Raeve hovered at head height. "Mar'kost, you're back. I didn't think-"
"I have no intention of returning to the team that killed my dear friend. I'm here for arka alone." He stepped to the side.
She flew into his path. "We didn't kill her. Falek did." She threw up all four arms. "And he didn't even mean to do it. Why would he? She'd be no use to him dead. None of us could've known a pripping suppression collar would hurt her."
If he was entirely honest, he couldn't have predicted that outcome either. Suppression collars were highly uncomfortable for shifters, and whatever part of their body was caught on the side of the collar opposite their main core would suffer necrosis if stuck there long enough, but they wouldn't die. No other being would even suffer discomfort wearing such a collar. It was reasonable to assume it wouldn't have harmed Liza, much less killed her.
If Raeve knew Liza was alive and relatively well, she would throw a fit that Mar'kost was holding it against her. Unfortunately for Raeve, his problem had very little to do with Liza's current state and a lot more to do with the fact that she and his team had conspired against him to put someone he cared about in danger of being taken by a slaver.
"Even if Liza had survived, conspiring with Falek is unforgivable." He raised his voice to make sure Thyr and Harker heard.
"I told them not to," Raeve hurried to say. Her wings buzzed furiously. "I told them not to work with Falek."
"And yet you're still working with them today."
She punched him in the arm with enough force to make him wince. "You're my legal guardian, you felking idiot. I can't get a different job without your approval, and I'm sure as hell not going to be homeless and starving just because working with the Raiders upsets you."
She had a point, one which he couldn't logically deny. If she had truly voted against working with Falek, she held less blame than the others. Still...
"You should have told me the moment they spoke to Falek."
"And how was I supposed to do that? I couldn't fly, and I don't have a damn drykon. Was I supposed to out-run Harker on foot?"
Yet again, she made a logical point, especially given that neither of them had personal messenger orbs. He even felt a sting of guilt for leaving her without any recourse but to continue working with the Raiders. Though, he doubted she would have wanted to take another job if keeping the current one hadn't bothered him.
"Do you want a different job?"
Her antennae twitched. "If I change jobs, will we be on speaking terms again?"
"We're already speaking."
"Now, yeah, but I've been trying to talk to you for nine days, and you wouldn't let me in."
"Did you? I don't remember that." It was the truth. He remembered very little of the last nine days. With a shrug, he stepped around her. "I came here for arka, and I doubt Cadmus has all day to assist me." He turned down a side hall to the left. His team had cleared a handful of rooms down this hall before they reached an area of arka so concentrated that it made everyone except Mar'kost feel ill. They'd erected a floor-to-ceiling barricade of metal sheets and rubble to prevent monsters from advancing into the sections they'd already cleared. It stood just short of the arka-infused zone, but gaseous arka still drifted through gaps in the barricade.
Mar'kost sat at its base, willing the monsters on the other side to pay him no mind. At the moment, he had too little arka to attract them, but he intended to change that soon.
Cadmus cleared his throat. He had a hand over his mouth, and he looked queasy. "Mind if I stay back?"
"Not at all."
He retreated to the mouth of the hallway.
Raeve, who had followed Mar'kost down the hall, remained by his side. Shifting from foot to foot, she itched the back of her hands. "Did you have the funeral already?"
It took Mar'kost's weary mind a few blinks to comprehend her question. "Why do you ask?"
Her wings buzzed. "If you haven't had it yet, I want to go."
His brows rose into his head feathers. "Why would you want to attend the funeral of your enemy?"
"Liza isn't my enemy. Not anymore."
"Of courseâit would be petty to maintain a romantic rivalry with a dead woman."
She glared at him. "I didn't have a romantic rivalry with her. You made it perfectly clear that you don't like me that way." Crossing her arms, she huffed. "I was trying to protect you from a powerful telepath. If she'd been a longstrider or even a felking lavi, I wouldn't have had a problem with her."
"Is that so?" Part of him wanted to believe her, to trust her again. If Liza's safety hadn't been in play, he might very well have taken Raeve at her word, but now was the worst time to let slip that Liza was alive and weak.
"Yeah, it's so. She was dangerous. Doesn't mean she deserved to die."
Now that peeved him. "Don't pretend like you wanted her alive. You tried to kill her less than two weeks ago."
"She almost killed me first."
"She was confused and had no idea what her powers could do."
"That only made her more dangerous." She threw her arms up. "Once she calmed down, she wasn't too bad. Now I know you were just lovesick, not enchanted, I wish she was here so I could apologize."
"What makes you think she wants to hear your apology?"
"I'm not assuming she wa-" She blinked. "Wait, you said 'wants'âpresent tense." Her eyes widened. "And you're way too calm for someone who thinks we got their lover killed."
"I haven't slept much since she died. Forgive me if exhaustion clouds my thoughts. I meant 'wanted,' obviously."
She stared. "She's alive, isn't she?"
"No." He tried to look angry, but all he wanted to do was sleep. "She's very dead."
She cackled. "Son of a katsith, you're just messing with me. She's a pripping Ortai; of course she's alive." She stepped back and raised her voice to call, "Hey guys-"
Mar'kost's tail shot out to coil around her throat. He squeezed just enough to shut her up. "Whatever you think you know, keep it to yourself."
She shivered as he let go of her. "They swore off talking to Falek." She hesitated as Harker and Thyr appeared at the mouth of the hallway. "Sorry, I thought I saw something. I was wrong."
They retreated out of view.
In a lower voice, Raeve continued, "You don't have to lie to them. They-"
"How much did Falek offer?"
Her wings drooped. "Two Purples."
His voice dropped to the barest of whispers. "What could possibly make you think I would risk Liza's life based on the loyalty of two men I've known for six months who already tried to sell her to a slaver?"
"They were just testing if she-"
"Two Purples, Raeve. That's four times what Falek offered for you, and you know Harker considered taking it. Were two Purples his highest offer or merely the first that caught our teammates' eyes?"
She paused. "He went from five Blues to two Purples real quick."
"Then I think we can assume he would raise his offer without hesitation if he believed she was alive. His fortune could ease any man's conscience."
"You think he knows what she is?"
"Doubtful. Even a greedy bastard would hesitate to collar an Ortaiâbut he certainly knows she has the ability to control wild drykons, and he's likely assumed that her skills could be applied to people as well Two Purples is a mote of dust compared to what a man like him could earn with that kind of power."
"Right. I swear, I won't tell anyone about Liza." She paused, fixating on her boots. "I want to apologize to her."
"You want to apologize to her?" Mar'kost made no effort to hide the surprise in his voice.
She winced. "I know I screwed up, okay? But as bad as that collar was, it proved she's not controlling you."
"It killed her."
"But she's still ali-"
"She was dead for nine days. Then she revived." He fought to keep a tremor out of his voice. "I want to believe she will recover fully, but I know too little about Ortai biology to be certain. At the moment, she can't even sit up without assistance. It's entirely possible she'll be dead again by the time I return to her." He wished he hadn't left her. If only Cadmus had any Void crystage, he could have charged it in the dungeons without Mar'kost's presence.
"Really?"
"Yes, really, so I insist that you not attempt to downplay what happened to her."
She raised her hands in surrender. "I'm sorry. I was just trying to say that I was wrong about Liza. She wasn't controlling you, and I won't hurt her again." She rocked back on her heels. "But-"
"No buts." He brandished his tail at her. "I meant what I said the last time we were working together; if she dies when you could have prevented it, you and I will be finished."
"I know, I know. I won't kill her or let her die if I can help it. Just let me say what I have to say."
Frowning, he leaned back against the wall. "Very well."
"I meant what I said about not having a romantic rivalry with Liza. You and I are just friends. I made my peace with that a long time ago. But friends don't stand by and do nothing when they think a stranger is brainwashing their friend. I only regret hurting Liza because I was wrong about herâand because I hurt you." She held up a hand to shush his argument. "Just for a blink, use your brain instead of your grassblade. By your logic, if a strange man appeared out of nowhere and claimed to be my master, you'd be best friends, right? You wouldn't try to scare him off. And you'd never try to get rid of him, even if he almost killed you. You'd be perfectly fine if I invited him to live with us. You'd find out he's a powerful telepath, and you'd never thinkânot for a momentâthat he's controlling me. Right?"
Mar'kost waited a blink before asking, "Are you finished?"
Crossing her upper arms, she put her lower hands on her hips. "Yeah, I'm finished. You can go back to calling me a monster."
"I don't believe I called you a monster in so many words." Though, it was entirely possible that his tired brain had simply forgotten saying as much. "Despite my ire, I'm not completely unaware of how Liza's arrival must have appeared to you. However, she was hardly a stranger to me." He hadn't told her about his reoccurring dreams because he was worried she would be jealous. In hindsight, perhaps she would've reacted better if she'd known about Liza in advance. Then again, it might have assured Raeve that Liza was slowly enchanting him.
He wasn't sure if explaining everything now would help or hurt, but he couldn't imagine it would give Raeve a reason to hurt Liza after the collar had convinced her Liza wasn't controlling him using magic. "Liza has appeared in my dreams for at least a myriblink almost every night since I turned twenty. We've grown close."
She snorted. "A stone could see that much." Her antennae twitched. "Don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure she didn't enchant you? At first, I mean. Obviously, you still liked her when the collar was blocking her magic, but when you first met...?"
He fiddled with the end of his tail. "She wasn't capable of controlling her magic when we met."
Raeve sat cross-legged in front of him. "That's really not what I asked, but I think I got my answer."
He sighed. "It would be a lie to say she's never used her magic to influence me, but she can't mask; I'm aware when she uses it." His feathers dipped. "On the whole, it doesn't bother me, but I must admit that it can cloud my judgement. To be clear, I don't resent her for this, nor do I desire to purchase an anti-telepathy charm."
She raised a brow. "If money wasn't an issue, would you use one?"
"No."
"You're quick to answer." She stifled a laugh. "She 'clouds your judgement'âare you sure that's magic and not a side effect of spending time with your lover?"
"I'm sure." He diverted blood away from his face to avoid blushing. "Please don't refer to her as my lover, especially not in her presence."
"Why not? It's what she is."
He shook his head. "She isn't."
She blinked. "You don't love her?"
"I didn't say that."
"Then she is-"
"I don't believe she reciprocates my affection."
"Oh..." She frowned. "Are you sure? 'Cause she said you two were courting."
"At the time, she believed I was a figment of her imagination. Now that she knows I'm real, her feelings toward me range from fearful to ambivalent to somewhat positiveâbut not affectionate."
"Fearful?"
He nodded. "Everything here scares her, including me."
She was quiet for so long that Mar'kost started to drift off. Her voice startled him awake. "After you're done, can I go back with you?"
"Hmm?" He sat up a little straighter and tried to focus on her question. "To Cadmus's house?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I want to talk to Liza, remember?"
"She's terrified of you. I won't ask her to face you while she's like this."
"Don't tell her she has to or anything, but tell her I want to apologize, and ask her if I can talk to herâwith you there, of course."
"If I ask her, she's likely to agree out of obligation."
Raeve shrugged her wings. "What's the harm in that? I just want to talk."
"I said no. Don't ask me again, and I might invite you over once she's well."
"Okay, okay. I won't pester you. You can sleep and collect arka. I'll watch over you, so Cadmus doesn't have to stay."
"Mmhmm." He let his head nod.