The Blasted Wastes by J Boothby

Author:J Boothby [Boothby, J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flying Walrus, Ltd
Published: 2020-01-09T22:00:00+00:00

8

Ercan

After the ceremony, the sun hangs overhead, and it warms them even though the air is still cold. In places, the snow melts to show the red, rocky earth beneath.

Ercan and Mircada are wrapped in coats, with their black bowler hats pulled low; they walk along the ruined rail line near the edge of the peaks.

Ercan shakes his head. “I don’t know what they would say. The council is terribly conservative—I’ve told you that.”

“You wouldn’t have to tell them, you know.”

“I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don’t.”

“So don’t.” Mircada tucks some of her hair back behind her ear, and the sunlight glints off her bracelets. “Don’t tell them, and be damned. Do you know what that Hulgliev would mean to the Akarii? The Akarii will think he’s a legend. Nadrune will think he’s a prophecy come to life.”

Ercan nods. “I talked with Fehris while you two were out.”

“So you can’t let them bring him to their cause. Nadrune and her father have so much momentum already. A Hulgliev mage at her side would bring in the Ciordoi, and probably the Framarc Family, too. And it wouldn’t even matter if he had any skill.”

“The Framarc are Akarii pawns already. Even they know it.”

“But they’re not happy about it. Nadrune will say that the Hulgliev is a clear sign of her right to rule. She’d stand him up next to her and remind everyone of the other legendary Hulgliev her family had serving them, and then she’ll already be halfway to standing up the Lunar Council again.”

Ercan sighs. He takes off his hat, looks at it, and puts it back on. The damn thing had never fit him right.

“You’re right, as usual.” He scratches at where his beard is filling in and absently wishes he was back in Tamaranth, where he could get a decent shave. “We need to bring him to Kerul and keep him there. I don’t suppose you have any ideas on how we might make that happen.”

“You want me to sleep with him, don’t you?”

“I’m not saying that.”

“You never actually say it, Ercan.” She stops, and he turns to face her.

In the sunlight, with two moons behind her, she is, as always, startling beautiful, even dressed in the cheap clothes of an Akarii drone.

He remembers the first time he saw her at the college—wearing secondhand clothes then, too, and trying to find a way to buy her textbooks with no actual money.

Even then, with all of his money and all of his Family connections, he knew she was out of his league.

“You always did have those exotic interests,” he says.

She reaches up and Ercan thinks she’s going to slap him, but instead she cups his cheek in her hand and brings his face down close to hers.

She gazes deeply into his grey eyes for a long moment, and then lifts her lips to his ear. She nibbles on it, and then whispers gently into it: “But wouldn’t you be heartbroken to see me with another?”

He blushes furiously, and steps backward.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.