Kaliska and Mark ducked out into the hall to let me dress. It was a laborious affair that involved a lot of rolling around on the floor and grumbling. When I finally finished, I was so tired that Mark practically had to carry me to the dining room.
I sat in one of the two bipedal chairs, and it creaked ominously. Mark sat next to me, pulling his chair close enough that our elbows almost touched. As Kaliska returned to the kitchen, I decided that now was as good as ever to get this Knight bond over with.
"Where's my polearm?"
Mark paused, frowning. "I'm not sure."
"It's in the umbrella stand, dear," Kaliska called from the kitchen.
"It's there." He nodded definitively.
"Could you go get it?"
Suspicion clouded his features. "Why?"
"I want to remove you as my Knight."
"No."
I sighed. "Mark-"
"If it weren't for the bond, I wouldn't have come as quickly as I did, and that collar might have actually killed you. I won't let you remove me."
"If you still want to be my Knight once you're free, I'll make you one again, okay? I just need to be sure that I'm not... brainwashing you or something."
Eyes narrowed, he stalked from the room. When he came back, he dropped my polearm on the table before sitting again.
I activated the Interface and navigated to the Party tab. Mar'kost Vek Tivom was the only member of my party. I tapped his name and clicked remove before I could chicken out. Nervous, I looked up at Mark.
"Well?"
"Well what?" He crossed his arms.
"Do you feel any different?"
"Nope."
"Maybe it takes a minute to-"
"You said you would make me your Knight again if I wanted it, and I want it. Don't break your word on the baseless suspicion that this bond creates lasting effects, unlike every other Party bond you've ever seen or read about."
"I've never read about Party bonds."
He swallowed. "Of course- I misspoke, but I'm sure you understood my meaning."
"I did." I tilted the polearm to tap his chest.
"Do you want to add Mar'kost Vek Tivom to your Party?" appeared on the Interface. I tapped Yes and leaned my polearm against the wall.
"There, you're my Knight again."
Frowning, he reactivated my Interface himself and gave me a funny look. "You added me as your Party member. You didn't make me a Knight."
"Oh." I took the polearm back, and he guided me through reinstating him as a Knight.
As we finished up, Kaliska emerged from the kitchen with a serving bowl of stew and several smaller bowls.
"It isn't fit for an Ortai, but I hope it's okay." She ladled the stew into three bowls before sitting on one of the quadrupedal chairs.
"I'm sure it's great." Even if it didn't have a smell. I blew on a spoonful and tasted the blandest stew I'd ever had. It was all I could do not to scowl. As hungry as I was, anything should've tasted good. And it wasn't like Kaliska made weird food usually; the two days I'd worked here, she'd prepared good soups for me and Cadmus. This one was probably just weird because my sudden revival had thrown her off.
Only, she seemed to have no problem eating it, and Mark was almost done with his first bowl. As I watched, he went after a second bowl of soup like a starving animal.
I picked at my meal, trying to look like I didn't hate it. "So... how long have I been dead-looking?"
They both froze for a second before Mark shrugged.
"It doesn't matter."
I looked to Kaliska.
"Nine days."
My blood chilled. I fought against the urge to shout as I turned to Mark. "Nine days? You didn't think that was important?"
His face fell. "I didn't know it was nine days. It felt longer."
"What did you do that whole time?"
"Nothing."
"You can't have done nothing for nine-" It struck me that in between talking, he was scarfing down his food like he hadn't eaten in a week. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe he really hadn't done anything except mope around my body the whole time. If I hadn't come back, would he have ever stopped moping?
I'd been so worried about my transformation that I hadn't really considered how my supposed death must have affected him. "Are you okay?"
"My health is undamaged, and I rejoice in your return."
"I'm so sorry."
He looked up. "Why? You had no control over your condition."
"I know. I just meant, I'm sorry you had to-"
I heard the front door open. As multiple pairs of footsteps came nearer, Mark remained in his true form.
"We're about to have company. Shouldn't you change form?"
He scowled at his bowl. "I know them."
Cadmus appeared in the doorway with two visitorsâa blue scalewing and a pale-furred woman with bat wings so long their tips dragged on the ground. She flicked massive bat ears toward me as Cadmus shuddered.
"Mar'kost, I'm glad you're up and about, but you can't bring her in the dining room. If you need to eat with her, do it in the bedroom."
That was rude. It wasn't like I had terrible table manners or somethingâand he wasn't even talking directly to me. "Fine, I'll eat in the bedroom."
Jumping back, he let out a startled bellow that almost sounded like a honk. "You're alive!"
Ah. Right. "Yeah, I am."
"That's incredible!" Shaking a little, he came forward to clap a hand on my shoulder.
I wasn't really sure what to say to that. My mind was still stuck on the fact that he'd fully assumed Mark was going around posing my body like a serial killer. I really didn't want to think about what he'd been doing with me for nine days.
Eyes wide and staring, the blue scalewing stepped closer. His black robes flowed around his legs. "Ortai Shiel, in the fleshâI never thought I would have the privilege." He bowed low.
His companion also bowed but not as low.
"Hi, you can call me Liza." I leaned closer to Mark and whispered, "Do you know these people?"
He sighed. "This is Ikaru Vek Tivomâmy fatherâand Baliko Tor Pelvatâmy adopted sister."
"-and fiancé," she added with a giggle.
I gave Mark a pointed look. "Is she, now?"
Exchanging looks, Kaliska and Cadmus excused themselves to the kitchen.
Mark sighed. "Our parents engaged us when we were children. I have no intention of going through with the engagement, and I have told them as much multiple times."
"Oh, come on, don't be like that." Baliko rounded the table, morphing as she walked to become an emerald green shifter. She wore the same black robes as Ikaru, but hers were more form fitting. Sitting on the edge of the table, she tickled Mark's face with her tail.
He looked like he wanted to strangle her with said tail. "Like what, exactly?"
"Stubborn." She reached to touch him. He flinched, which made her pout. "And selfish. We're dying out. You can't just not marry me."
"I can and I will. Won't." He frowned. "Why are you here, to pester me about marriage?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm here to comfort you after your friend died."
"Well, as you can sense, my friend is very much alive." He tilted his head toward me. "Your comfort is not needed."
"I'm here already, so there's no reason to waste a trip." Her tail snaked around his neck.
He looked annoyed for a moment before a mischievous look crept into his expression. "I'm afraid I've sworn a vow of celibacy to Ortai Shiel, so I won't be able to entertain you."
"No-" She glared at me. "You can't do that. I mean, you've never done it before, and you're supposed to like shifters. How are you supposed to have shifter servants if we die out, huh?"
I was utterly incredulous. Mark's attempt to use me as a scapegoat wasn't workingânot because she didn't think I was an Ortai but rather because she thought I was a reasonable enough deity that I wouldn't smite her for arguing with me.
"Uh..." I remembered Mark had once told me he didn't have a mom, which meant that Ikaru was single. "How about you and Ikaru hook up?"
Ikaru made a disgusted noise, while Baliko half-turned to give him a questioning look, and Mark stifled a laugh.
Ikaru's previously reverent expression faltered as he met my gaze. "I have no interest in procreating with a child, Ortai Shiel. Will you still order me to do so?"
"It was just a suggestion, not an order." I paused. "How old is Baliko?"
"Sixteen," she said with a chipper tone.
"Ew." I winced, not having meant to say that aloud.
Her enthusiasm barely dipped in the slightest. "I'm old enough to have a kid."
That was certainly debatable. "You'd better find your own guy, then, 'cause I'm not sharing Mark."
All three shifters froze, staring at me like I'd committed a heinous faux pas. Was I being too casual for an Ortai? Or-
"He's your concubine." Baliko's tail sharpened into something resembling a feathery blade, but she made no move to point it at me. "You're not supposed to take shifter concubines. It's a rule."
Damn it, my translation magic must've conveyed that Mark and I were a couple without me meaning to. "He's not my-"
Ikaru cleared his throat. "Step into the kitchen for a moment, Baliko. I will handle this."
Visibly seething, she stalked out of the room.
He shifted into his natural form, which was identical to Mark's. I searched his face for the slightest difference in features, but it was like he was a literal mirror to Mark. Except for the expressionâwhich was pure rage. I expected him to shout, but he hissed instead.
"I know what you are, descendant of Shiel." His voice was lower and rougher than Mark's. "You have no authority to conscript Mar'kost into your service. Release him at once, and I won't tell our hosts of your mortality."
I shrunk back toward Mark, who squeezed my hand under the table.
"You knew?" he snapped. "This whole time, you knew what Ortai were, and-"
"Certainly I knew. I had the same bond with Liza's mother that you do with her. Had you come to Holis for your birthday as I asked, I could have prevented the bond from strengthening to the point of dream communication."
"I was busy." Mark's faint excuse only seemed to enrage Ikaru further.
"I told you it was of the utmost importance that you come. It will be infinitely more difficult to weaken the bond now without Liza's cooperation, which I sense she is hesitant to give."
Mark scowled. "She already broke the bondâand I insisted she reinstate it."
"What?" The anger drained from his face as he rocked back on his heels. "You were free, and you swore yourself and your descendants into servitude again?"
"I left and then rejoined her Party as a Knight. My descendants are inconsequential because I won't have any."
"Of course you will, but-" A smile tugged at his lips. "You have severed the Inheritance Oath. Your descendants will be free. And you have no forced obligation to Liza; you can leave her Party of your own will."
"I won't."
"Whyever not?"
"I-" He slightly turned his head in my direction. "I have my reasons."
"She is a shadow of the Ortai you know. She can't give you whatever power or fortune you're envisioning."
"I'm well aware of Liza's nature."
"Are you? You seem to be under the impression that Ortai are capable of caring for anyone outside their own species. They are cold, heartless beings who will toss you aside the moment one of their own kind catches their eye."
"Might I assume you've had an unpleasant experience with Liza's mother?"
He couldn't have. My mom never said- but then again, why would she tell me about her dream alien boyfriend from before I was born?
"She dismissed me for another Ortai mutt. Or perhaps he was entirely human. It doesn't matter; the result was the same. It took months of rituals to weaken the bond between us until I no longer saw her every night. You're lucky you won't have to go through the same process, but you should sever all ties before this one breaks your heart."
I felt a pang of guilt. I had broken Mark's heart by not recognizing him as a person before I came to Vangorn, and I'd broken his heart again by appearing to die right in front of him. The latter hadn't really been my fault, but I'd still been at the center of it all.
"I don't have any romantic feelings for Liza."
I struggled to keep my face neutral at Mark's bald-faced lie.
Ikaru scoffed. "Cadmus told me you spent nine days cradling her body without eating. Those are hardly the actions of someone who doesn't care about her."
"I didn't say I didn't care. I'm her Knight. It's my responsibility to care for her, and I failed in my duties. She died as a direct consequence of my poor choices, so I took her death personally. That is all."
"Is it?" His eyes narrowed. "She addresses you like a mate."