Bauldr's Tears by Alydia Rackham

Author:Alydia Rackham [Rackham, Alydia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781523842568
Published: 2017-06-04T04:00:00+00:00

Marina, much refreshed, wearing a deep red, fleecy gown, trousers and boots, her hair braided back, crept down the stairs, listening. However, no sound issued from the sitting room except the drowsy sputter of the fire. She reached the bottom of the steps and eased around to look…

The blankets lay folded on the seat of one of the armchairs. She stood up straight, listening…

A slight clatter beyond the witchy door. She turned and pushed slowly through…

Loki stood by the stove, stirring a steaming pot. He held his right arm bent close to him, and worked with his left, frowning into the cloud that rose up from the boiling. Marina hesitated there, her hand on the door. He looked pale, his hair still very dark, with dark circles under his eyes.

“You’re standing up,” she remarked. He glanced over at her. For a moment, his eyes flashed a deep green, before returning to gray.

“Only just.” The edge of his mouth quirked up as he returned to stirring. The spoon clacked against the metal edges of the pot. Marina took a deep breath, and frowned.

“What is that?” she wondered, stepping in and letting the door shut behind her. “It smells like…gunpowder.” She ventured closer, trying to see in. “It isn’t…breakfast?”

He snorted tiredly, that crooked smile returning for just a moment.

“Only if you’d like to be poisoned. Or turned invisible—I’m not sure which it would do to you at the moment.”

Just then, Marina noticed a different sound accompanying the clank of the spoon and the pan: a tiny jingling, down at the bottom. She lifted her attention, and studied Loki’s pale features, an idea sparking in the back of her mind.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“Be a love and get in the left hand cupboard for me,” he asked instead, nodding toward it. “Get the two blue bottles and the one yellow one, and bring them here.”

Marina frowned again, but maneuvered around the table and went to the cupboard. She opened it, and found several colorful bottles up high, filled with various cloudy mixtures.

“Two blue and one yellow?” she asked.

“Mhm,” he said absently. Biting her lip, she reached up with her right hand and plucked each one down, then tucked two of them against her chest with her bad arm, and picked up the last one and carried them over.

“You can set the two blue ones on the table,” Loki instructed. “Let me have that yellow one.” He held out his right hand. Marina awkwardly bent and set the blue ones down with a clatter, then set the yellow one in his palm.

“Are you sure…?” she winced. He gripped the cork with his left-hand fingers.

“Yes, I—ah!” he tugged, and suddenly hissed through his teeth—and almost dropped the bottle. Marina lunged and snatched it, catching his fingers in hers as well.

“Aha…Well…Hm,” Loki said shakily, letting her have the bottle. He pulled his hurt arm against his chest, he clenched his jaw and he squeezed his eyes shut. The remaining color washed out of his face.

“Do you need to sit down?” Marina asked, stepping closer to him.

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