The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 38

"So..." Rath left that single syllable hanging in the air for a moment. "That was a short shopping trip."

"Mother saved some of Iris' clothes," Char replied.

"I knew it." Rath slouched back against the sofa, a sour expression on his face. "That means you're still on the hook the next time she wants one of us to go shopping with her."

Char snorted. "Tell her that. She'll take whichever one of us she wants."

"True." Rath sighed. "Are we going out this weekend?"

"No."

"Come on! We haven't gone anywhere since getting Iris out of here."

"Nothing's been stopping you."

"Except pity for my lovesick little brother, moping around, thinking about his girlfriend all the time. But she's back now, so why not?"

Char rolled his eyes. "Well, we still have to keep her hidden, for one thing."

"That doesn't mean you and I can't go."

"You really I'm leaving her alone here while I go off and party?"

"No, I guess not. You're pretty stuck on her." A mischievous smirk crawled across Rath's lips and lit up his blue eyes. "Hey, you know what we can do? I can go out and give you two some privacy, and you can crack open a bottle here and have your own little party."

Often, Rath's enthusiasm was contagious, but Char couldn't catch it this time. "Yeah. Right. When she's still recovering from what that mage did to her."

Three weeks. Three weeks of Micah torturing and manipulating her. Touching her.

The picture flashed through Char's mind again of how he'd found Iris, unconscious, with the mage sitting at her side and stroking her hair. As if he cared at all for the girl he was abusing.

"You didn't know," Rath said, pulling Char out of his dark thoughts. "He's been fooling everybody his whole life."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"Then how about this?" Rath leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "Covert operations aren't Kelnor's thing. That's all us. And we're the ones who'll have to do it, anyway, since we have natural hair and eye color for humans. So. Ever been to the human capital city?"

Char shook his head, and then he thought of something. "Actually, yes. Father took me once. I had to have been fresh out of flight school."

"Inside information. Perfect."

"Not exactly. We were nowhere near the castle, and I don't remember much of anything."

Rath waved his hand. "It'll all come back to you. So, we go as soon as she recovers?"

Char rolled his eyes. "Little problem with that. The war? We can't just fly in."

"Covert. Operations. We fly in as close as we can, and we go on foot the rest of the way."

"We're talking about days of walking."

"Yeah."

"Without flying."

"So?"

"You'll hate it."

Rath grinned. "Probably."

A reluctant smile came to Char's lips. "Okay. If Kelnor doesn't come up with something better—"

"Which he won't."

"Then we do it our way."

"Yep." Rath leaned back against the sofa, interlaced his fingers behind his head, and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. "I should look Misa up before we go."