Children Of The Sky (The Scripts Of Neptune, Book 2)

Chapter 33 •|•

WARNING: This chapter contains minor themes of suicide. Read at your own risk.

It'd taken some convincing to get Nyle to flee to Cassar. Leah had bartered and argued--so had Lillian, though she'd let Leah do most of it--to get it out of his head that they could return to face Naru. He was noble, and she loved him for that, but he was also a faithful idiot, and she refused to see him get himself killed.

Leah, via her extensive connections, was able to save them a trip through the desert with a mage's help. Lillian wished they could've taken the longer route to grieve her grandmother, but their purpose in Cassar was urgent--they needed allies. The ruling parties in the city had access to mages, and Leah had figured that was their best chance against Naru and his gifts.

Nyle liked being so near the sea. There was a wistful look in his dark eyes the moment they arrived in one of the smaller towns on the side of the mountains nearer the ocean, and he kept looking back when they caught a ride on a cart across the foothills to the city. Their business arrested his attention when they reached the city itself, however, and Lillian was left wondering if she'd imagined it.

They roomed in an inn the first night, a quiet little place on the outskirts of the city with a kind woman as the tenant. Nyle was gone when Lillian woke up, but he'd left a note that he was headed to the library--Leah had suggested he take advantage of their rich historical section on the Serpentine--and would be back in the afternoon. Content to spend the wait gathering her own knowledge, Lillian sat by the open window and read from the medical journals Leah had given her.

The door's creak signaled his return around noon, and Nyle shot her a smile as he shut it behind him. Setting a pile of leatherbound books on the desk against the wall, he tipped her chin up and gave her a long kiss. "Morning, love," he said, running his fingers through her hair and leaning over her shoulder to see what she was reading. "Kidneys, hm? Where're those?"

Reaching behind her, she poked him in the lower abdomen, and he rubbed the spot, stepping out of reach. "There," she said sweetly.

"Brat," Nyle retorted lightly, taking a seat at the desk and thumping the top book down in front of him. Leaning back on two legs, he looked at her over his shoulder. "The meeting with the council is tomorrow, according to their secretary, first thing in the morning. Think we ought to get something formal to wear?"

"As much as I'd like to see you in a suit again, don't you think we'd sell the 'struggling kingdoms' bit better if we didn't?"

"Maybe." Nyle set all four legs on the ground again. "But we don't necessarily want to do that. Leah said we'd want them as allies."

"She also said to start humble."

Nyle pondered that for a moment, eyeing her. "Travelling clothes it is, then."

***

The time went by faster than Nyle had expected, buried in history as he was, and he didn't realize until Lillian put a lamp on the desk next to him that he was straining his eyes as it got dark outside and the natural light faded. She went out for a while, though he didn't pay attention to how long, and it was only when she returned with two bowls of stewed vegetables and meat over black rice that he realized how famished he was. Reluctantly, he let her pull him away from his reading long enough to eat together, trading small, teasing talk, before he went back to the desk.

Lillian must've caught him nodding off a few hours later; he was startled awake when she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. "Come to bed, love," she whispered, reaching over to close the book he was reading. Nyle stuck his finger in just before it shut, then replaced it with a piece of parchment he'd been taking notes on earlier. Then he leaned back into her warmth, cheek pressed to hers, and they did nothing but breathe for a few long seconds. Gods, he was glad they'd gotten into so much trouble and somehow ended up here. The ending was almost worth the events--and even if it wasn't, he was content with how it was now.