CHP39

Seneya growled.

She wanted that salad so bad, and he stuck his nasty fingers in it! She didn’t talk to Kael for half the walk back into town—brows furrowed, teeth gritted.

An odor beneath Kael’s ault surfaced, so Seneya made a note to send him for a splash in the creek after this, but she had made him put clean clothes on, anyway. Kael grumbled, and Seneya slipped on a clean outfit too. The legs on her jeans wrapped snugly on her calves, and it made her feel good to be ‘filling out.’

“You sure about being up for drinking?” He prodded her as they walked, and she shot him a nasty glance. He didn’t know if he liked seeing her angry, but it had been fun getting a normal reaction out of her for once. Maybe she would eventually loosen up, or perhaps she’d be that way forever. Some things brought her joy, at least. Anger suited her far better than cowering uncertainty and fear.

When they finally walked into town, Seneya knew right where they were headed and made her way into the bar. The parking lot sat nearly empty, and Seneya paused, glancing around at the ground. “This is where they brought me, isn’t it?”

Kael glanced around, “Yeah. You’ve come a long way since then, my little ‘human, I think.’” Her cheeks tinged a moment.

“Oh, there we go. Mad at me still?” He said, switching to English as a sign for her to do the same.

“I never said I was mad at you.” Her tone shifted to a flat one as she pushed through the doors and entered the bar.

Dee and Willen sat at a table in the back talking to one another, and they went bright when she entered.

“I did not expect to see you today. I was beginning to think you were a vampire. Kael’s never taken you out during the day!” Dee grinned and stood to approach them. Kael smiled wide and scowled a bit when Dee completely bypassed him to give Seneya a short hug.

“What about me?” Kael grinned his crooked smile, and Dee looked him up and down.

“You had a bath yet?”

Kael gave her the finger. Seneya sighed and pursed her lips. “I’ll make sure that happens.” She cut him a dirty look. Kael wrinkled his nose. As a king and a seraph, he had power and might. The Enai bowed to him, and his own kind feared him. Yet he shirked under the gaze of this tiny thing and bullied by a lowly Enai. Something surfaced in her mind—withering, maternal, and old. It flashed in his eyes, a memory or a stray thought that he didn’t voice. It made his aura pulse.

“Who’s taking care of who, here, Kael?” Dee laughed before taking the containers from Seneya.

“I keep asking myself that same question until she does something stupid like hanging her tail up in her waistband,” Kael grumbled. Dee snorted, and Seneya thought she should be embarrassed but really wasn’t.

Her eyes wandered, taking in all the things she’d missed when the building was packed.

The ceiling had high metal beams and rafters, more of a pole barn than anything else. A stage sat to their right, a ramshackle thing for small performances. A few instrument cases laid about untouched. Against the righthand wall, a bar stretched, overlooking a field of round tables and mismatched chairs. The floor beneath hadn’t been subflooring, but a well-worn repurposed wood flooring recycled from a basketball court. The mismatched lines of boundaries cropped up every few feet or so. Yet, despite the dichotomy, it all coalesced into a beautiful ‘trash’ cohesiveness.

The makeshift wrestling ring sat at the back of the building next to the private dining areas for Kael’s games—right outside the kitchens. The pit had become a second home to Seneya.

Willen kept his head turned from her and did his best not to make eye contact. Since their first visit, he’d avoided Kael, and it had never been so blatant.

“What’s going on?” Seneya asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No. He marked himself with your ault and still smells like you. It’s a possession thing and weird.” Kael sneered.

“Oh.” Seneya colored.

“You didn’t hurt him, did you?” Seneya stared up at Kael and frowned.

“Maybe his feelings,” Kael huffed.

She moved away from Kael and surveyed the stage. It creaked ominously, but when she sat on the edge of it, nothing gave or bowed. Instead, it just complained a little. Then, her foot hit the case of what appeared to be a violin, and she picked it up to inspect.

“That’s one of the loaners for the bar. Some of the boys can play fiddle half decent when they’re sober,” Dee remarked as she returned.

“Can I?” Seneya asked as she gestured to it.

“You can play?” Dee raised a brow.

“A little. I haven’t since I was twelve or thirteen, but I had lessons. I enjoyed them.” Seneya stared down at the case curiously.

“Then go on. I’ve never heard of a lord or lady being able to play an instrument.” Dee watched, eyes alight.

Kael raised a brow and moved over to Willen and Dee’s table to sit. She pulled the light wood of the violin, holding it by its neck. Her fingers danced over the tone board, and it handled like an ‘okay’ piece. She plucked each of the strings and listened to the noises they made. It had been tuned funny didn’t sound like the violin it actually was.

“I’ll retune it once I’m done,” Seneya promised.

“Wouldn’t matter much anyway. The only man that plays it of recent is tone-deaf.” Dee said, and Willen broke his composure and snorted.

Seneya plucked a string, twisted a peg, plucked it again, and seemed somewhat satisfied. After, she pulled the bow from the box and stared at the mismatched thing introspectively. She ran her finger down the hairs of the bow, watching a few brittle ones split and fall. She fished around in the case, searching for something else, a rosin cube but didn’t find it. She thought about it for a second and fiddled with her band before drawing the hair of it across her ault. It seemed to loosen up the fibers a bit. She rubbed her shirt edge over the coarse horsehair and stared at it.

“So, what are you two up to today?” Dee laughed.

“Getting whiskey. We’re going to drink tonight,” Kael said with a resolute nod.

She frowned at him. “Kael! She’s not old enough.”

“What are you going to do, have me arrested? Pft. She has her fires, so she’s old enough for our laws.” Kael cringed as Seneya drew the bow over the strings with a screech.

“Special occasion?” Dee asked as Seneya drew the bow again and fiddled with the pegs a bit more.

“I owe her my story,” Kael said quietly, and Dee nodded.

“I know where you live. Send a moth, and I’ll come if there’s a problem. She knows how to send a moth, yea?”

“No, he hasn’t taught me.” She fiddled with the pegs a little.

“Don’t get too drunk before you teach her,” Dee said, throwing her hands onto her hips.

“Well, as long as we have some food to go with it, we should be fine.” Kael grinned.

“I already had your stuff for tomorrow made, so I’ll just make more tonight, I guess.” She sighed and waved him off.

“You know what she told me this morning?” Kael grinned and glanced at Seneya.

“Hmm?” Dee turned her head from Seneya to Kael.

“She said she ‘loves you so much.’” Kael teased, and Dee slapped his arm.

“Oh, you ass, shut up. I barely keep you fed. She’s going to be a new challenge for me to cook for until I figure out what really makes her tick.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever asked her wha—” Kael paused as Seneya drew the bow across the bridge and braced her fingers to the neck with a tight curl of her knuckles. A haunting noise wavered free that sent chills down his spine.

“What was that?” Willen’s face trained hard on Seneya. She rocked the bow and moved to take another slow draw for the other side of that tender note. Kael and Dee went stiff as a board, staring with open mouths. Seneya grinned.

Mana went through her music.

“A sign for me to close up the building,” Dee muttered as she slid away from the table and moved to the doors to lock them and turn the ‘open’ sign to ‘be back soon.’

Seneya drew the bow across the strings again, a sharper and more wavering thing, accustoming to the feel of the instrument as her chin found elegant purchase on the chinrest.

She took a deep breath and counted down something in her head.

“I didn’t know that your kind played instruments,” Willen said.

“We don’t often. Our relationship with song is… strained… at best.” Kael shrugged and flinched as she drew out another single note—quite haunting and beautiful. Her hand turned, bow angled, and her wrist moved with her arm in coordinated flow to trace the pattern of a song in the air. She painted with sound as a wavering song made its way from the instrument's core.

Kael’s eyes went dark then closed. Every stroke of the instrument drew something to the surface—mana, emotion, joy. The music flowed like an aura that she had more control over than her own.

Seneya peeked up, and Kael couldn’t shrug it off. His chest heaved. The eerie song went on, and Dee’s grey eyes gleamed silver. Willen’s brightened as well. He squirmed in his seat and brought one hand to his forearm, grasping and tugging on the skin there.

Some employees stepped out from the back to watch with golden and silver gleaming eyes.

Dee grasped the edge of the table and closed her eyes.

“Auntie?” Willen asked as he braced over the edge of the table.

“I know.” Dee panted.

Kael’s heavy breath grew harsh, and his tail lashed free of his pants. When his eyes finally opened, they shone black as night, inundated with his fire, and he struggled to get his shirt off just in time.

Seneya’s tail slid free and swayed gracefully behind her. Her wings followed suit, pushing out from beneath her shirt, riding it up on their own as they spread free and full.

So much power flowed through her like she’d never experienced before.

“What the hell?” Willen panted.

“Gaff ala van ken minat!” Kael shouted, and the words had no effect on Willen and Dee like they normally did. Fuck, what are you doing?

“Asta, Syr Enaia!” Kael barked. Stop, little starling.

Seneya’s fire danced over her lashes, casting her world in a green hue. Then, his shout made her startle and drop the bow with a loud clatter in the silent space. Kael drooped halfway to his knees, wings, and tail out in full view, body shaking with ragged breaths. Black fire swam in his eyes so harshly that Seneya whimpered.

“S-sorry!” Seneya scrambled to pack the violin away and struggled to get her wings and tail back inside.

“M-maybe we don’t let you do that ag-again….” Kael wheezed as he dropped fully to his knees. He tried to tug his wings back in and kept hitching the bases, trying to get them to draw in. Seneya’s ikris twitched in response to his movement, but his didn’t budge.

“I don’t know what happened!” Seneya fidgeted, and Kael tried to meter his breathing with little success.

“That just did to him what Acerrai does to us….” Willen started, but Dee silenced him as she stood and ushered the other Enai and the rest of the staff out of the area.

“Kael? I didn’t know….”

Kael swept a hand out as she knelt in front of him. Then, gently, he pulled her up against his chest and held her there, one arm across her back as her face fell against his shoulder. He had to lean over her a little.

“That… that is in your soul. Mana… through song….”

She muffled a noise against his shoulder.

“This… This is… Little starling, you are strong. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise, ever.” He wheezed as he brought his other arm around and clutched tight. Tears ran from his eyes, trailing in generous streams.

“I’m sorry….” She whispered, but he only held tighter.

“No, don’t be. Fuck I forget what you are sometimes, and I see this… this stuff.” He sighed heavily, speaking in low Acerrai tones to her.

The way he said what you are fumbled over his lips like he had meant something other than her seraph nature.

Seneya’s face twisted up. Kael had that armpit odor going on again. She tried not to breathe as he held her there.

“I didn’t know this would happen,” she whispered back, turning her head away from him. “It was just an old lullaby, I remember.”

“I didn’t think it would either.” He laughed a little.

“What exactly did I do? I couldn’t keep my wings in?” She liked it there, being held by Kael. Despite his smell.

“The white seraph’s melody. It’s in your soul.” He sighed and loosened his grip a little. Sadness plucked her heartstrings when he released her, but the fresh air made up for it.

“Coast is clear!” Kael shouted out. Murmuring resumed as Willen and Dee returned with flush expressions.

“Yeah, that’s enough of a mana high for a few weeks, I’d say.” Dee fanned herself a little. Her eyes still shined bright.

“I didn’t know that’d happen. Sorry,” Seneya frowned a bit as Kael still hadn’t let her all the way go.

“No, no, don’t be. This is… hoo boy...” She kept fanning and grinned, “It’s like getting drunk only better.”

“That’s what you felt?” Kael shook his head.

“Why, what’d you feel?” Dee tilted her head and moved her fingers a bit, playing with a minuscule violet light over her knuckles like a flame.

“Hadn’t been able to do this in a while.” She chuckled.

“Oh wow, yeah.” Willen sent a similar violet light over his fingertips.

“I felt like the wrong kind of mana shot through me. It was invasive and made me feel like….” Kael’s loosened grip tightened once more as he pulled Seneya in again. She squeaked in protest.

“Yes, little starling, ha!” Kael shuddered—eyes still wet.

“Kael, come on, get off the poor girl.” Dee reached over to flick his head.

“I don’t mind.” Seneya squeaked quietly as Kael sighed and fully released her. He took a few shuddering breaths and wiped his eyes over his shoulder.

“Seneya, go with Willen to the kitchens and go get your food,” Dee told her. Kael bristled for a second, and Seneya wasn’t sure if it was because Willen still had her ault’s smell on him or because Dee had given her an order.

“Yes, ma’am.” Seneya spouted before standing and following Willen. Kael stared off after her for a second as Dee smirked.

-Kael-

Kael squinted. “Did she just use an honorific on you?”

“I know, isn’t it great?” Dee grinned at him and stared down at his bared form. “Thinking about putting the show away?”

Kael nodded and pulled his wings and tail back in before adjusting his clothes back in place.

“You’re doing so much better, Kael. I want to see you this way for a while, but that little bird is going to be trouble for you.” She patted his shoulder.

“Yeah. I know.” Kael hefted to his feet and stretched out.

“Now, go get what you want from Tim’s and tell him it’s on me. I just checked my wards and that little stunt of hers charged every mana battery in half the town.” Dee winked.

“Gaff….” Kael whispered. Dee shook her head and patted.

“Just, don’t forget she’s a kid, Kael… and up here,” Dee tapped on her temple, “She’s closer to us than you.”

“Dee. I just can’t help but think that she’s a little halfbreed seraph child every time I see her. Had N- Ni-“ he couldn’t finish the word. “Had she have lived on, she could have just as easily been one of my own.”

“Kael,” Dee said as she settled down in a chair next to him to stare him dead in the eyes. “I think you’re at least a little bit swan in there somewhere.” She tapped his forehead. He shrugged.

“Bondmate said otherwise,” Kael grinned.

“Yeah. But I see you with her, saw you with Sael. You’ve got a nurturing heart. One day she’s going to find a bondmate and have a litter of her own, hopefully. Who knows if it’ll be before Sael does, but you’ll eventually get a chance to raise a child. Don’t worry.” Dee smiled at him then wrinkled her nose.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake Kael, go get a bath.” She turned on him and stalked off.

Kael lifted his arm and sniffed.

Enai are weird.