girl nodded. “Nearly drowned me. I was smelling it for weeks after. We laughed about it, though. He bought me a handkerchief for Great Tithe.”
Another wave of laughter crashed among the group in time with the thunder. Butcher was wheezing like he’d run a footrace, Bladesinger’s locks swaying as she threw her head back and howled.