Chapter 37
discipline
Annika filed into the thatched roof house after dressing with the other girls, and together everyone sat down at the table to a simple breakfast of porridge with toast and jam. It was one raucous household, and the energy only grew more heightened when Ohan presented his wife with the contract and signed it in his own blood before all of his witnesses. Now it was only Aghavni who needed convincing.
“Ohan, my dear, as much as I would love a romantic escape with you, if we go away for a few days, how do you expect to uphold your end of the deal?” she asked. “Those chairs must be fixed within a week. I’m surprised you even signed this contract.” But as soon as she looked at Runa’s smile, along with everyone else’s, she understood that another deal had been made under the table while she had been setting it.
“I suppose I can’t argue with you. I had no idea how much you wanted to settle the score with the Pazachi or I would have included a few more tasks on that list,” said Aghavni as she realized her husband might have gotten the best of her. She still wasn’t sure about leaving her brood for so long.
“I’ve never left them with anyone but my parents or Ohan’s family,” she told the group. “Are you certain you’re confident? It’s really quite an undertaking, what you’re offering.”
“As my wise little brother said earlier this morning,” reasoned Justinian. “If we can’t manage to keep your sons out of trouble for a few nights, what business do we have finding the Pazachi?” Aghavni chuckled a little to herself and nodded in agreement.
“And Hilda and Finn are great with children,” Yuri said happily. “They watch my niece and nephew all of the time.” Aghavni sighed as though she had been defeated, but there was a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth.
“I suppose I must pack a few things then, if we are to leave this very morning,” she said. The samodivi and Annika cleared the dishes from the table while Ohan showed Justinian and Nikola all that was required to care for his beloved sheep. When they returned, Ohan rang the gong and the boys ran inside, groaning with disappointment when the table was not laid out with a breakfast feast like the previous night. But Chivanni and Dardis had only just returned, and there hadn’t been time to enchant the porridge pot with fairy magic.
“Now listen here!” Ohan boomed. “Your mother deserves a vacation, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re leaving them in charge, and if you give any of our guests any trouble, you’ll be sorry!” He turned to his wife, who was giving Hilda last minute tips on how to get baby Sedem to sleep.
“Are you ready, my love?” he said sweetly, as though he hadn’t just been screaming at the top of his lungs.
“As ready as I will ever be,” she replied, looking anxious. “Thank you again for watching the boys. I know I can trust you Marinossians…and your friends.” She gave a grateful wink to Yuri and Hilda and then she left with her husband.
Runa and Annika watched out the broken window as Aghavni and Ohan walked down the dirt path and into the trees, looking back a few times. The moment they’d disappeared, a fight among the eldest boys broke out and a wooden mug hit Annika on the side of the head.
“Holy shit! What have we gotten ourselves into?” she groaned to Runa as she rubbed her head and looked for the perpetrator. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Let’s see, what needs to be done first?” Runa said, glancing at the place.
“Oh, I don’t know; everything?” Annika grumbled, still irritated about her head.
“Of course, silly! I thought I could wash the walls, but I need clean rags. And I need water before we can clean laundry or wash dishes.”
“We’re not going to get anything done while these maniacs are in here,” Annika said, trying to recall some tricks she’d used when babysitting army brats. She bravely walked over to the brawling trolls who were taller than her and twice as wide, and whispered something in Edno’s ear. Edno grabbed a pail and ran out the door. The others quickly followed suit, and the silence that followed was golden.
“What just happened? What did you say to him?” Zaven asked. Annika just laughed.
“I told them whoever could find me a sea monkey would get extra pie after supper, but since sea monkeys are so small and only live in the water, I’d need them to bring me a pail at a time for inspection.”
“What’s a sea monkey?” Runa asked innocently.
“It’s a brine shrimp; you send away for them in the mail and then grow them at home in water.” Her explanation produced a few oddball looks, but she was used to those by now. “It’s just something you do where I’m from,” she said with a shrug. “Anyway, we’ll have a ton of water in a little bit.”
“Well, whatever a sea monkey is, that was brilliant,” Hilda said, astonished. Sedem hiccupped and head-butted her gently until she set him on the ground.
“From what I’ve seen so far, these boys have no structure,” Justinian observed. “They clearly don’t help with any chores. We should assign them tasks that put their strong bodies to work. Goodness knows they’ll be less rambunctious if they’re tired. I just don’t know the best way to go about it.”
“You have to make it fun, or they’ll see right through you,” Annika told him. “And if we bribe them with treats all the time, they’re going to expect to be rewarded for something they should be doing already.”
“Edno and Dve could come with me and chop wood,” Finn offered. “I think they’re plenty old enough to be doing that on their own. If I can inspire a little competition between them it might make them keep at it. It always worked for Talvi and I.”
“And Tri and Chetri can help clean the barn while Pet helps me feed the sheep,” Nikola added.
“Sedem’s too little to do anything, but what about the other two?” Hilda asked.
“We’ll have them work around the house with us,” Dardis piped up. She seemed in a much improved mood since her fight with Talvi earlier that morning. “There are a lot of things that my magic can take care of. It’s too bad they run off all the local fairies; they wouldn’t have so much work if they were more welcoming to them.” Runa gave a little snort and the others turned to see what she found so funny.
“Well that’s one way to dust this place,” she giggled, looking up in the rafters at Chivanni.
“Oh this is just disgusting! This will not do at all,” Chivanni huffed as he pulled cobwebs off his wings. The oldest six children had managed to bring twelve pails of water back to the house, spilling only a few drops.
“Do you see the sea monkeys?”
“Who gets the pie?”
“I have more water than you, you idiot!”
“So? I have more sea monkeys than you do, you buffoon!”
“I’m going to win all the pie and not give you any!” they argued amongst each other.
“It’s going to take me some time to find the monkeys; that’s how small they are,” Annika told them. “So while you’re waiting, I need you to help us with some ch— um, with some stuff.” She pointed Edno and Dve towards Zaven and Finn, while Tri and Chetri were sent along with Nikola and Justinian. Hilda had Pet and Shez gather up all the dirty dishes and clothes while Sariel heated water to wash all the laundry. Yuri stitched socks and shirts and pants all day long, accidentally stabbing her fingers more times than she could remember. When the middle two children returned from the barn, they were put to work laying out the flagstones to make a nice path to the door that didn’t track in so much dirt.
Hours passed, and while Chivanni happily toiled away in the kitchen, the girls made a huge dent in the pile of dirty laundry. The house looked so much better already with its scrubbed walls, cobweb-free rafters, and dusted shelves. Finally it was time for dinner, and rather than ringing the loud gong and scaring away all the birds and wildlife around, Annika took it upon herself to let the others know.
She found Finn and Zaven in the forest with Edno and Dve. After a day of hauling dead and dying trees out of the
woods near the home she expected them to be exhausted, but Edno and Dve were clearly enjoying the brotherly competition.
“Dinner’s ready, guys. And if you’ve been really helpful today, I made a peach tart with your name on it.”
“I’m not coming in until I cut this last tree down,” said Dve as he chopped furiously.
“I’m still going to finish before you,” Edno boasted as he chopped even more furiously.
“I tell you what, lads,” Finn said in a kind but firm voice, “Neither of these trees is going anywhere. If you both stop chopping and take the time to eat a proper meal and get a good night’s rest, just imagine how reinvigorated your strength will be in the morning?”
Edno and Dve seemed to like the idea and eyed each other suspiciously, but neither of them wanted to be the first to walk away
“Well, I suppose I could wait here a bit longer to see who wins,” Zaven grinned. “Or…I could go back to the house right now and have dinner and a piece of peach tart while the two of you are still out here chopping in the dark.” He started for the house, and within half a minute both boys had tossed down their axes and started running after him.
“At least they didn’t make a mad dash with these in their hands,” Finn observed as he stooped down to pick them up. The axes were as long as Annika was tall, and probably just as heavy. “Why don’t you keep me company while I put these away? The sun’s going down, which means Konstantin will be hunting soon. I’d prefer it if I had you by my side.”
“Yeah, I think I’d prefer that, too,” she nodded. A contented hum of agreement came from deep inside his chest, although he didn’t seem in a hurry to get back to the barn. Instead, he smiled softly at her, and then watched as Zaven and the boys raced to the house. All she could hear was the wind rustling through the trees. All she could see was the color of the sky changing, and golden light filtering past the bare branches and wisps of his loose curls. All she could feel was the sense that he’d been waiting forever and a day for this moment.
“Annika,” he said quietly, “I’ve been meaning to speak to you for some time now, but we’ve never had much privacy and I didn’t want anyone to overhear our conversation.”
“What do you want to talk to me about?”
With a gentle hand, he touched her shoulder and coaxed her to walk with him.
“It’s about the things you asked me back on the ship. I’ll be the first to tell you that nearly everything Nikola told you about Talvi is true.” She looked up at him and was surprised to see such gravity and concern in his normally worry-free face. “My brother has done some despicable things in his past.”
“Like stealing Zenzi from Nikola?”
“Unfortunately, that example is only one of many,” he acknowledged. Their feet crunched in the fallen leaves as they slowly made their way to the barn. “I really do know everything about him, both the bad and the good. When I said the way he treats ladies was a defense mechanism, I absolutely meant it. And sometimes the best defense is a good offense.” He looked at the two axes with a thoughtful expression before turning to face her as they walked through the dusky woods. “Talvi was always terrified of falling in love, and now that he has, he understands how much it can hurt. But his situation is incredibly more complicated than it appears. He’s been at the game of fox-and-hare for so long, I wouldn’t doubt it if he used some of the same tactics on you. I’m certain he showered you with a healthy dose of that abhorrent charisma which he’s notorious for.”
“He did,” Annika admitted as they came to the barn. “And it worked. I didn’t even last twelve hours before we were making out.”
“Making what?” Finn asked while he held the door open for her.
“Kissing,” Annika said quickly before stepping inside. “I fell for it just like all the other girls, but then he got all weird and blew me off like he wasn’t interested. I mean, if you’ve got the girl hooked, why not reel her in all the way?”
“You mean that day he went out to meet you and the samodivi in the woods?” Finn asked while he shut the door behind him. “But I thought he told you the reason why. You mean to tell me that you don’t you know what he saw when he first kissed you?” This was all news to Annika.
“No, he’s never mentioned it,” she said. Finn appeared as confused as she felt. Then he seemed annoyed.
“Oh bloody hell, I didn’t think this was how it was going to pan out,” he said, exasperated, “for the prophecy to be revealed to you in this manner, in a barn full of sheep. How…how ordinary.”
“I’m sorry—did you just say prophecy?”
“Yes,” he said. He carefully placed the axes in a storage bin off to the side, then stepped away from her and leaned against the door. He tossed his curls out of his face and studied hers through the dim light in the barn, then took a deep breath. “When my mother was carrying the twins, Dragana’s great-grandmother told my parents that their lives were going to change abruptly when they turned three hundred. They were both going to find their soul mates at the same time, and Talvi was destined for a girl from a distant land who was part samodiva. That’s what he saw when he kissed you. That’s probably why he didn’t—why he wouldn’t—well, you know,” he said awkwardly. “He didn’t want to believe the prophecy might actually come true. It would set so many things in motion; things that we still don’t understand; things we don’t want to understand.”
“So maybe that’s what he meant back in Sofia when he said he was wondering when he’d meet me,” Annika wondered out loud. “It was like he already knew we would.”
“Of course he knew,” Finn confirmed. “He’s known his entire life. And then you told him you were from America and you bore such a resemblance to Magda, that he knew the moment he met you. When you wrote your name on Sariel’s family tree, that sealed it in certainty. And granite, come to think of it.”
“So why did your dad get so touchy about telling me all this?” she asked as she tried to process this information. “It doesn’t seem like such a bad prophecy. It’s actually kind of awesome.”
“Well, it’s only his half of it,” said Finn, looking melancholic all over again. “Yuri is destined for a very different outcome.”
“Does it have to do with Vladislav and Konstantin?”
“I suspect it does, although there’s little I can do about it right now. However,” he paused to clear his throat, “there is something I can do right now regarding the discord between you and Talvi. I know you care for him very much, or you wouldn’t have had such a terrible argument on the boat.”
“Oh shit…you heard that?”
“I wasn’t eavesdropping, Annika,” he said gently. “The walls were paper thin. What my brother said to you was completely unacceptable, but if Hilda had said the things to me that you said to him, I might be just as difficult to be around. I know he’s told you how deeply he cares for you. I know he’d love little more than to rewrite his history, if only to allow you to see him for who he truly is.” He gave her a knowing nod and Annika felt overcome with guilt. She recalled her cheap shots at how often Talvi washed his sheets, or how lucky she was that he wanted a redhead that month, but she especially regretted the statement she’d made about only keeping him as her sex slave when he’d asked to be so much more to her.
“I don’t know what to do, Finn. I’m so confused,” she said with her head in her hands.
“You needn’t be. That’s only your mind getting in the way of your instincts and your intuition,” he said in his naturally kind and understanding way. “What does your inner voice tell you? What does your heart say?” He put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she was grateful that he was the one she was talking to. It seemed no matter what the situation, Finn shined a light on the unknown and made everything better. If his brother was really terrible, why did Finn care so much for his happiness? Why did Hilda and Runa adore him almost to a fault? If Talvi was such a rotten creature, how could he have had any friends at the Tortoise and Hare, or had the
kind of turnout he did at his birthday party? Those guests weren’t there for the free cake and wine; they spent the night pulling the birthday boy in every direction imaginable because they all wanted him…but he only wanted her. Annika suddenly had a flashback to the look on Talvi’s face during their conversation in the cargo area of the ship, of him asking if she loved him, of him asking her to let him love her. It felt like a test, and it felt like she might’ve failed it. She’d never had her heart broken to pieces, but then again, she’d never been so in love with someone that it was ever at risk of breaking. That’s why she couldn’t marry Danny—because she already knew what every single day of the rest of her life would be like with him. But a lifetime with Talvi? Every day could be completely different from the last one, and he’d definitely keep her on her toes. Maybe the reason she’d never found the right man was because she wasn’t supposed to settle down with one in the first place. She was meant to have wild adventures with her elven lover, like traveling down one side of the Americas and coming back up the other. She turned to Finn with a bittersweet look in her eyes.
“I know how I feel in my heart, but I don’t know what I can do about it. I have to go home; we all know that.”
“Yes.”
“And there’s no way I can live forever, right?”
“Only with the most powerful magic, and it’s typically of the darkest variety…which I don’t recommend. I would say you had a better chance of lassoing the moons.”
Annika was crestfallen. There seemed no easy answer, no guarantee. It appeared all she could do was live in the moment, and hope for the best.
“You know, Annika, we elves are not truly immortal,” he began. “Nothing is, not even unicorns. Even the mountains are eventually worn down to dust. None of us know the amount of time we have in this life. I could die tomorrow. So could you. Or, we might live a long life without ever having the adventure that is true love, simply because we were afraid to take a chance.” He glanced over at the sheep as if mustering the courage to go on, and when he caught her gaze again, there was a deep, genuine affection in his soft brown eyes. “Don’t let fear of the unknown douse your inner fire. Don’t let it turn you away from what may be the greatest thing in your lifetime. When I see the spark between you and Talvi, I can only hope that I’ll experience it for myself one day.”
“How can you say that when you have Hilda?”
Finn sighed and looked at her for a while longer, studying her face. There seemed to be so much more that he wanted to say. A cool shiver ran through her body and he put his arm around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder and took a deep breath, feeling calm almost immediately. It reminded her of the night when he’d persuaded her not to get in a fight with his cousin. Finn felt safe and warm, an infinite source of comfort.
“Perhaps I’m as protective of my heart as you are of yours,” he confessed. “Now let’s get back to the others, shall we? I believe there’s a peach tart with my name on it.”
Chivanni was the self-appointed head chef, and with his magic he easily multiplied the pie that was leftover from the other night. This way when the boys came in for dinner, they all received their reward for finding sea monkeys. But not without a fight.
“You don’t get any dinner until you wash your hands,” Yuri said. They just looked at her like she was crazy and headed for the set table. Dardis turned her palm up and lifted it in the air, causing everything on the table to levitate out of their reach. They looked at Dardis and Yuri with awe.
“I mean it. No clean hands, no dinner. And you may only eat with a spoon and fork. No more eating with your hands. My twin brother is right in that you are all very disgusting in your manners,” Yuri insisted with her hands on her hips. They grumbled a response, but remarkably, they did know how to use spoons, and sat about the floor devouring their dinner. When someone flung food across the room, Chivanni seized all of their bowls, floating them up to the ceiling.
“If you don’t like the food I cooked for you, you don’t get to eat it,” he told them when the boys began to whine. As soon as they realized that they would indeed like to finish their supper, and possibly have seconds, they apologized to the fairy.
“That’s more like it,” Chivanni beamed, and down the bowls came, back into their eager hands. Dinner went without further incident as the adults sat at the table and swapped stories of how productive the boys had been all day. But after a while Zaven had to ask what everyone was wondering.
“Say, does anyone know what happened to Talvi?” he asked. “Has anyone even seen him since this morning?” Annika just shook her head ‘no’ along with everyone else.
“I thought surely someone might have spoken to him,” Finn said, filling a bowl with rice and vegetables. “Did anyone see which direction he went?”
“He went East, that’s all I know,” Dardis said, picking at her food.
“Did he at least stop to apologize to you?” Yuri asked. The blue-haired fairy frowned a little, pushing a piece of carrot across her plate.
“No.”
“So, no one knows where he might have gone?” Justinian said irritably.
Right at that moment, the door swung open and Talvi sauntered in with his bow in one hand, and set it in the corner. It fell down as soon as he walked away from it, but he didn’t appear to have heard it hit the floor.
“And where have you been all day?” Finn asked in a patronizing tone.
“Getting warmed up the old-fashioned way, you might say. I neglected to bring my cloak with me, and it’s supposed to snow tonight,” Talvi said, carelessly grabbing a plate from the counter top. “Whass for dinner?” He fell into a seat directly across from Annika. Zaven wrinkled his nose. His cousin reeked of alcohol.
“Stir fried vegetables with rice, and a beet salad sprinkled with sheep’s cheese,” Hilda informed him.
“I hope to the gods that you weren’t the one who made it,” he groaned. Hilda looked greatly insulted, and at a loss for words, although there were a few stifled laughs from around the table.
“So what did you do to stay warm?” Annika asked him, giving her best smile. But when he looked at her, his malicious expression drained all of her happiness.
“Well,” he began to spoon rice onto his plate, spilling more onto the table than he managed to get on his dish, “I ran into some very old friends.”
“And you didn’t invite them to dinner?” Dardis frowned. “That was rude, but then you’ve been on such a streak lately…”
“Oh, I invited them alright. They said,” his mouth curled upwards into a smug, lecherous grin, “they were coming right after me.” Right then there was a knock at the door, and he rose once again to answer it. Besides the fact that he was loaded, there was something else not quite right with the way he looked, but Annika couldn’t put her finger on it. There was some indecipherable talking as he was greeted with slender arms wrapping around his hips. Two petite and beguiling creatures stepped into the house, all but draping themselves on either side of him. The young women wore leather pants with fringe running down the backs of their calves and a red sash belted around long olive green shirts that laced up both sides. Their long hair was dark brown and their skin quite tan, with small noses and almond shaped eyes. They were absolutely gorgeous.
“Vrazneet elansee, Finn?” one of them asked in a strange tongue.
“Chabi?” Finn whispered, wide eyed. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. The taller girl let go of Talvi and slinked over to Finn, and climbed right into his lap.
“Oolam nezdroit,” she sighed in his ear, curling her fingers under his jaw the way one might win over a cat. The other girl kept her arm around Talvi as he led her back to the table to sit beside him. Finn looked helpless and flustered with the seductive woman in his lap, an expression that he wasn’t accustomed to wearing.
“This is Chabi and her friend Cherbi, everyone,” he informed quickly, which only made Hilda glare at him even more in disapproval, if that was possible. Not only
did Finn have this woman fawning over him, but he knew them both on a first-name basis?
“I know who they are,” Sariel said. She set down her fork and crossed her arms as she scowled at the guests. “They’re the Samodivi of the East.” Chabi said something to Sariel in her language and Runa appeared intrigued. The seductive woman in Finn’s lap stood up and reached into a satchel she was wearing, then pulled out a tall, narrow bottle of dark liquid. Then she pulled out another, and then another, until she had six of them sitting in a row on the large table.
“Is that what I think it is?” Runa cried in delight and clapped her hands merrily. “Is that how you kept warm today?”
“It most certainly is,” Talvi replied, gloating at Annika as he put his arm around Cherbi’s waist. Runa hopped up to find enough glasses for everyone, with Hilda happy to join her.
“I didn’t know they still made this,” said Finn, examining a bottle astutely to keep Chabi from sitting back down in his lap. “Do you even know how rare it is?”
“What is it?” Zaven asked naïvely.
“Only the finess blackberry fairy brandy in exissence!” Talvi slurred, yet he still managed to expertly uncork one of the bottles. “Father would juss die if he knew I had six bottles given to me, not counting what I’ve already had. It’s not as though we kept track of time” He poured everyone a small glass, taking care to serve Runa and Dardis first, and Annika last. She lifted her glass halfheartedly as Runa made a toast in honor of the bumper blackberry crop that summer, and of running into old friends. Annika wanted desperately to talk to Talvi in private about the advice Finn had given her, so she stared into his bloodshot eyes, trying to convey her urgency.
Talvi, I need to talk to you! I need to talk to you right now!
“Ah…so now you wanna talk?” he slurred again, as he swirled the brandy in his glass. “Issa little late for that, don’t you think?” He tilted his head back and swallowed the rest of the dark liquid in one gulp. Cherbi stood up to give him a refill, and Annika felt her stomach lurch. There on the wood nymph’s little waist, was his belt. Justinian stood up to excuse himself, setting his empty dessert plate beside the sink.
“I’m going to need a few extra hands feeding the sheep,” he said, trying to act casual, but Annika knew for a fact that the sheep had been fed. “In particular, yours, yours, yours…and you three as well.” He had pointed to Nikola, Sariel, Zaven, Finn, Yuri and Annika.
“Oh, I want to help feed the sheep too!” Runa called, but Justinian shook his head.
“Someone needs to help Hilda tuck those boys into bed,” he said as his selected helpers went to join him. “We won’t be long.” He motioned to Hilda, who had already begun ushering the sleepy children twice her size to their bedrooms.
When Annika and the others stepped outside, Justinian only took a few steps away from the house. He clearly had no intention of feeding the sheep a second time, either.
“I don’t wish to have this conversation, but it seems there is no alternative,” he said with all the leadership of a knight who had survived numerous battles. He turned to Yuri and Finn with a serious expression. “I thought your brother would come back with his head on straight, not pickled with fairy brandy.”
“He’s breaking up the morale,” Nikola pointed out. “I don’t think he has any intention of apologizing to Dardis. He would be better off entertaining wood nymphs at home.”
“How do you know those two, anyway?” Sariel asked Finn suspiciously. “I thought I’d met all of your family’s friends, though I never thought the Marinossians would be the type to associate with the Samodivi of the East.”
“I didn’t think we were the type to associate with them, either,” Yuri said, looking shocked at her brother. “I’ve certainly never met them before.”
“Well,” Finn stammered nervously, avoiding her accusatory stare. “Let’s just say they’re old friends, and I haven’t seen them in ages.”
“All the more reason for me to have met them by now, wouldn’t you agree?” Sariel insisted, but Finn refused to elaborate. It seemed like there was a very long, very juicy story he didn’t want to tell.
“Someone’s got to do something about Talvi,” Zaven said irritably. “How can I trust him to have my back when I can’t trust him to stay sober? He’s not thinking of anyone’s safety…not even his own.”
“It’s not an exaggeration when I say he’s going to get someone killed,” said Nikola, standing beside his brother for solidarity. “This is exactly what we do not need. Our numbers are already at a disadvantage, even with Ohan joining us.”
“I’ve never seen Talvi like this,” Finn said, quite disturbed. “I’m really worried about him, but I can’t seem to reason with him.”
“It doesn’t seem like that’s an option anymore,” Sariel concluded. She was frowning even more than usual.
“If he leaves now, he can probably avoid any major snowstorms,” Nikola suggested.
“You can’t be serious!” Annika said in Talvi’s defense. “You want to send him through the Mesoyadna Forest alone, when winter’s practically here?”
“What are we supposed to do with him? Leave him here?” the druid asked her, siding with the paladin. “He’s volatile, unpredictable, and sullen at best.”
“And,” Sariel added, “have you seen him with children? He wouldn’t last ten minutes if he stayed here with Aghavni until we came back.”
“You’re wrong about that,” muttered Yuri. “He wouldn’t last five.” Finn didn’t look pleased with the consensus, but he looked less pleased with his brother’s antics.
“Don’t forget that he saved Nikola from the sirens,” Annika reminded them, still shocked that they were actually considering such a drastic move. “And he cut me out of the bloodwood’s roots! And he’s a perfect shot with his bow. Doesn’t that count for something?”
“Yes, but I’m concerned that it doesn’t count for enough. He’s becoming a liability,” Justinian said, crossing his arms.
“Let Annika speak with him,” urged Finn. “Please. For the sake of everyone here, just give him another chance. And give her a chance to help him make things right.” Justinian frowned at him before looking at Annika again. “I’d sure like to see how you intend to fix this mess,” he told her. “I’ll give you until Ohan and Aghavni return to change my mind. If he can redeem himself in the next three days, I’ll let him stay. I hope you’re the miracle worker Finn thinks you are, young lady,” Justinian continued sternly. “I’m a hard fellow to convince once my mind is made up!”
Without knowing what she was going to say or do, Annika walked resolutely to the door of the house, where she heard peals of laughter coming from within. She took a deep breath and stepped inside, where the Samodivi of the East, Runa, and Talvi were uncorking the fourth bottle. The boys had been asleep for a while now, and Hilda and the fairies had just finished washing the dishes.
“Look who decided to join us,” Talvi hooted. Cherbi was hovering in front of him, playing with his messy hair. She turned around and gave Annika a nasty sneer.
“I’m not joining you for cocktail hour,” Annika replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “We need to talk, and I’d rather not embarrass you in front of your friends.”
“Runa,” Hilda said firmly, “Don’t you think we’d better turn in for the night? There’s much more work to be done tomorrow and a case of pixie flu isn’t going to help.” Runa looked like she would have protested if her sister hadn’t taken such a firm tone in her suggestion. She reluctantly got up from the table, pouting the entire way to the door as the fairies floated behind her. Hilda paused only long enough to tell Annika, “I’ll come by in a bit to check on you.” Annika waited until the door had shut before she marched over to Talvi and his old friends.
“Get out,” she said to the nymphs. They looked at her incredulously. “I mean it. Get out. Leave. This isn’t your house and you’re not welcome here!”
“Ooh, I think she’s upset,” Talvi la
ughed. Annika wanted to slap him, but she knew what would be a more painful blow to both him and his guests. She reached out her arm and knocked the two remaining bottles to the floor, breaking them and spilling their precious contents.
“Sorry. My hand must have slipped,” she said as coolly as he’d said those same words to Nikola back in the cave. Talvi muttered something in a low voice to the samodivi and they picked up their sashes. Noses in the air, they headed towards the door.
“Not so fast,” Annika said, pointing to Cherbi’s waist. “That can stay here.” The nymph glared at her, unbuckled it, and let it fall to the floor before they walked out, cursing Annika in their native tongue. She locked the door and stepped in front of Talvi. He gave her his most lecherous smile yet.
“Aww, you wanted me all to yourself, is that it?” he smirked. “So did they. You modern wood nymphs really ought to learn to share. It makes things so much more interesting.”
That was it. She let her hand fly across his face so hard that it throbbed from the impact, but pain never felt so good as it did at that moment. She had once asked him if anyone had ever managed to slap the grin off his face, and it appeared that she had done just that.
“They’re sending you home, you asshole! Everyone wants you to leave!”
“Surely you jest, you saucy girl,” he said, while tonguing the blood that had appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“You think I’m kidding? Justinian thinks you’re going to get us all killed! I’m the only one who stuck up for you.”
“Thassa load,” he challenged her. “You would never do such a thing.”
“Oh really?” She stared into his eyes and played back the conversation in her head, where Annika had been the only one to remind the group of Talvi’s merits, and even Finn had pinned his hopes on her, not on his own flesh and blood. His smug expression faded and his eyes transformed into watery pools of blue and green. He hung his head in shame as she fetched him a glass of water.
“What am I doing?” he said, looking up at her. She put the glass in his hand.
“You’re shitfaced, you don’t know what you’re doing. Now drink this,” she instructed. He gulped the whole glass down and she got him another one. “You’re going to be sorry in the morning if you don’t finish it. And don’t drink it so fast.” She collected the broken bits of brandy bottles onto a plate as he watched from his place on the bench.
“Why are you being so kind to me? Why are you doing this?” he asked. Even though he was horribly drunk, even though he had just said terrible things to her, his moist eyes seemed to plead with the utmost sincerity.
“Because no one else wants to,” she said, feeling cold. She was wondering how far back his friendship went with the Cherbi and Chabi. Then she changed her mind. She didn’t really want to know. She set the plate of broken glass on the table and tossed some towels on the floor to blot up the brandy. When she looked up at him, he was smiling with a dreamy look in his eyes.
“I really didn’t think they made girls like you…I love you, Annika…do you know that? Why, I love you so much it hurts. Especially right here,” he said with a bewildered expression, and touched his bleeding mouth. She flinched hard, trying desperately not to laugh.
“You need some sleep. Come on.” She held out her hand and led him to the massive sofa in the living room near the fireplace. She unbuckled his boots and slid them off before covering him with the warm wool blankets. She sat beside him, hunched over with her chin in her hand, staring at her feet while he settled in under the covers. She was lost in her mind, in her confusion, wondering what to say to make everything better.
“Why are you so sad?” he asked. She thought about everything that Finn had said, and about how not even an hour ago she was finally ready admit that she loved him too. But it didn’t matter anymore, not when he’d spent all day doing who knows what to keep warm, how many different ways, with two beautiful wood nymphs.
“Annika? Why won’t you speak to me? Are we playing that bloody ignoring game again?”
“It’s not like you’re going to remember anything I say, so why should I waste my breath?”
“Tell me anyway,” he begged. “Come on…come on!”
“I just don’t understand how you can be so cruel. I can’t believe you brought those girls here after you…whatever. You have no idea how much it hurts inside, right now.”
“I know,” he sighed. “I’m such an idiot.”
“No you’re not. You’re really smart; that’s why it’s so frustrating to see you do stupid things.”
“I am an idiot,” he insisted, sitting up and trapping her in his arms. “I want you more than anything right now, but I can’t think of a way to make that happen.” Annika’s jaw dropped in revulsion. She tried to push him away, but he held onto her tightly.
“How can you say you love me right after you nailed Cherbi, or Chabi, or whoever?” she asked angrily, still squirming in his grasp.
“That was almost a hundred years ago. But if you think I fell for their tricks again, you’re quite mistaken.”
“So nothing happened today?” Annika asked. She stopped trying to escape him as his words sank in.
“No, but oh, how I thought about it!” he sang playfully in her ear. “Don’t you know the best way to get over a woman is to get under two more?”
“Well why didn’t you? They look like your type,” she said, appalled at his rationale. He snickered again and nuzzled into her neck. Despite herself, she felt shivers run down her arms.
“I told them that I was supposed to be getting married to a little red-haired samodiva in a few days,” he sighed in her ear. Another round of shivers broke out over legs as he went on. “They were so bloody brassed off when they saw I wasn’t lying. They thought they might change my mind with enough fairy brandy, but I think the joke’s on them!” He was now covering her neck with soft, wet kisses, which made it impossible for Annika to think straight. Then he fell backwards onto the massive cushions of the troll-sized sofa, pulling her down with him.
“You smell so good Annika. I love the way you smell. I love the way you feel. You’re so soft. You’re so sweet,” he said urgently, as he rolled on top of her and pressed himself against her body. “And I love how you taste.” His hand groped between her legs and he moaned in hunger. “Isn’t this how you want me to be? Your personal slave? Isn’t that how you put it?”
“Talvi, don’t.” She tried to push him off of her, but he was too heavy, too powerful. He drove his knee down between hers, forcing them apart.
“It’s not as though you’ll be wearing white on our wedding day, my little bride; you might as well let me have my way with you now,” he sighed while covering her face and neck with blood and alcohol-laced kisses. “Blast, my mouth hurts…why won’t you kiss it better?”
“Talvi, stop!” she tried to shout from under his weight.
“Don’t you want me?”
“Not like this!” she said as he pressed his forehead against hers almost as hard as he was pressing his hips into hers. His eyes were wild and possessed.
“I’ve known about you for my entire life…did you know that?” he confessed. “I used to think about you when I was a young lad, hundreds of years before we met. I wondered if you would be dark or light, short or tall, kind or cruel. And I’ve loved you ever since the day I saw you with that ridiculous book in your hand. Our souls were betrothed before the stars were born. Don’t you know that? Didn’t you even read my letter?”
“If you remember this conversation when you sober up, I’ll look into it,” she agreed, pulling his groping hands away. What the hell was he talking about?
“Mmm hmm. I’ll never forget it. I’ll never…ever…” he lay on his back, gave a content sigh, and promptly passed out.
Half an hour later, just as Annika was dozing off next to him, she heard Hilda slip into the house with Finn. She pretended to be asleep as they put another log on the fire. The sound of their quiet footsteps approaching
made her shut her eyes even tighter.
“How do you think it went?” she heard Hilda ask Finn from above.
“Dreadful,” he chuckled. “A total disaster.”
The Flame and the Arrow Page 37
