Raging Storm {book 2 in SOSfanfic series} [ON HOLD]

Everyone Is Tired

"I'm tired of waking up tired." Reyna rasped.

"And I'm tired of seeing you being tired of waking up tired." Koeyla replied as she slowly tipped the glass of cool water towards Reyna carefully opened mouth.

"I'm going to cry for your concern." Reyna droned.

A little smile slipped on Koeyla's face.
"No need to be sarcastic. I'm the one responsible to take care of you. You wouldn't want little..... accidents to happen."

Reyna audibly gulped. "You're good." She admitted.

Koeyla flashed her a grin before wiping her face free of any emotion save a look of utter innocence.
"I have no clue as to what you're talking about."

She left the room to Reyna's chuckles.

Mr. Ambrose stepped through the gauzy curtains and seated himself beside her bedside, a few feet away.
Reyna sensed something was off.

Soon enough, his glare met her curious gaze and she fought back a shiver. Mr. Ambrose had always been cold and distant. But he never had that air of apathy around him save when he was teasing her. Now was not the time for him to retreat back into his walls and wash away all her hard work of exposing him.

"How are you?" He asked in that galactic voice of his.

Reyna just nodded. She couldn't decipher anything from his tone. Yet.

"You didn't want them to tell me about your asinine plan. Why?"

"You would've protested. Wasted time. It had to be done."
Reyna felt as if their roles were reversed. It was usually him who would plan something to save time and money and she would muck it up.

He grit his teeth. Reyna should've let the warning signs off in her head but she was fascinated by the way he would clench his jaw when he was angry.
"For a damn good reason. That was torture."

Reyna attempted a shrug. "It had to be done."

"For God's sake there could've been a better way to heal you!" He roared.
His eyes were livid and the veins in his neck stood prominent as he appeared to make the bed burn just by glaring at it. Reyna regarded him and saw little cracks in his wall that was letting her see that he was this close to loosing his cool.

Feeling dizzy by thirst, Reyna didn't comprehend the gravity of the situation.

"This one is cheaper, less time consuming and I've done it before." Reyna mumbled, closing her eyes to rest them.

There was silence. He was breathing heavily before she finished but now she heard nothing. She wished she could open her eyes and see what he was doing. How he was doing. But she was so tired....

"I expect you to stabilize your health by the day after tomorrow. We cannot stay here long." He snapped frigidly at her and she heard him leave the room.

All she could think was there's something wrong...

And she drifted off to uneasy sleep.

-*-

"Calm down." Karim grumbled as they made their way to the market where they had to meet Mr. Ambrose.
Several supplies and *cough cough other stuff* had to be bought immediately before departure, thus today. Mr. Ambrose and his men had already gotten more than half of the work done. Karim was just tasked with bringing the plans with him. After two insufferably long days Mr. Ambrose had finally allowed Reyna to get out of he house.

Safe to say, Reyna was ecstatic.

She was literally just one smile away from hopscotching. Looking over at Karim with his rain cloud on top of his head, she was reminded as to how professional assassins were supposed to behave.

But today Reyna just wanted to hopscotch till she had killed at least a dozen men.

Calm down. Your psychopath is showing.

Reyna tried to decrease the skip in her step. It was difficult. But it was less difficult than trying not to beam when she saw Mr. Ambrose.

She tried, oh she tried. And then gave up and gave him the biggest smile she could find from her humming bones.

She saw him freeze from a distance. The storekeeper he was talking to waved his hand in front of his face to no avail. As the man left, Mr. Ambrose kept his gaze trained on her and she brightened the smile. He was holding some sort of a device that looked costly. And she just saw it slip from his hand.
He made no move to catch it as it shattered at his feet.
Then, as if realizing that time had not frozen along with him, he glared down at the shattered remains of the object and turned to order some man, effectively showing Reyna his back.

Reyna didn't let it faze her, though. She was in too good a mood to finally be allowed to leave Koeyla's house to have Mr. Ambrose and his usual mood rain on her day.

She skipped down the street through the shoppers' crowd to tap her employer on his shoulder.

He barely moved his head to acknowledge her.

"Are you alright, sir?" She inquired, still unable to peer over his broad shoulders. Damn her infernally adorable short height.

"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" He gruffly coughed out and left her to torture some other poor merchant.

Reyna stood there for a while, watching his retreating back.

If he was alright, then why were his ears red?

-*-

"I'm so tired!" Reyna wailed. Turns out her stamina was still healing.

Karim grunted in response.

"I am going to die here, in this heat, because I walked too far!" She kept in screeching like a petulant child, trying to urge a response from the boulder.

This had to be the longest and the most arduous shopping trip she had ever encountered in her life.
She prayed that she would never meet such a formidable enemy again.

"Do not miss me when I am gone in ash and dust!" She moaned dramatically.

Karim grunted in response.

Reyna just glared at him. He wasn't saying his lines!

Frowning and pouting like a spoilt brat she followed him through the square. What had got him in such a bad mood anyway?

As she continued to glare at the back of his massive turbaned head, she saw it turn one too many times in the direction in which Koeyla's house lay.

They would be leaving tomorrow.

Reyna didn't speak an another word for the rest of the afternoon.