15 | de vriend
Only the sound of glass and wood knocking together echoed in the basement. Hesi ran her tongue over her teeth, cleansing the taste of maatsek tea off her mouth. Kharta, as usual, had his back to her, tinkering with his experiments and scrawling things on his parchment with chicken-like scrawls. Liquid gurgled in a boiling cauldron which he occasionally stirred with a wooden ladle.
"Are you still going on about that?" She blurted, her voice bouncing across the room. A stray breeze flitted through the wall's slits, rustling the potted plant's triangular leaves guarding the corner. "How much longer must I wait?"
He didn't whirl to her, jabbing his quill against his parchment in a series of dots. "If you keep barging in only to yammer about how boring the day was, maybe longer," he snapped. "Why are you here?"
She leaned against the table before stopping herself from lying on it again. A nap might tempt her—something she couldn't do now. Not when a man lingered an arm's length away, a man she knew nothing about apart from their shared goal. "Can't I visit a friend?" she reasoned. Depending on his answer, she would know how he viewed their relationship. If he saw through her lie, then she might give him less credit than he deserved.
He bought into it. Fool. "I'm honored, but I don't think you want to watch something more boring than Yobekh's lectures." He retrieved a vial from the racks and sniffed it. She didn't see if he winced or if he was satisfied with it.
She clicked her tongue and scrunched her nose. "Then hurry it up, genius," she replied. "I come here because I have to see what you are doing or if you are moving forward with your plan."
He lowered the vial, returning it to the rack. "I'm not a genius so stop calling me that," he answered. A beat passed. Two. Then, he blew a breath. Its weight alone told her plenty. He whirled to her. "Do you have a better idea?"
She resisted a smile. Now, they were talking. "You mentioned those ores that the Mayaware are weak against, those that can kill them." She jerked her chin, noting hard his eyes became when she brought back an earlier conversation. He must regret saying it now. "Where can we get them? If we fashioned a blade out of it, I can get you what we agreed on faster. It's better than your plan."
"Huurshe ores were rare in the market for as long as I remember. Berheqt ensured nothing remained after taking over Ser-Tehra," Kharta said. "Do you think I'm not searching for them as well? I can't place orders while working inside Berheqt. I'm not a fool to wave my flag in enemy territory."
She rolled her shoulders. "Maybe there are remaining mines due east," she reasoned. "Ser-Tehra couldn't be the only place abundant with huurshe, right?"
"We can only pray that is the case." His tone didn't inspire confidence, much less assurance. Silence coated the air, smothering her. The steward returned to his experiment, and the industrial sounds replaced their voices.
She turned away, perusing the notes scribbled on yellowing parchment strewn across the table she perched on. Behind her, the sound of scuffling and the stool pulling back rang. "Do you think the Mayaware are onto us?" she wondered aloud.
A cough. "Trust me, they think their reign will last forever. They have humans under control. It is easy to think they secured their future," he said. "I've heard of plans to attack Ser-Methon through the mountains of Ser-Tehra."
She slammed her hands on the table. The sheets fluttered upon their impact. She stalked towards his side and got into his face. "When is that happening?"
He looked up from his work involving a steaming purple muck and the faint smell of lavender. "Soon?" He must have thought that word was useful.
"Yeah, you're not a genius." She gave him a light pat on the back and trudged back to her table. "Do I need to be here when you finish the poison? Can't you just have one of your servants drop it in the bridal palace?"
"And risk unwanted discovery?" he asked. His tools clinked between the gaps of silence between them.
She leaned all her weight against the wooden surface. "My presence here can also risk unwanted discovery," she said. "Why didn't you tell me to stop?"
He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. The noise blared across the room, and she winced. "You are a gamble I'm willing to take," he replied. He took out the cauldron's lid and gave the slush another stir. From what she heard with the motion, those were gigantic leaves. "Besides, you help make the wait times bearable and less...maddening."
She chewed on her lip. He thought this through—that much was obvious with how relaxed he was about everything. Going around a palace infested with creatures who tear humans and eat them for survival and counting on her dropping by whenever she wanted—he thought that as long as they have a supply of maatsek tea, they should be good. But she didn't like how he thought of her as a gamble as well.
"You used me without me knowing it." HSheesi kept her tone teasing even though a distinct pang nipped at her heart upon hearing those words from him. "You are not a good lad."
Kharta lowered a pair of tweezers and pushed his stool back. "Hesi," he said, her name sounding gentle yet ominous in his voice. "What makes you think I am one?"
The question hung between them. She wasn't a model citizen either. Here they were, planning the demise of their masters. Nothing good about that. "You're helping me, and I'm helping you," she answered. "That's what makes us good for each other. For now."
She shouldn't have added the last two words, but she did anyway. He chuckled, picking up the tweezers and clamping the legs at something inside the cauldron. "That is why you are a gamble."
The sound of metal hitting glass in a sharp clink sent her nerves on edge more than they already were. How long would she sit on her hands, waiting for something that hasn't come into fruition? Every day she spent here was another day Pai and Unsu witnessed the horrors of the breeding farm. Has her sister's moon-cycle started? Even with her efforts, she might return to watch her siblings naked inside filthy cages, having intercourse like animals.
She has to hurry. She came here to end demonic reign, and months passed, but she didn't get anywhere. Larqet's underpants. She couldn't even figure out what happened behind the demon prince's closed doors.
"There must be something I could do," she said to no one, jamming her teeth over her knuckles. It was a habit she couldn't erase even though she wanted to. "Something..."
A shadow fell over her, and she looked up to see Kharta's face inches from hers. Her breath hitched. Her heart stopped for the briefest seconds before lurching into a marathon in her chest. He was...so close. And he smelled like the desert during winter.
His hand reached up and brushed the side of her face. Her eyes squeezed shut, her throat squeezing tighter until she was close to gasping. Something tickled her ear, and she heard a metallic clink not long after. Her lobe felt...heavy.
She wrenched her eyes open. He didn't move from his stance, their faces mere inches apart. He smiled at her, and she noticed the small dimple on his right cheek and the flecks of gold dancing in his deep brown eyes. The curls shielding most of his forehead invited her fingers to feel them, to see if they were as soft as she thought.
"What did you do?" She whispered. Why was she whispering?
He leaned away, freeing the hot air locked between them. "A present," he said. "And it's something you can do."
Her eyes widened, a hand flying to her ear. Her fingers brushed against a tassel earring she wore. She felt a small groove in it, large enough to contain a dose of liquid. It would fly by Mayaware senses, so she could do it anywhere..
The poison was done.
"The next trial is in three weeks." He resumed working, as though he hadn't shoved himself into her personal space. And...and touched her. "You are fairly good at it."
She edged off the table as he glanced at her with another smile. Before, she considered it a dismissible feature on the steward's face, but now...it was the only thing she looked forward to seeing.
"Combat," he said, the word zipping past her ears. She stared at him blankly, and he had to repeat it with a fierce snap of his fingers. "Is it easy enough for you?"
She bobbed her head. "Thanks for the...um, gift. I'll use it well."
She ducked out of the basement before he noticed the burning haze creeping into her cheeks. This wasn't how she imagined things would go inside Berheqt. The road to the Mayaware throne should have been a straight line—get in, do the deed, and get out. She shouldn't have time to look men in the eye, much less let one touch her. But Kharta...
No. She came here for one thing. Nothing would stand in her way. Not even the ally she found. He was nothing but a gamble. Nothing but a stick to play in the game she had little control over.
He was nothing.
Because now that he fulfilled his end of the bargain, she has hers to uphold. And the next trial approached. Unlike the previous events she lived through, she wouldn't be in the lowest rung.
This time, Hesi Renen would be at the top, and she would be a fool to waste such a chance.
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