Lacuna - N.R. Walker Page 0,20

at the fresh blaze of pain. “This cursed thing,” Tancho hissed, holding his wrist.

Crow rubbed his birthmark, and Soko took Crow’s hand, inspecting the offending mark. “There has to be some way to break this bond.”

“Yes,” Kohaku said, eating some kind of meat off a bone. “One of you must die.”

Soko shot him a look. “Some other way.” He lifted Crow’s hand, inspecting the skin closely. “It is alchemical, is it not? Maghdlm can get a reaction out of it, and I feel Adelais knows more than she’s letting on.”

“I agree with that,” Tancho said, angrily shoving belongings into a rucksack. “If one has an interest in considerable percentages.”

“One does,” Soko murmured, probably too smug a reply to a king. He was still inspecting the birthmark and didn’t see Tancho’s murderous glare, but Crow caught it.

Tancho roughly folded some clothing, as if the shirt had offended him and not Soko. “If you intend to come with us, should you not be packing your belongings?”

“I would need you to accompany me,” Crow said, taking his hand from Soko to show Tancho his birthmark. “Remember?”

Soko snatched Crow’s hand and brought it back to the end of his nose, inspecting the birthmark so closely Crow wondered if he was looking at it or smelling it.

Tancho picked up a leather strap and began coiling it around his hand to pack it away. His jaw was clenched, his nostrils flared, his red hair seemed to catch the rage in his eyes. “Perhaps he could make a start without you.”

Crow snarled. “Perhaps he—”

Tancho snatched up the bag. “And perhaps Soko could keep his fucking hands to himself!”

The room fell as quiet and cold as a tomb. Everyone stared at Tancho, and Crow’s impulse to meet rage with equal rage was quelled when he saw the look on Karasu and Kohaku’s faces. They were as stunned as he was.

Tancho let out a frustrated growl, directed inward, it was plain to see. He threw the bag to the floor and stalked to the window. Crow could see his shoulders rise and fall with what he guessed were deep, calculated breaths.

This was clearly out of character for him. And it was out of character for Crow to like it. Despite the stress and worry about his homelands, this pull between them was the birthmarks’ doing. Crow pulled his hand from Soko’s. “Tancho is right. Soko, perhaps you could make a start on our belongings.”

Soko’s gaze searched his. “I will not leave you in here, outnumbered and alone,” he hissed.

“Take Kohaku with you,” Crow obliged. “If that’s amenable with his king.”

Tancho turned his head, just slightly, and gave the slightest of nods.

“I don’t like this,” Soko said. “Whatever is in our quarters can stay behind.”

“Soko,” Crow said, and that was all he needed to say. Crow wasn’t asking.

Soko knew this was an order from his king. “I don’t like this.”

“I know you don’t. Though I am mortally wounded that you think me unable to best six on my own.”

Soko rolled his eyes and almost smiled. “I will return at once. Do not leave without me.”

“I would never.”

Soko gave a nod, then turned to Kohaku. “You’re with me.”

Kohaku, the huge, hulking Westlander who hadn’t stopped eating since they’d walked into the room, wiped his mouth with a napkin and smiled. “Or is it you with me?”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Everyone drew their weapons, but the four riders stepped backwards into the corner, unarmed and wary.

Karasu stood in front of Tancho, putting herself between him and the door, and Soko did the same to Crow. Kohaku went to the door. “Who comes?”

“It is Samiel” came a female voice.

“And Elmwood” followed in a deeper tenor.

“Let them in,” Tancho said.

Kohaku opened the door with one hand, his sword in his other. Samiel and Elmwood and their entourages filed through with some pageantry, though they stopped when they saw the room full of swords. Samiel smiled. “You have the same sentiment as us. Unease, uncertainty,” she said. “Things are not what they seem here.”

“This is not what we trained for. This is not our destiny,” Elmwood said. “There is no honour in these walls.”

“I concur,” Crow said, relaxing a little to know they all felt the same. “It feels manufactured. I can’t describe it any other way.”

Tancho met Crow’s eyes and gave a nod. “I agree.”

“My king?” Soko asked, his tone uncertain.

“Yes, please go. But don’t waste daylight.” Crow looked to Samiel and Elmwood to explain. “He and Kohaku are