SFC Book III – Chapter Nineteen – Tea Talk
Their full day of training was followed by dinner in the canteen and long soaks in the bathhouse after. Gray did his soaking alone while the girls were in their own room—they all were going to meet later the archive. Everyone except for Settie.
Gray and six women—two of whom he was married to.
After drying off and getting dressed, Gray reached the archive first. Mrs. Quillswrath set him down and promised tea and cookies.
It wasn’t long until Rynn and Ames pushed through the door, their faces red from the cold. Without clouds and snow, it had somehow gotten colder. The stars seemed like ice crystals in the wet fabric of the night.
They put their coats down and Rynn threw a log on the fire to add some flames to the lust rocks there. She was so comfortable in the little basement library that no one used except for them.
They sat down and Rynn sighed. “Well, today was…interesting.”
Ames frowned. “She’s not a demon, but she might not be a good person.”
Gray was about to respond to that but then Mrs. Quillswrath came in with the Gray of goodies. She left, and Rynn got to work, pouring the tea into the cups, and putting one of the big sugar cookies with extra frosting on each of the plates. “I want to give her a chance,” the elf girl said, “but sometimes, the things she says, are so…cutting. I feel cut. She hates you, Gray, and that hurts me most of all.”
“No,” Ames said softly. “She hates herself. It’s venting her core but she keeps it inside of herself. Did you see it? Could you feel it? She said her heart was broken before she ever met you. I don’t believe she was kidding.”
Gray felt the old anger return. “She had a family, riches, a palace. How bad could she have had it?”
“She probably had servants,” Rynn said. “Did you have servants at Castle Darkwine, Amaranthis?”
The Quelling girl nodded, a faraway look in her eye. “Yes. They were kind to me, one girl in particular. We’ve talked about her before. Rynnanatha is right. Just because she had wealth and power doesn’t mean she didn’t know suffering. We should give her chance. And if it turns out she is cruel, we can be cruel right back to her. Part of me would enjoy that. Yes, I do believe I’d enjoy it a great deal. It would be hurting a storm, strangling it, feeling the wind die in your hands while the blood feel like rain. Screams of pain. Howling winds, howling, torturing her. Hurting would feel better than being hurt for once.”
Ames winced. “I think even Rynnanatha would agree, that it was a fair bit of rambling, but I think I made sense for most of it. Perhaps near the end, the talk of blood was a little much, but please forgive me.”
That made Gray chuckle but he soon sobered. “I hope today is the worst of it. Well, today and last night. She wants to make this work, and so I can’t imagine pushing us away would help her any. When she talks about the past, and how close we were, I worry about you two.”
Rynn and Ames looked at each other. The dark elf smiled, but the angel-headed elf laughed. “Oh, Gray, she has your past. We have your future. Besides, I’ve had to deal with my jealousy with far more attractive women than her. No, you two had your time together. That’s over. Last night, Amaranthis and I showed you a far better time she ever could.”
Rynn’s core gleamed with gold mana—she was taking pride in her bedroom skills and getting mana from it. He loved that confidence she had.
“Ames, what about you?” Rynn asked.
Ames looked pensive. “When she talked of fleeing her father, I could feel her fear and desire. It made me sad. She makes me sad. There is an ocean of despair inside of her. I’m happy she got to live in Gray’s sunlight when she could. Without a doubt, I think you were the bright part of her life, Gray, and so, when you stole the necklace, you stole that light away. Now, maybe, she thinks her life will forever be the rain. It won’t be, but she might not know that.”
“But you’re not jealous?” Gray asked.
Ames smiled. “Of what you did with her before I knew you? No. You didn’t know me. Or Rynnanatha. Now you do. We’re together. Hurray!” She shook her little fists in celebration as her purple eyes sparkled.
“Amaranthis is right,” Rynn said. “Having Lilian around is easy. What was difficult? You being gone. That was horrible…the not knowing. Do you think the trials and accusations are over? You told us everything…about the Magistrate, the Duke, and the merchant person. I’m still just a bit worried.”
Gray had to take her hand. “You don’t need to be. Settie defended me perfectly. It was something to see her like that. It made me remember why you have so much respect for her.”
A second later, the rest of the squad arrived. All seven of them filled the little room and soon they were drinking tea, eating cookies, and talking, though Tomi had requested a very particular book.
Mrs. Quillswrath brought it out. “Now, Tomika Ka, and the rest of you. I like that you’re here, but please, be caerefuly with the books, the frosting, and the tea. There’s many an archivist who would die and go to heaven if they knew that I was letting you dine in here. Careful. Careful. Careful.”
Tomi took the book. “I have clean hands. I swear.”
“Clean hands but dirty mind?” Mrs. Quillswrath asked, her lust resonance filling her core. “All your young bodies full of natural desires to know pleasure. Don’t let the nights pass you by because all the good ones will be gone before you know it.”
She then withdrew from the room, leaving the seven alone.
Tomi winced. “Yeah, I do my best sleeping at night. I’m good. But these other horny recruits probably should have more fun.”
Midj squeezed her eyes closed. “If you’re to kill me with embarrassment, well, you’re doing a great job. Could we avoid the word ‘horny’ please?”
Pinch sipped her tea. “I suppose we should also be careful of the words ‘hot’, ‘wet,’, and ‘hard.’ So very hard. Rigid in fact. Throbbing? Creamy? There is a whole lexicon we must avoid then.” She glanced over at Gray. “But it might be for the best. We’re here for a reason. We can’t lose focus.”
Lilian raised her tea cup to the fae girl. “I am in full agreement with that, Pamalee Thornpinch. A focus on magic, training, and winning. Believe me, what happened today was unexpected. I thought to only channel a bit of mana into my meridians, but before I knew it, my core was empty.”
Gray prayed no one mentioned how he kept them fueled. He didn’t want to connect with Lilian in that way, not yet. He needed time to get right, and so did she.
He spoke before anyone else could. “I had that problem.”
“Just the one problem, Gray?” the princess giggled. “I find that hard to believe. You had so many when I knew you.”
He wasn’t going to let her get to him. “One thing that helped me was reducing the amount of mana I had in my core. I had far more control when I had less overall mana to work with.”
“Because he has a huge core,” Tomi said. “It’s so big, and powerful, and throbbing. Can I say the word ‘throbbing?’”
“No,” Midj said. “You can’t. That’s on the list. I’ll write it up. Please and thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Tomi said. “You have two weeks to figure it out, princess. That’s when Redemption Midnight is. Okay, who wants to know at least three theories of why the Wrath Tower fell.”
Midj looked pained. “So we either talk about the kissy kissy stuff or history? Really? We only have those two choices?”
“We could hear more about Lilian and Gray’s relationship,” Tomi said, turning a page.
The princess sipped tea and smiled evilly at Gray before looking away.
“Kill me now,” Pinch said. “Let’s talk about the Endless Night then. What are the theories?”
“Theories on what?” the princess asked innocently. “And where is the Wrath Tower? I’d like to see it.”
Tomi held up a finger. “I’ll handle this one.” She then proceeded to give the princess a brief history of Pit City—how it turned from a demon stronghold to a thriving city when all seven towers stood, to a divided city when the Wrath Tower fell.
Tomi then began in earnest. “The most common theory is that Princess Cassandra herself caused the tower to fall. In most versions, it’s to see her lover the Troublemaker again. In others, the Troublemaker was there, and it was the only way to kill him, but in so doing, she killed herself. That’s why there were all the dragons flying around.”
Midj sighed. “Why talk about the past when no one can agree on it? I don’t suppose you’ve asked the captain for her opinion, have you?”
“She won’t tell me much,” Tomi complained. “She did seem to say, in her I-hate-you-and-your-questions kind of way that the Troublemaker is dead and so is Princess Cassandra. I kind of believe her. Then again, the Troublemaker has been dead any number of times, and really, despite their being a tomb, no one knows what happened to Princess Cassandra.”
“What are some other theories?” Gray asked.
She didn’t answer. Pinch did. “I think it was the fae and the dragons both. Both thought the orcs were mismanaging Wrath Tower. Both flew in to take control. Those dragons people saw were the dragons fighting off the fae, but in the end, the orcs got pissed and destroyed it themselves. No more Wrath Tower and fuck the Belly of the World.”
Lilian looked confused. “How do people not know? How could no one have written it down?”
Tomi laughed. “It’s all about interpretation, your highness. There were various histories written at the time, but remember, the city was swamped by demons killing everyone. And then, other people wrote stories to try and justify this or that and to push their own agenda. You had dragons who thought the orcs fucked up the tower in some way, and you had orcs who blamed fae magic. Some thought it was the Troublemaker who broke out of hell, which destroyed the tower. The dragons flew in to fight off the archduke of hell and killed him but were all killed themselves. So no eyewitnesses. If we just look at the documents, at least a dozen dragons were found dead and most of the orcish royal family—this was before the Rabbia dynasty we have now. Though, to call it a dynasty is uh, stretching it. You’ve seen the duke. Not looking too good. And Fenrik might’ve been a murderous moron, but he was probably the best bet they had for real leadership. The current duke spend most of his day taking bribes and counting his money. I think the whole place would fall apart if it weren’t for First Field.”
The cat girl snorted. “And here you all are, listening to every damn word I say, when I’m basically full of shit. You guys are sweet, though, to talk to me about it. I just wish that Settie would come clean about her past. She knows so much.” She sighed like her heart would die in her chest if she never found out the truth.
Gray opened his mouth.
Tomi lifted a finger. “there’s one more theory, but there is on evidence to support it. So, Brog Rothrock—and his entire family really—weren’t known for being very bright. A very few people think that the six other families wanted to destroy the Wrath Tower and discredit Rothrok so they could get all divide the mana from the demons six ways instead of seven. They wanted the Weeping Well open. Or maybe the Rabbia family did. They also benefitted once the Rothrocks were all gone. Okay. I’ll shut up now. I’d still like the truth, though.
Gray tried to reassure her. “We just have to win the Testing. Settie promised me the truth if we came out on top. So let’s do that. Then, I promise you, Tomi, that we’ll make her answer every question we have.”
Lilian giggled. “Oh, Gray, she’s not going to tell you a thing. She kept me hidden in Pubis Port for weeks and weeks on end, and you didn’t know. You didn’t know a thing. To quote my good friend Pamalee Thornpinch here, don’t be a fucking idiots.”
“We’re all fucking idiots,” Pinch said, leaping to her feet. She then grabbed her coat and sped out of the room.
Lilian frowned at Gray. “Look what you did.”
“I didn’t—” he started to say.
Rynn cut him off. “You should go after her. She likes you.”
Gray laughed. “She hates me. Come on.”
“She wants to hate you less,” Ames pointed out.
It was insane logic but it also made a kind of sense.
“Fine.” He stood up. “Let’s see if I can get her to hate us all a little less.”
The princess giggled. “Good luck with that. I love all of you so much. As long as we win.”
Gray wasn’t going to comment on that. He grabbed his coat and went out into the cold after the fae girl.