Page 23 of Tethered Thrones
They all emphasized you and Sun’s name, so there was not a shadow of a doubt about who they served and who they placed all their hope in now.
I shrank into myself and felt Bracken, Kiar, and, yes, even Hadi do the same. It was a special moment, a moment reserved for Sun and his human companions with no room for us in the equation. There had not been a moment since we were tethered that Sun felt separate from us, heart, body, and soul.
This feeling, this moment… It was lonely to be forgotten, even for a moment, as Sun said his farewells to his dearest friends, his heart on his sleeve, overflowing with the certainty that it would not be their last goodbye. He’d make sure of it, I knew.
I glanced at Hadi as the humans broke apart, and Sun crossed the invisible threshold separating Atlan and his allies from us. Even though other nocs’ emotions didn’t show on their skin like mine did, Hadi’s heart was clear to read, too.
He was horribly jealous, more so than Kiar and especially Bracken, and no matter what aide Sun’s companion had given us, he wanted nothing more to do with them. If Sun wouldn’t stab him in his aching heart for doing so, Hadi would probably dispose of the other nocs, and especially Atlan, brutally to sate his frustration.
But he couldn’t, no, wouldn’t. Hadi had changed, just as we had, willing to swallow his pride and play nice with those beneath him for Sun’s sake. For his affection, as Sun reached up and took Hadi’s hand.
“You’re right. I don’t want to go, but we mustn’t waste any more time.”
Sun didn’t turn around as he marched off in the other direction, joined first by Hadi, who coaxed and hoisted him onto his back, then Kiar, and finally Bracken. But I did, turning to see the departing backs of the humans and nocs, shocked to catch the gaze of the one noc who never crossed over to greet us, who had watched the whole awkward exchange silently.
Nguyen, the nightwing.
I expected him to be watching the others, those closer to his level, but he was watchingme. I hadn’t noticed; I was too wrapped up in our groups silent and not-so-silent exchanges. Nguyen smirked and slowly moved his lips as he noticed me becoming aware of him.
But no sound came out. He mouthed the words to me and then turned sharply on his clawed feet, joining the rest in the opposite direction.
I trembled in fear, shocked as Bracken’s claw tapped my cheek, leaping away from his grasping hand. I stared up at him, and he looked down at me curiously, grunting, “We must go. Are you tired? I can carry you too, Clem.”
“No, no,” I shook my head and quickly slipped my hand into his. We walked away quietly, but I couldn’t shake those wordsfrom my head. Coming from a total stranger, I had no idea why they were so devastating. Or, more importantly, how he knew.
Tsuki’s pathetic emissary; it’s a shame our fates are tethered to you.
I hung my head in shame because how could I deny what I was, or the magnitude of the purpose thrust upon me, an insignificant, lowly mothian?
That night,when we made camp, the atmosphere was almost hostile. Almost because Sun was utterly oblivious to our shared dark and puzzled mood. He floated with the wispy clouds in the night sky, determination in his gaze as he sharpened blood onyx blades and arrows given to him by his retreating companions, chewing on berries and venison as we sat around the crackling fire in tense silence.
It was as if we were ghosts again, invisible, as Sun immersed himself in strategic planning and weapon smithing while we stewed. I sat closest to him, Kiar wrapped around us both, reaching for Sun occasionally as if to drag our warrior into his lap. But Kiar’s hand would always flutter back to his side, biting on his bottom lip.
Hadi sat beside Kiar the best he could, his body crushing bushes and bending a sapling to the point I was sure it would snap. Bracken stretched out in front of us all, his expression still largely unreadable but still in a lousy mood reflecting ours.
I lifted my eyebrows at Sun, who yanked out a gourd, popped the cap, sniffed its contents, and grinned. The strong scent of berries filled the air, but the fermented kind.
I sighed.
“Drinking again?” Hadi asked, grumbling and shifting, his backside not used to roughing it in the wild, I was sure. And we had been for over a month now. Our king was usually pillowed in silk and the bones of his deceased enemies, not frostbitten, and exposed to the elements.
Compared to Sun’s neglect, I didn’t think the cold bothered him at all, to be honest. I could feel the way he was drifting from us, Sun’s mind and soul pulling away from the tether as Hadi desperately tried to weave his way around our knotted bonds and control them.
“Give me a break, Hadi,” Sun said between hearty gulps of the wine. “I just found my friends alive when I assumed them dead and I was given a shred of hope in this futile mission to slay the emperor by pleading with General Hideyoshi for help. Let me have my moment.”
Sun hiccupped as he took another long swig, surprising me as he had shown us, he could hold his liquor. How potent was the concoction the strangers had whipped up?
“Let me revel in the joy of this moment before we march back into war.”
Hadi had no retort for that, and we were again plunged into a deafening silence as Sun hummed and drank himself into a stupor. And he could without a worry in the world because even drunk, he was deadly. More deadly and vital than a worthless, pathetic mothian like me, tether or no tether. My mood went off a cliff at that sobering thought, and it had already been in a pit.
Why had Tsuki chosen me? Was my role truly just to form the tether and act as a perpetual dead weight to my bonded during this war?
“What are you thinking about, Clem?” Sun asked, slurring a bit as he shoved me with his shoulder. “The atmosphere is shitty enough. Usually, you offer me a smile when they’re in one of their unfathomable moods.”
Ah, so he could tell we felt terrible, at least.
“Thinking about how much I want to kiss you right now,” I said, a half-truth.