While Waiting to Wake

The boy opened and closed his mouth. Completely confused by her forwardness and the topic of conversation. Finally, he opted for a noncommittal but polite reply.

“I’m not the best judge of that, miss. I’m just here to hunt.”

As though remembering what he was supposed to be doing in that moment, he took half a step away. Glancing meaningfully through the crowd of people, which was swelling by the minute as more hunters returned to the field.

Em smiled and waved a hand.

“Sure, sure. She said she has you on borrow from a gladiator arena. Is that true? You don’t look old enough to be a gladiator. Which arena?”

His expression shifted.

“I’m sorry, miss, but I need to rejoin my party. Otherwise my kills won’t be counted.”

“That’s alright. I’m looking for my brother. And my rabbit. I’ll come with you.”

“That’s really-”

“My name’s Emmaline. But my friends call my Em. You can call me Em, too.” She took a few steps toward the judges platform and paused. “Aren’t you coming?”

Reluctantly, unsure what to do, the boy finally took a deep breath and fell into step with her as she led the way toward the platform.

“You’re Gray, right?”

“Yes…”

He looked like he wanted to run.

“You didn’t answer my question, Gray.”

“Question?”

She beamed at him. “Which arena?”

“Why do you want to know?” he countered.

She shrugged. “Because I like knowing where I can find my friends.”

Prince huffed and said firmly, “We’re not friends.”

Em smiled. Remembering. Her fingers almost tingled with the memories of healing his wounds.

He was here. Here and real. It made her giddy with the tangible confirmation and realizing that until now, she almost thought he might’ve been a true dream.

It probably didn’t help her keep a clear head.

“Yes, we are,” she said. Her voice quiet enough that she was sure he was the only one who heard her. “So, what arena?”

“You’re not going to leave this alone.”

“Nope.”

“Cresh City.”

“Oh!” She clapped her hands. “That’s in Duke Caviet’s territory. I should have guessed, she said something about him when I first saw her. Thank you for answering. Oh, there’s Flint!”

She pointed. He was near the judges’ platform, a brace of rabbits and small animals across his shoulder. With him were the rest of the bachelor party. Including Thiago, who had two big bucks being carried in by his knights.

“I should-”

She stopped talking when she turned to look at Prince. Who had frozen in place.

His eyes locked on Thiago’s laughing face.

Slowly, he dropped his brace and took a step toward the other prince. His face twisting as he reached for his hunting knife.

With a gasp, Em realized what he was thinking and reached out to grab his wrist.

“No!”

Startled, he yanked his hand away and took a step back from her. Undeterred, she stepped closer to him, grabbing his wrist again. Eyes blazing.

She’d just found him! And even if she was sure he was the only one who could kill that crappy person…

“Even if you succeed, you’ll die. There are too many people here!”

“Succeed at what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He turned away and again tried to shake off her hand. She was ready for it this time and squeezed her fingers tighter.

“Yes, you do. Wait. You’ll get another chance.”

“Let. Me. Go.” He said it through gritted teeth. And this time his yank was hard enough to not only get himself free but make her stumble into him.

She grabbed his shirt.

“What will happen to your people if you die?! Don’t do it. Not yet!”

He froze. Staring at her. Oblivious to the surrounding people, some of them watching but unable to hear the conversation.

“Who are you?”

“I already told you. My name is Emmaline.”

“No. Who are you?”

Should I tell him I’m Angel? No, I can’t explain properly here. And it might tear him apart that I’m no longer coming to him.

Em let go of his shirt and took a step back. What else… maybe… She thought of Mister Jay and bit her lip.

“I’m your friend. And a seer for, uh, Felice. I can’t let you die here.”

They stared at each other for a long, long time. She could see the struggle in his face. A human. A seer. Does he trust her or get his revenge now? But humans can’t be trusted! Prejudice was a bitch and he, unfortunately, had plenty of reasons to be prejudiced.

She didn’t know exactly what crossed his mind at that moment, but he suddenly stiffened in realization.

“You… know who I am.”

Em opened her mouth. She didn’t know what she was going to say.

And didn’t have time to say it, anyway.

“Emmaline Grimshaw!”

She jumped and spun. By the time she turned to him, Sir Chez had already slapped a hand to his forehead.

“By all the gods, what are you doing here?!”

“I was, that is, I was looking for-”

“You’re not supposed to be here.” Chez looked over at Flint and the bachelor escort. Then grabbed her by the shoulder. “Damn it, girl! The Commander isn’t keeping you away from the royal party just so you can stumble into it. I’m taking you back to your aunt.”

Without listening to Em’s stutters, Chez dragged her away.

She got one more glimpse of Asher before he was hidden by the growing crowd.

His expression had turned to blank, his profile to her as he looked toward Crown Prince Thiago. Who was beaming and smirking next to his pile of kills.

The boy had one hand on his hunting knife.

Em got a scolding from Lady Eileen the instant Chez dropped her off. But Em barely heard it.

Anxiously, she waited for news of an assassination attempt.

Which never came.

She was so relieved, she could have melted into a puddle.

***

“I know what I’m going to do.”

The human child announced it so suddenly that Loki blinked at her sleepily. He’d returned to her room ahead of time to rest. Not that gods really needed to rest. All he had to do was snap his fingers and, poof! He’d have all his stamina back.

But he enjoyed sleeping. And liked the satisfying fatigue of a long day of pranks.

“Do? About what?”

His yawn was so loud across the telepathic channels that the child winced and scowled at him.

“About everything. I know what I’m going to do!”

“Really?”

He stretched sleepily as she sat down next to him on the bed and picked up his slime form. Cradling it against her body.

That was a nice thing about being a slime. They absorbed heat and only dragon fire could melt them. It also felt really good. Like sitting next to a fire…

“Are you falling asleep?”

“Hmm… no… Glug!”

He made a strange, gurgling sound when she abruptly shook him.

“Hey!”

“Looookiiiii! I know what I’m going to do! But I need your help.”

“Haven’t I already helped you enough today?”

“Can you take a message for me?”

A message? Curiosity piqued, despite his attempts to remain detached, he molded his slime form to include eyes. Big eyes that stared at her.

“A message?”

She huffed. “Are you just going to keep making me repeat myself? Yes, a message. Can you do that? Or is it against the rules?”

He thought about it. Without promises all over the place holding him, he was a lot more flexible than other gods. But a message? Did she think he was the god of post offices?

That sounded boring.

“What’s in it for me?”

“Uh… what does a god of mischief and pranks want?”

That’s a good question, he thought wryly.

For an instant, he thought of Felice’s core. How bright it was. How it almost blinded him with its purpose. It was nearly as bright as the little girl’s face.

Nothing you, child, can give me.

“I have nothing better to do,” he said airily. “But I can’t be identified or I’ll have to leave you.”

“That’s fine. I don’t want you to talk to anyone, I just need you to make sure the message gets passed along. In fact-” She looked around. “I’ll write it down. If I can find paper…”

“What is the message? And who’s it for?”

Em grinned and told him. Interest rising, wondering what the child was up to, he agreed.

Just for fun and curiosity’s sake.

And to see that man’s face when he was again in the child’s debt.

***

Getting out her window was a pain.

First of all, it was on the third floor.

With Loki egging her on, she climbed over the windowsill and slowly crawled down the wall.

Second of all, her aunt employed guards. Not many and none of the night guards were knights. But they still patrolled the grounds. With rapid frequency. She had to stop three times, fingers shaking as she struggled to keep her hold on the stone siding.

Whenever she found a window, she rested.

Which resulted in, third, two near misses as maids passed the window on their last rounds.

By the time she reached the ground, she was silently swearing to give Todd something really, really nice for his birthday. Without her tree and his annoying boastings, she wouldn’t have developed the strength to climb that far.

The fourth obstacle was getting across the lawn unseen.

Didn’t happen.

She ended up having to climb a tree near the wall while the guards scoured the area. They finally concluded that someone had made a mistake and wandered away.

They didn’t even bother looking up in the tree!

A reasonable assumption, she thought. Since ordinary thieves probably didn’t practice bark climbing.

By the time she climbed back down and snuck off to a side gate, it was past the time she said to meet.

Keeping some bushes between her and the main house, she pressed her face to the bars of the little back door.

“Hello? Are you there?”

There was a brief silence. Then a rustling as someone stepped away from the opposite wall of the alley and closer to the gate.

Someone covered head to toe in a heavy cloak.

“Isn’t that hot?”

“I thought it was you. How did you get a message to me?”

Em grinned. Mister Ben sounded grumpy as ever. And he must’ve booked it to fly this far on time, so he was probably tired, too.

“Good to see you, too,” she said cheerfully. She put a finger to her lips. “As for the message, that’s a secret. I don’t know if I’ll be able to use it again, so I’m glad you came. Did you bring it?”

He sighed.

“Did you really find him?”

Em huffed. Getting anything done with all this suspicion was annoying. Neither of them wanted to show their cards but… he was hopeful enough to come.

Or desperate enough.

That was something.

“I’ll tell you on good faith. Yes, I found him. Lady Arnold is the daughter of a very rich merchant in the Caviet Dukedom. He helped fund some of the war, I think, so he got a knight’s title or something. Oh, and they’re somewhere closer to the capital than to lycan border. There’s only one arena in Caviet, so it should be easy to find him from there.”

Mister Ben let out a slow, measured breath.

His relief was so palpable that Em relaxed with him. She grinned.

“I talked to him, too. I couldn’t tell him anything, but he seemed like he was in ok shape.”

“You… talked to him?”

“Yes.” She paused.

Waiting for the lycan to absorb the information. When she thought enough time had passed, she reached through the bars and poked his arm.

“Soo… Did you bring it?”

“Why do you want it?”

“You haven’t found a way to sell it yet. I can set that up for you. But I need a sample to prove my claim when I talk to my contact.”

“You told me where to find his Highness. Why do we need to sell Azuremere?”

She grunted and looked at him like he was stupid.

“Duh. How’re you going to buy him back? Or any of your people? Frankly, we don’t know what the situation is. I mean, he should have been confined to the arena, right? But he was here, at the Capital, instead.”

Em saw the flash of white teeth as he grinned dangerously back.

“Maybe we’ll just break him out.”