Chapter 927: Arc 9-38

Khan looks good for a dead man walking.

Definitely a lot better than he did this morning. His eyes are a little red from his late night, but he’s clean-shaven and straight-backed. He’s a man that’s decided to face the trials the world has thrown his way. Good. His denial was bothersome.

He scans the table, eyes lingering as he takes in the stern mask of his sister and the ambivalence of Little Water. Surprisingly, he doesn’t sit next to either of them, taking the seat at the end of the table. If he were someone else, I’d wonder if it were a power move, setting himself against me physically and literally. Instead, he has the energy of a frightened animal putting its back to the wall to keep an eye on the predators in the room. It’s amazing how someone as skittish as him could be the product of his outgoing mother and intense father.1

“Khan, good of you to join us.”

“I didn’t think I had a choice.”

“Of course you did.” It’s just the other choice is eating in a small, gloomy room in silence.

“…I assume I’m here for a reason?”

“Family doesn’t need a reason to have a meal together.” His expression doesn’t change, his eyes remaining hard and serious. Sigh. “But yes, there is a reason I want you here. We’re going to be leaving the city soon. Perhaps going our separate ways. Perhaps not. We should talk, make sure everyone…understands one another. And there’s no better time to do that than over a good meal.”

With perfect timing, Geneva enters the room pushing her cart. Her tail swings as she puts down the first course, a fragrant soup that tickles my nose when I breathe in. It’s tempting to just drink it down, but I pick up a spoon.

“I’ll start.” It all depends on me after all, though that sounds a bit too egotistical to say aloud. “New Quest is in a good place and is going in a good direction. It’s time for us to move on.”

The responses are lackluster; they knew we would be moving soon.

“What’s left?” Alana asks, easily deducing there’s something else to be done. Otherwise, I would be telling them to pack their bags.

I turn to Kierra, who is peering at me over Talia’s shoulder. “Do you remember Callan Atkinson?”

“Hm. Should I?”

Pfft. To think, all this started with Mr. Self-Made having a crush on her and she can’t even remember him.

“One of the fighters in your little club.”

“Ah. He must not have been very impressive.”

“Probably wasn’t.” Doubt a skinny son of a carpenter has much fight in him. “I tried to make something of him through summoning. He summons a butcher and decided it was a good idea to start sacrificing innocents to it. Perfect candidate to test the city’s courts and the people’s ability to seek justice on their own.”

“And a test for its defenders?”

“One they’ve already passed. This is the last piece to prove to me the city can handle itself. Honestly? I’ve got a good feeling about it.”

“Then you’ll return to the north.” Khan’s voice is resigned but I detect a hint of bitterness. Dare I say longing? I’ll never understand the hold that frozen wasteland has over the James family.

“Not immediately. First, we have to go to the, no. The very first stop will be my old village. Arrangements need to be made.” As Father’s only child, that village is my responsibility. Given their governing lord died in an act of treason, I doubt the powers that be are treating his peasants well. I have little love for the village but it’s home. A place I spent nearly two decades in. The place that sheltered me from the cruel capital. I owe them, no. I owe the old Lou to save them.

“Once that’s handled, we’ll head north. Truthfully, I didn’t plan on returning to Victory until winter, but the fort might need support.” There’s still the mystery tragedy that hit them near the end of the war season. Alana assures me that the north can survive anything short of extinction, but I’m sure they’ll appreciate a few helping hands.

“Short of a greater disaster, we’ll be there for the whole season, maybe a few weeks into spring.” Though that’s a surprise. “Why am I announcing all of this like it’s important? Well, because you two need to make a decision and this puts a time limit on it.”

I point my spoon at Little Water. “You want to follow me. I don’t think you really understand what that means. I already said it’d be difficult to hide in the capital, but it’s more than that. We’re about to stir up trouble. I’m going there to confront my uncle. If his brain still works, he’ll see me coming. He hasn’t given me much choice. And knowing him, he’s going to run to the crown to save him.

“The king’s going to have to make a choice between the countess he can’t control and the summoner eager to sit at his feet.” No choice at all. “I’ve got a feeling that once I’m in the capital and surrounded by his knights, he’s going to stop playing pretend. Might turn nasty and, unlike my clan, a sword can cut through those scales. I’m assuming?”

“Blades can hurt me,” Little Water confirms.

“You’ll be vulnerable and we’ll be under attack. I feel the need to remind you that you don’t have to come with us. You can remain here. We’ll pass through New Quest on our way to Victory.”

“I would rather accompany you.” The lady lizard doesn’t hesitate for a moment, her icy gaze boring into me. It’s uncomfortable being observed with such naked want that has nothing to do with lust. At least, I hope it doesn’t.

“Can’t say I didn’t expect as much. Still worried.”

“She can practice with me,” Alana suggests. Hard to imagine that in another life, they would have been in-laws. “I need a partner and you’ll feel better if I say she can fight, right?”

“I would.”

“Little Water? Any problems?”

She shakes her head, then assesses her future opponent. “It will be good to have proper practice. My sisters would sneer at me being inactive for so long.”

“Great.” Easy one done. My spoon moves to Khan. “What about you?”

“What about me?” he asks cautiously, searching for a trap that doesn’t exist.

“I told you as long as you stay out of the north, your life is yours.” I don’t completely trust that he’s capable of doing that, but that can be addressed through summoning. An elemental that will be his friend, protector, and leash. “That doesn’t mean I’m banishing you. You can stay with me through the summer while you figure things out. Just, you’ll be wading into a pool of shit. We can protect you…so long as nothing unexpected happens.”

“Unexpected like what?”

Like a lurker killing you before a succubus can react. “How would I know? That’s what unexpected means. I can’t think of anything that can get past us, but the world is a big place and there are things beyond our world you can’t even imagine.”

“I’m not a child.” He glares with all the offense he can muster. “I may have spent my life in the north but I’m not ignorant.”

…I’m going to remember he’s going through several tragedies and let that go. “Well, I doubt anything you can imagine with your great experience can get past us either, but nothing’s impossible. So, if you come along, you’ll have to behave.” Can’t stick him in a room and forget about him on the road.

His lips curl in distaste as he considers the offer; I try not to be offended. He has good reason not to jump at the chance. While I like to think I’ve shown remarkable restraint and goodwill for the situation, there’s no denying that I’ve treated him poorly. I’m his abuser. If someone detained me in a poorly lit room for weeks, even for my own good, I wouldn’t want to spend another moment with them without very good reason. In that light, his ability to calmly eat dinner is admirable.

Eventually, his features relax and he sighs. “I need time to think.”

“What’s there to think about?” Alana demands. “Come with us. We’ll find something for you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Beyond the peaks, I don’t doubt it. But this isn’t war.” She finishes her soup and gives him her full attention, the little glutton. “I’m not insulting you. I was confused the first time I left Victory, too. Things are different in the south. Everything is more complicated, especially the people. To make things worse, you have no money. You’re not even a fighter, so you have to worry about common criminals. You need help.”

“Yes, because you have been so much help.”

“We saved your life,” Alana sneers. “You would be dead right now if not for us.”

“You don’t know that,” he hisses. “Father didn’t make the choice. You took it away.”

Oh, my knight looks downright offended. The drama makes Kierra raise her head again, her discomfort visible in the furrow of her brow but her eyes curious. “He was going to kill you; he had to. We gave him a choice, the chance to spare you. You’re an idiot if you believe otherwise.”

“I believe,” Khan spits, “that I stood up for something. For change. For the north’s future. I believe that I could have inspired others to do the same.”

“From beyond the grave?”

“I wouldn’t have died. At the bare minimum, he would have kept me alive long enough to verify the information on the estrazi. That would have opened the door for negotiations.” His gaze flicks to Little Water but doesn’t linger. “Our union would have proved the estrazi could build ties with humanity. It would have also given Father a way to justify my actions. But you two . You gave him a third option. No need to think about the future. No need to challenge our traditions. Tie it up in a neat, bloody box and send it away. No matter it means another five hundred years of war.”

Alana leans back in her chair, arms crossing. “And in reality, where this beautiful dream of yours ends with your head removed from our father’s sword, what then?”

“Then I die. Hopefully, my death spurs others to act. Maybe it doesn’t. I was prepared either way. But not for…this. And it’s your fault.”

Geneva’s timely entrance stops the argument before it really gets underway. Alana’s cute face is flush with anger, but she rips her eyes away from her brother when a steaming plate is put in front of her. She attacks her steak like it owes her money and Khan pokes at his vegetables glumly, but they maintain an uneasy peace.

It doesn’t bode well for a future traveling together.

I wonder if I should be empowering a man so obviously holding a grudge.