Illusion of a Boar by Celia Lake

Author:Celia Lake [Lake, Celia]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 23

Orion, the morning of April 22nd

Orion rolled over in the bed, hearing it creak, and rubbed his face. The inside of his mouth felt like it was covered not just in fuzz, but in outright hair. Pretty much everything ached, not just the parts of him that usually did. He rolled flat on his back, letting his eyes close again. Ten seconds later, the sound of the alarm shut off, and ten seconds after that, Claudio was pressing a small vial into his hand. “Drink that, or you’ll be impossible today.”

Orion’s mouth quirked. He had been invited to a game of cards with a couple of other officers stationed at the camp. They’d plied him with alcohol to get him to talk a bit more about who he was and where he came from. But the Pact was far stronger than any alcohol. Even whatever it was they’d been drinking, which shouldn’t have had the name of whiskey. Or the beer they’d started with, which was not at all up to standard.

He pushed up enough on his good hand to drain the vial, then set it on the table beside the bed before sitting up. “Thanks.”

“Self-preservation.” Claudio had turned his back, starting to pull his clothes together. There wasn’t any heat in the comment. “Learn anything useful?”

“Not really. Let me think through it. Nothing obvious. Who knows if I’ll piece anything together?” Orion shrugged, and then got himself upright once he felt the potion start working. “How many more of those do we have left?”

“Counting out how many nights you can get?” Claudio glanced over his shoulder. “Better you than me. How much did you win last night?”

“Just the right amount, tactically speaking. Enough they’ll invite me back to see if they can win it back, not so much any one person will hold a grudge.” He stretched, feeling his neck and shoulders pop. “And as for the reasons it was a good idea.” He shrugged, careful at first. “Let me check the journal.”

Orion thumbed through his journal. Two messages from Mother, one from Aunt Violetta, and then there were the bombing reports. “Nothing much in our lands, it sounds like. That wasn’t what got me in a mood, then.”

“Not the most useful of your arcane magical skills. Like Isembard and his knee before it’s going to rain. There might be some bombs, but who knows where?” Claudio shook his head. “Glad there wasn’t anything there, at least. How do you feel about food?”

“Toast,” Orion said. “Nothing much.”

“Right. I’ll get that going. And tea.” Always tea when he had the chance. Claudio went off to the front room, and Orion took his time washing up and getting dressed. By the time he had himself together, uniform on properly, Claudio had tea, toast, a scraping of jam, and his own porridge all ready. As they moved over to the working hut and settled into the needs of the day, the headache behind Orion’s eyes had settled into a dull ache at the back of his skull.

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