Colorless

43 - Blood Debt

"He's my son," Kin said. Rinian straightened up a little but kept himself close to Kin and ready to run if he had to. "He was born with black blood, so he's not..." Kin gestured toward the interior of the church where sounds of skirmish still echoed. He didn't want to say it. 'It's okay, guys. I won't have to kill my son.' And he didn't want to think about all the times he'd attempted to do just that in the past months.

After a moment of surprised silence, Cyran gave a short laugh that sounded more like a whimper of pain. "Of course you have a kid. I'm surprised it's taken so long for one to pop up."

Bel nodded slowly, and although his face was filled with unasked questions, all he said was, "He looks like her."

"Like who?" Peri asked, frowning at Rinian's face and then up at Kin. "It can't be...? But she died," she whispered as if Rinian couldn't hear.

"Meira," Rinian said. He shoved his fists into his pockets. "She's gone now."

"We'll talk about it later," Kin said.

"Right." She smoothed her face and bit back her questions and gave Rinian a half-smile. "My name is Peri. I'm...well your aunt. This is my husband, Bel. He's your father's brother."

Rinian nodded to her. "Yeah. Uh..." He shuffled his feet forward a little, still wary of them. "I think I can help," he told Cyran. "Maybe."

"Yeah?" Cyran smiled, but with his injuries, it appeared as a contorted grimace rather than a comforting gesture. "You can heal?"

Rinian shrugged.

"He healed Nell before," Kin said. "And Lyra."

Cyran waved Rinian over with his good arm. "Great. If you can at least fix up my arm, I can still fight."

"You're not really going to fight?" Bel raised an eyebrow. 

"I have to. Ianthe's here." Cyran looked down, his blood-covered face grim. "She killed Raleigh."

Rinian winced a little when Cyran brought up Ianthe, and he touched the side of his head. "Did she do this?" Rinian asked pointing to Cyran injured body.

"No. She wasn't able to hurt me before the explosions. Why?"

He shook his head and didn't answer.

Bel caught Kin's eye. He was leaned against the wall, rubbing his injured shoulder. It must have been healing because he looked more tired than in pain. "You can stay with us," he offered Kin. "I don't know if you have a home somewhere, but..." He nodded to Rinian. "I have a girl about your age."

Rinian glanced from Bel to Kin but kept his focus on his magic.

"That's a good idea," Kin said. He had no home of his own and no one to take care of Rinian when he was gone. He'd already hoped he could ask his brother for assistance. "Rinian, when you're done helping Cyran, you should go with Peri and Bel back to where Lyra is."

He lifted his head. "But I can fight."

"You're a child. You shouldn't have to."

"But I'm good at it."

"I'm sure you are, but it doesn't matter."

"Are you going to fight?" Rinian had a defiant look in his eye that reminded Kin so much of a younger Bel. He hoped Rinian wouldn't cause him as much trouble as Bel had caused their parents.

Kin sighed and ran his fingers through his dirty hair. "Can you please just do what I say?"

Rinian dropped his gaze and glared down at Cyran's broken arm.