Lacuna - N.R. Walker Page 0,43

Soko were riding in front of them. She cast a smug smile in Crow’s direction. “The berry is sweet and delicious, apparently. Before it turns into a fermenting acid bomb in your belly and rips your insides apart.”

“Nice,” Crow replied to Tancho. “But more to my point, if I were to die—in some heroic battle, of course, not because I was poisoned by a fermented berry bomb—what becomes of you?”

Tancho was quiet for a moment as he pondered this. “If I were to die before this lacuna curse is lifted, I would assume you’d follow soon after. Isn’t that what she meant?”

And as if hearing Tancho say Crow would die if he died wasn’t the worst part, hearing him call the lacuna bond between them a curse felt impossibly worse.

It was a curse, Crow tried to tell himself. It made a mockery of their self-control and all but set their autonomy on fire.

Crow hated that his choice was removed, but he couldn’t bring himself to hate Tancho. It wasn’t his fault, nor was it Crow’s. And he couldn’t bring himself to hate that they were in this together. So yes, a curse to some degree . . . but there was something about the way Tancho said it . . .

“This lacuna curse?” Crow said, trying not to sound like a pouting child. “Is it a curse because of the situation we find ourselves in? Or rather, who you find yourself cursed with?” he asked, putting his hand to his chest.

Soko shot Crow a pitiful look and Karasu laughed. Tancho looked at him and a slow smile spread across his face. “You sound bothered by the latter.”

Crow shifted in his saddle. He knew he sounded petulant but he couldn’t stop himself. “No, I just wasn’t sure how insulted I should be. If you consider yourself cursed because it’s me who you’re linked to . . .”

Tancho chuckled at him then. “If not a curse, then what would you call it?”

Crow searched for the right word but couldn’t put his tongue to it. “Okay, so maybe cursed is the right word. But for me, it is not a reflection on you but the situation we find ourselves in.” He raised his chin. “At least I’m man enough to say it.”

Tancho’s lips quirked in a way that Crow both loved and hated in equal measure. Smug and shy at the same time, with his stupid perfect skin and stupid beautiful hair. “You know what?” Crow said, past caring for his petulance. “It is a curse. This whole thing is a giant curse, both the circumstance and the man I’m stuck here with.”

Tancho’s nostrils flared, his smile long gone. “Oh, is that right?”

Crow pulled his horse to a stop, making everyone come to a standstill. “Yes. Completely accurate. And you know what else? I might just decide not to go one step further. It’s not me who needs to go west, it’s you. But you can’t go without me; so if I don’t go, neither do you. I have forgone going home to my people for the sake of yours, so if you want me to take one more step, maybe you could ease up on the mockery. Some appreciation might not go astray.” Tancho was rendered silent, and now it was Crow’s turn to smirk. “Where’s your pretty smile now, little fish?”

Tancho unsheathed his katana, and he spoke through gritted teeth. “Call me that again, blackbird. I dare you.”

Crow opted to pull the dagger from his boot rather than his broadsword, ready to fight—blue arcane lightning be damned. He’d take his chances.

Soko sighed, Kohaku laughed, and Karasu got off her horse. “We’re stopping here,” she said, leading her horse off the road to the river for a drink. “If you two are done bickering like babes.”

Soko made no attempt to defend Crow, much to Crow’s chagrin. In fact, Crow thought he saw him roll his eyes. “Good. I’m famished.”

Kohaku cheered. “Yes, food!”

Soko took his and Kohaku’s horses to the river while Kohaku helped the guards pull the carriage off the road, and they sought about splitting the fruit and bread kindly given by the innkeeper.

Everyone milled about as though nothing was out of the ordinary, like Crow and Tancho weren’t still on their horses in the middle of the road, weapons drawn. It was all rather . . . anticlimactic.

Crow re-sheathed his dagger with a huff, and Tancho put away his katana. They both swung their legs over and dismounted at the