"What horse?"
"Whisper. I got her for you at market on the day you left. But she was an old mare. I'll find a better Whisper."
“You bought me a horse!? Is she all right?" It was the first I'd heard of this horse, and now I remembered how I had told him I dreamed of having a horse just before I learned of his bad intentions. I told him my name for the horse and he made fun of it.
But he got me Whisper…
"I am sure no harm came of her being left behind in Etherium," Variel said. "I untied her before departing and she likely went back home."
"I'll fry the fish," I said. "Although it would serve you right having to eat stew and making a mess after you wouldn't help Jameson."
"I thank you, my lady." He nodded and I was already thinking about how to season the fish when he stopped and said, "Will you really not forgive me until I've apologized for every last thing? Even Jameson?"
"I'm not sure I'll ever be satisfied! Certainly not in the way you want me to be satisfied. But...that would be a nice start."
“I think…I would very much like to satisfy you thoroughly,” he said. “And so, I will confess that I should not have forced Jameson to stay a harpy. He’s a very fine actor.”
“Yes—yes, he is.” I wished I hadn’t put the word ‘satisfied’ in the conversation. When he was nearly naked, it was hard not to think about the other ways a man with a body like his could satisfy a woman.
As he left, I was grinning, but I didn't realize it until Dahl came back in and I quickly wiped it off my face before she had any ideas.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jenny
I don't know how it had happened, exactly, but my best efforts to push Variel away had failed, and I couldn't help feeling pride and happiness when we had dinner on the ship together and I brought out the strawberry shortcakes.
"We have strawberries on a sailing ship?" Piers said.
"Only today. I used them up."
"And in winter, too," Bevan said.
"They's shipped right up from yon warmer climates just ‘cross th’ sea from La Serenissima," the captain said, or at least, I think he said something like that. "This dessert looks rightly fine, I mus’say."
"Dahl said you don't like them too sweet, sir, so I made you strawberries with only a pinch of sugar," I said, giving the captain hiw own dish. "And these are for you, Variel." I made Variel's into bite-sized cakes so they were easier for him to eat. I had dusted Piers' portion with cocoa powder.
"And what makes mine special?" Bevan asked.
"Yours are made with love," I said, as I put a dish in front of him.
The captain had asked all of us who were traveling on to the temple to eat in his private quarters. I think it was a matter of courtesy and not because he enjoyed our company.
If I had done my job right, the dessert would brighten his mood and make everyone feel more cheerful. I watched expectantly, barely touching mine, waiting to see if Piers’ serious face, the captain’s grouchy old man face, or Variel’s rather stubborn misery, would change one bit.
Variel had eaten his fried fish, bones and all, in a matter of minutes, spearing them on a claw and crunching them with his sharp teeth. He had looked a little embarrassed about his barbarian meal. But now he plucked each small cake between his claws and ate them slowly, making sure to enjoy them.
Piers and Bevan had spent most of the meal discussing their research, and they kept at it after telling me that the shortcake was delicious.
“What’s wrong, toadlet?” Bevan asked, when I finally started poking at mine.
“I tried to make the shortcakes magical,” I said. “Just a test. They were supposed to bring happiness, but none of you look any happier.”
“I’m definitely happier,” Piers said. “They’re delicious, and I don’t even really like strawberries. We’re just preoccupied…” His eyes drifted back to his book.
“Don’t worry,” Bevan said. “You’ll learn when we go back to La Serenissima.”
“If we do. What if I die at the Lost Isles? I wanted to do it on my own. But it’s okay. It was just…an attempt.”
“I forbid you from considering these shortcakes a failure,” Variel said. “It can’t be easy to cook on a ship, but they’re as perfect as anything you’ve ever made us.”
“I expect you’re just feeling your mortality,” Bevan said. “You’re not used to danger. And you haven’t had any fighting experience except the once, and it didn’t go very well. But I promise you, there’s a lifetime ahead to learn more.”
“That’s right,” Piers said. “Some of us have more experience fighting but are struggling a lot more with being decent people.”
They all made me feel cheerful, as it turned out. Somehow, the warm feeling I had when I looked out at Variel's cabin next to ours was back. It felt like I had a family again.
Six days into the journey, we reached the port where Cash was waiting for us.
"Bevan! Good to see you!" Cash saw us from the decks of his ship. He turned into a cat and ran right down a rope to the docks to get to us quickly. Turning back into a man, he gave Bevan a hug with a back slap. He had Daisy’s light brown skin and dark curls that weren’t as loose as Bevan’s, but they actually looked a little like cousins. I wondered if it had more to do with bats and cats having a similar vibe. ”So you're a lone familiar now, too."
"Not very 'lone'," Bevan said. "This is my...interesting team. And this is Jenny, my beloved."
I blushed. That was such a sweet way to introduce me. "Nice to meet you, Cash. You were Daisy's familiar?"
"Yep. How's she doing?"
"Good," Bevan said. "Still very Daisy, but good."
"I would hope to hear nothing less," Cash said. "It wasn't an easy decision to leave her. I guess that's why I say 'lone' and not 'free' or something like that. It leaves a little hole in me."
I nodded, but Bevan said, "I've been doing as much research as I can, and I'm starting to think that no familiar should be tied to a wizard. Even the happy ones."
"What--really?" Cash looked slightly alarmed. "I wouldn't have left Daisy, if I hadn't fallen in love with a boy who was leaving on a ship." He waved us to the gangplank, which someone was lowering as we were talking.
"Yes, but how many things did you hold back from doing because of Daisy?" Bevan said, with that new intensity he had sometimes.
Piers and Variel followed us at a distance, keeping quiet.
"A lot," Cash finally said, after a bitter pause. "But...I was a restless familiar."
"Yeah--aren't we all?" Bevan pressed. "And if we're not, do we just choke it all down from the time we're born? It's not like anyone would stand up for us if we wanted to rebel. We don't even have parents. Jenny is the perfect example. She just cooks and cleans and smiles through her pain. She can hardly get mad if she tries."
"I love to cook," I said, feeling the tiniest bit offended. “And I wouldn’t say I’m in a lot of pain.” Still, I knew Bevan was right about a lot of this. I wished I could have always been working in a proper bakery and not just for Mrs. Franch.
"Yeah, I get it," Cash said. "But do you want to completely abolish the partnership? That's not what Daisy said when she conveyed your mission to me. Daisy is family to me. I wouldn't trade our growing up together."
"It needs to be done, to put things right," Bevan said. "I think what we'll find in this temple is that our ancestors were forced into this. Helena is my family too, and that won't change, but I don't think any familiar should be bound to a wizard's side."
"Wizards growing up without familiars...," Piers murmured behind us.
"Well, it didn't work out well for Chester," Bevan said.
"You're right, but without him..."
"It shouldn't be the responsibility of our race to be friends or helpers to wizards," Bevan said. "And I don't think we should be indebted to the faeries either. We should have our own realm, our own families, our own culture..."
"Bevan, that's going pretty far
,” I said. "What have you been reading? We can't survive on our own. We need friends and allies. The faery queen needs friends and allies too. That's why she's given us all this help."
Cash nodded at me. "I'm here to help Queen Morgana. I'll get you to the temple, and I don't want familiars to be slaves either, but...there must be a better way to handle it than trying to go it alone, which would probably lead to wars. And why make war when you can make better things?"
Bevan's intensity frightened me. But I had to admit, it excited me too. Deep down, the connection I felt with Bernard felt more like a shackle than anything.
As Bevan grew more fierce, as he changed from the sweet bat shifter who lived alone in a cottage minding his own business to someone with ambitions and an anger burning inside him, I wondered if he might be right after all. If he was the man who could set Celeste free, so completely that I never thought of Bernard again.
“Well, let’s give you a quick tour,” Cash said, waving us on. "I'm afraid we'll all have to pitch in and work," Cash said. "Not many people want to sail to the Lost Isles, not even for a reward. It's just the three of us, the four of you, and a handful of other men who don't have much to lose, I guess. This is Finn, and this is Lorian, my bond-mates."
"Oh...you have a wife at home?" I asked.
"No, it's just we three," Finn said. "Lorian and I wed in an arranged marriage, but I was already interested in Cash. This is Lorian's father's ship, and...we better come back alive, because we haven't said a word to him about all this.”
Lorian was a small, androgynous boy in an outfit reminiscent of an old-time newspaper boy, and Finn was a tanned, trim fae fellow with a quietly heroic quality that made him seem protective of the other two, even when there was nothing to protect them from.
"We'll come back alive," Bevan said firmly. "This is Lord Variel the Devourer. He's a high demon."
"I could have guessed," Finn said. "I hope you don't bite, Variel."
"I have vowed to reform myself," Lord Variel said. “Jenny was fated to be my toad bride, but I betrayed her trust, and now all I can do is prove myself to her with strength.”
"Variel!" Gosh, does he have to announce that to people we just met? "A witch told Variel that he was fated to marry a toad shifter," I told them. "And he's not a subtle person."
"High demons usually aren't," Cash said.
"I can be very subtle if I had need of it," Variel said, "but I see no need to hide my intent. You all know it, in any case. I wouldn't be here if not for my affection for Jenny. Jenny has cursed me to wear the guise of a monster, and I must prove to my lady that I am worthy of my true form."
"He's intense," Lorian said. "But I think you'll want as much intensity and devotion as you can get on this trip, for any reason. I'm the only one here who has been near the Lost Isles, and be honest, I didn't want to take the job, even for a good reason. When I was young, my father veered off course with the whole family on board, and we realized he was being lured by some weird magic."
"I thought magic was limited in the Lost Isles," Piers said. "Isn't that why they're lost?"
"Weeeell, it's more that the magic is impossible to control or predict," Lorian said. "They say that everything that lives there either used to be a magic being that stopped believing in magic, or a human who started believing in it so intensely that they got lost. I’m not sure if that’s quite true, but everything there is sort of caught on the edge of madness from being not quite of either world. So, it's..." He shivered. "It's hard to really describe. It used to be a very fine place, I think. But not now."
"Interesting," Piers said.
Interesting? It sounded pretty scary, the way Lorian put it.
"And who are you?" Lorian asked, offering a hand to Piers. "Handsome devil, aren't you?"
"He really is," Finn said. "Is it too soon to ask which way you swing?"
"He's on our ship, so it's never too soon," Cash said, winking at Piers.
"It's Piers Nicolescu," Bevan said.
Cash almost spit up his own tongue. "What--what kind of glamour is that? Why didn't you say so before I made myself look like an idiot? We were just joking, by the way!"
"I'm sorry," Bevan laughed. "I was about to get to that part of the story, but..."
Piers looked like he wanted to melt into the deck. "I can probably help with navigation," he said. "Or even some water and wind magic, for short periods."
"Great, great, but why are you traveling with Piers?"
"Who is Piers?" Lorian asked.
"He's that guy I told you about, the one on the council that everyone hates.”
“Ohhh,” Lorian said, eyes widening.
Poor Piers.
"You really were on your way to becoming a demon yourself, weren't you?" Variel said to Piers later, after we had settled in and had a light dinner of a stew leftover from the ship’s cook (who had departed at the dock where we came on). Cash, Finn and Lorian were sharing drinks and a game of dice, which wasn’t of much interest to our group, so we all headed for our beds together. ”You have angered every person we meet on our travels."
"Unlucky coincidence," Piers said. "But...I suppose it is probably true. Every sensible wizard hates me. And yet, with this face, apparently I could change my name and I would be...liked."
"It's so strange," I said. "Everyone likes your face even though they don't know you, and they are even offering to take you as a lover, but once they find out who you are, they hate you again." I looked at Bevan.
"What are you looking at me for?"
"I thought you were handsome when I first met you. But I really think it's because I could tell you have a nice personality. Isn't it strange that people like Piers when they actually hate him once they know who he is?"
"It isn't just good looks that matter," Bevan said. "Maybe...Piers has a different personality these days."
"I'm trying," Piers said. "I don't think it's going well."
"I think it's going fine," Bevan said. "If you still wanted power as much as before, you wouldn't be on this trip. I don't think there's anything in it for any wizard."
"Oh!" I grabbed Piers’ hand. "I think I get it. I need to talk to Piers alone for a moment, because he told me some things in confidence before and I don't know if he wants everyone to hear them."
"It probably doesn't matter now," Piers said, but I took him into a room alone anyway.
"That's exactly it," I told him. "What Bevan was saying. I know why my subconscious made you so pretty now. You are a different person."
"I'm definitely not a pretty person."
"You told me that when you were a kid, your parents and other kids judged you for being scrawny, and worse, for Chester. It must have been so frustrating to feel like you wouldn't be taken seriously because your familiar was cute and male. I know kids do tease about that kind of thing. Pretty meanly, too. Bernard and I were kids once. I know boys need to have a cool familiar, like a bird of prey or a lizard or something, or they get made fun of eternally, and that it’s considered effete if your cute familiar is a boy, on top of it. There was a boy in Bernard’s class who had a male dove as his familiar, and that poor kid never had a chance.”
“All true." Piers let out a single, dry laugh. "So...you're telling me this is my chance to be judged on my character only, because everyone assumes very attractive people are more worthy."
"Yes. This is your chance to shake all that off."
"And then...what? When I've learned my lesson, I get my old face back, and my mangled body? When I've finally gotten used to being a person that others respect and find charming?"
"I...I don't know how it works," I said. "It's not my spell. Queen Morgana told Variel he had to find his way back to his old body. So maybe you just won't find your way back."
"I'm afraid to get used to it..."
"Well..." I chewed a nail. "Piers, to be honest...I like your old body just as much. It was more...real, or--or interesting. I mean, I can certainly see why you would want two hands, b
ut your face wasn't so bad at all."
"I wish you wouldn't be so nice to me," he said huskily.
"I wouldn't want to not be nice to you," I said. "I'm never going to stop being nice to you."
"I told Bevan I would never get between you and him...and I won’t, but your kindness is agony."
"Agony?"
"I'm sure you mean nothing. You have generosity to spare for everyone you meet. But I've never..." He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have even said anything."
I had a quivering, funny feeling in my gut. I understood what he meant, too late. "All this is new to me," I said. "Being around people. Men."
"Well, that's why it's our job to control ourselves," Piers said. "I've never cared about anyone before. It's harder than I expected to accept that you..."
"That I what?"
"You really need those lines filled in?"
I bit my lip. "No."
The room suddenly darkened. Clouds had passed over the ship.
"A storm already?"
"Don't worry," Piers said. "I'll go see what I can sense out. The weather is going to be rough for this leg. At least, compared to what we got used to..."
It was true; the seas were starting to grow choppy. The ship was rolling on them, and I stumbled on my way to the door. Piers came out right behind me and headed for the navigation room. "Just stay down here," he told me. "It'll pass."
I wanted to do my part, of course. I headed right for the kitchen and started trying to make some dinner, as the ship kept roiling, and my stomach with it. It was getting worse by the moment and the swells were making me nauseated.
I didn't even want to think about eating, but I forced myself to plant my feet, plunk a big heavy bowl on the counter, and mix up some biscuit dough.
It was about halfway blended when I feared I might vomit. I got on the floor, holding a pail.
Bat Out of Hell (Promised to the Demons Book 2) Page 12
