Girl!Kairn AU - Part 2
Pineapple #28. Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't
Blueberry Yogurt #18. Negotiation
& Soft Serve 2/50 - Apple Pie #21. Roommate
with Chopped Nuts, Hot Fudge, Whipped Cream, Cookie Crumbs, Malt,
and a Brownie
Story : knights & necromancers
Rating : R
Timeframe : 1240's-50's
Word Count : 5129
Malt Prompt : Mod Prompts (from Casey) Change the gender of any main character and see what happens
Malt Prompt : Trick or Treat - (from Kelly) If I had been the Virgin Mary, I would have said "No." - Margaret Smith
Malt Prompt : Summer Prompt - I seduced your ex-boyfriend, to help you get over him
Malt Prompt : Mod prompts - (Macbeth) "I knew it! I knew it! Well, not 'knew it' in the sense of having the slightest idea, but I knew there was something I didn't know!"
- Willow, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Season 2
Malt Prompt : Bingo - Sethan + public place + cover blown + a night to remember + oh. my. gods.
Malt Prompt : PfaH - Roommate + Kairn + don't tell a soul
phew, that's a lot of malt....
follows Part One
So, I thought this was going to be 2 parts and done, but then I had Marty read it (I had all but the end done) and he raised a bunch of questions and now the end is sort of in limbo. Being the impatient creature I am, I am posting part 2 anyway with an evil cliffhanger and hoping I can work out a reasonable end to this mess!
Sethan was seated on her bed, an open book poised beneath his nose. Karin plopped down beside him, heavily enough to jostle the bed, sighing when he barely glanced up at her.
“Did you see the new master?” she said.
“Tarek?” He yawned and turned a page. “I did. I expect it’s his apprentice you’re interested in though.”
Karin slumped against him with a sigh. “Am I really so transparent?”
Sethan shrugged. He shifted the book to one hand and, still not bothering to face her, draped an arm around her shoulders. “I just know you.”
“It’s just, well, sometimes I wonder…”
“I’m glad you did it.” The hand on her shoulder tightened and Karin tensed.
“Oh?”
The book fell to his lap, his thumb tucked inside the pages, and Sethan finally turned to fix her with that bright blue stare of his. “Of course,” he said. “There’d be no us, you know. If you weren’t a boy.”
“Well,” said Reida, hands on her hips, “if it isn’t Berwyk’s golden child.”
Sethan didn‘t so much as look up as he dragged another stroke across the form. “What do you want?” said Karin.
Reida edged around the circle. “Whatcha got there?” she said, leaning into the space between them. “Human? Nice.”
“It is,” said Karin. The new girl wedged herself between them, forcing her to scoot hastily out of the way. “Hey! You mind?”
Reida shot her a look, nose wrinkled and thick lips curled, before turning back to Sethan. “Do you talk? Or is that what he’s for?”
Sethan traced another line.
Reida leaned around him, planted a hand in an open space amidst the form, and aimed a wicked grin up from beneath Sethan’s downturned face. “You know,” she said, slowly, “I hear Berwyk took your balls to keep you from spawning little magic brats.”
Sethan barely blinked. “You hear a lot of things, don’t you?” said Karin.
She turned that toothy grin on her. “I hear you’re his bitch.”
Heat flooding her cheeks, Karin sputtered and swallowed. “A-am not!” she snapped.
“You see, you add a ring here” - Reida’s chalk clacked against the slate - “and another half ring here” - she bent to swipe a few quick strokes across the bottom of the form -“and one point becomes three.”
There was grumbling among the older boys. “When did she get to be so special?” said Aldo.
“It’s only ‘cause her precious master took over teaching.”
Reida ignored the remarks as they continued to fly, scrawling another form and another on the board instead.
“What do you think?” Karin peered over her own forms at Sethan.
“I think you’re missing a line, here.”
“I meant about the new girl,” she said, hastily fixing her form.
“Oh.” Sethan gave the board and Reida’s rapidly growing web of sigils a thoughtful stare.
The older boys’ protests culminated then in a shout of “Girls shouldn’t do magic!” from Aldo. This was followed by a loud pop and a puff of black smoke erupting from his half-finished construct.
Sethan cast the soot covered Aldo a smirk. “She’s not bad,” he said.
“The line across the top-” Sethan started.
Karin snatched her hand away before he could grasp it. “I’ve got it,” she snapped.
Unperturbed, he reached for her again. “It’s crooked. Let me-”
She stopped him with a glare as she set the paint back to her chest. “I said I’ve got it. You don’t need to do everything for me; I’m not some imbecile.”
As she finished the form, Sethan occupied himself fishing through the dresser drawer. In the mirror, she saw him come up after a moment, holding the roll of bandages. “But I like helping you.”
Karin fixed the reflection with a scowl and pressed her fingers to the mark. Warmth slid through her chest and when she opened her mouth her voice dropped. “You don’t need to.”
Sethan frowned. “I don’t understand. Did I do something wrong?
“No.” She slapped the paint stick down against the desk. “Just let me do something right sometimes.”
“Sethan.” Reida strode into the lab, book in hand.
Across the room, the two of them lounged against a bookcase, Kairn with his nose in a book, Sethan with his arm across his shoulders. Sethan lifted his head and quirked a brow. “One of your master’s earth magic books?” he asked.
Reida nodded, only half listening. She was too busy watching the way Sethan’s fingers curled over Kairn’s arm. It was always Sethan touching Kairn, never the other way around, though Kairn was never out of Sethan’s reach. What she wouldn’t give to see how it played out when they were alone. She’d heard that there were wind forms that-
“Are you going to hand it over or not?” Sethan chuckled as she realized she’d been standing in the doorway, dangling the book in the air for a full minute.
“Of course.” She settled beside him, close enough to brush his leg with hers, and tossed the book in his lap.
Kairn shot her a look that was hard to read. Jealousy, curiosity? Whatever it was, it wasn’t friendly. He was always so guarded around her, around everyone, really.
Sethan cracked open the book, and Reida leaned in to point at the pages, and Kairn’s brow furrowed. That was most definitely jealousy, and those eyes were set on the breasts Reida had angled under Sethan’s nose. She flashed him a grin and, realizing he’d been caught staring, he blushed like a girl.
“Y-you’re… you’re hurt.” That was an understatement. Reida was curled up on the floor in one corner of the lab, skirts hiked up around her waist, a blood soaked towel stuffed between her legs, shaking and cursing.
“I’ve got it under control.” There was a paint stick in her hand, the slick red grease worn down to a nub, and lines and rings laced their way up and down her legs amidst patches of blood.
“But-”
“But what?” Her voice was firm but her shoulders lurched with an involuntary sniff.
“That’s…” Karin bit her lip, shuffled closer still, and eyed the stains on Reida’s skirt, the dark spots on the floor. “That’s a lot of blood.”
“And?”
“And you can’t keep doing this. One of these times he’s going to kill you.”
“What do you care?”
Karin bent low and extended a hand. “I’d like to think we could be friends.”
“Hmph.” Ignoring the hand, Reida pushed herself to her feet.
“You don’t need to let him do this to you,” said Karin. “No one needs to let anyone do this to them.”
Reida laughed as she pushed past her. “You run home to Sethan like a good little bitch. I can take care of myself.”
Karin caught Sethan’s arm as he slid it from beneath her. He paused, already half out of the bed, to shoot her a questioning look. She felt suddenly vulnerable, lying there on her back as Sethan’s eyes slid over her, and a blush swept through her cheeks. “You, uh, you don’t always have to go creeping back to your own bunk, you know.”
Sethan frowned at the narrow strip of mattress left beside her. “It’s not as if there’s room for us both in yours.”
“I’ll make room.” She shoved herself up against the wall and gave the bed a pat.
Sethan quirked a brow but crawled back into the covers. There was an awkward moment of arranging and rearranging limbs before she settled into the crook of his arm. “You really want to spend the whole night like this?” he said.
With an ear pressed over his heart, Karin slid a hand up over Sethan’s ribs and smiled. “You really need to ask?”
He closed a hand gently over her shoulder and pulled her tightly to him. “I don’t suppose I should.”
“I love you,” she whispered into his chest.
Sethan’s lips brushed the top of her head as he gave her another squeeze. “I love you too.”
Back so tight against the wall she could feel every corner of every stone where it met her back, Karin stared, terrified, at the arms pinning her in.
Reida’s pearly grin hovered inches from her face. “It’s such a shame you’re Sethan’s bitch,” she said. “The things I could show you…”
“I-I don’t like girls.” She pressed herself even more firmly to the wall, wishing she could somehow just pass right through it.
Reida snorted. “Don’t knock what you haven’t tried.” Cocking her head, she edged even closer. “I can see what Sethan sees in you. The way you squirm and shake. It’s delicious.” Her hand slid from the wall to the base of Karin’s ribs. “Has he ever tried knives on you?”
“What? No! Y-you’re sick!”
“Gods, I’d love to make you scream. But, you know, I’ll settle for a little peek.” Reida’s hand made a dive for her waistband. Karin yelped and launched herself at the other girl. She caught Reida square in the chest, and she tumbled back, across the hall and into the far wall.
Reida rebounded off the stone, clutching her shoulder and fuming. “You little bitch!”
“Keep your hands off me!” yelled Kairn, as she turned and bolted down the hall.
It was rare Kairn went anywhere by himself, so when Reida spotted him ambling across the lawn with a basket of linens against his hip and not a sign of Sethan anywhere, she decided it must be her lucky day.
She sidled up to him and matched her pace to his. “Where are you headed without your shadow?”
Kairn flinched. “Just…just to do some laundry.”
“Berwyk has people for that, you know.” She reached for the corner of a sheet that dangled over the lip of the basket.
Kairn jerked the laundry away with a scowl. “I-I like doing it myself,” he said.
“What have you got there anyway?” Wanting to do your own laundry was one thing. Covering it all up with a sheet and not letting anyone look was another. She made another grab for the sheet.
“S-some linens.” Kairn flushed and he jerked the basket away again, but not fast enough.
“Bloody linens.” Reida smirked and Kairn’s blush deepened. “I thought you said you two weren’t into knives.”
“We’re not! I just…Let me go do my wash,” he said, doubling his pace.
Reida caught sight of Sethan, waiting by the stream, and thought it best to let him
There was a writhing corpse in the middle of the lab, hobbling on its knees and screaming in incoherent fury, supposedly dragging Master Ephram’s soul about with it.
“Put him back!” Karin yelled. The palms against her ears did little to mask the unearthly cries, but she pressed them even tighter anyway.
“Not that easy,” said Sethan.
“Forget easy,” said Reida, ignoring him. “It’s not possible.” She turned to the corpse. “You hear that, you bastard, you’re stuck.”
The body…demon…Master Ephram, Karin didn’t know what to call the mess, just continued its howling. Another hunk of rotted tissue sloughed off its shoulder to land with a sickening thump on the stone.
He deserved this somehow, if anyone ever deserved to be transformed into a hideous undead shell of a creature.
Reida laughed at the corpse, slinging insults, spitting in its face. He deserved that too. All the things he’d done to her, to any other girl he managed to get his filthy hands on. Karin was never so glad to be a boy as when Master Ephram was around.
“Wait,” said Sethan. He was bent over the forms, tracing a line with one finger. “I think I might be able to fix this.”
All the color drained from Reida’s cheeks. The string of curses she’d been spouting died.
Karin wasn’t sure what she was thinking picking it up, but next thing she knew she had a board in her hands and she was swinging. Over the crunch as the board met the corpse’s head, she heard Reida laughing again.
Karin woke to Reida’s loud declaration of “Oh. My. Gods.” She jumped at the sound, dislodging Sethan’s hand from its resting place against her bare breast. Looking down as Sethan’s hand fell over her belly and he let out a snore, she found the sheets gathered around her waist. She jerked her head up to meet the intruder with a scream.
“I knew it!” Reida yelled, as Karin scrambled to get under the covers.
Sethan gave a yawn and a slow, lazy stretch. “Stuff it, Reida, everyone already knows I’m sleeping with him. So you got yourself a little peep show-“
Blankets gathered all the way to her chin, Karin dug into the mattress behind him. “S-Seth, she didn’t just- She saw-“
“Damn right I got a show! That’s no him.”
“Reida!” Wedged between Sethan and the wall, she was shaking so hard the whole bed trembled with her. Sethan turned to face her, one eye open, as if he was still deciding if this was worth waking up to deal with.
“I knew it!” said Reida, all but jumping up and down in excitement. “I knew there was something wrong with you.”
“Reida, please!” Karin wailed. Sethan snaked an arm around her but it felt like lead against her shoulders.
“You hide your voice along with your breasts then?”
“You can’t tell anyone about this!” said Karin. “Not a word.”
“Not unless you want to wake up to a lot worse than pincers,” Sethan added, with a sleepy scowl at Reida.
“Relax, I’m not about to send a friend to Berwyk to get gutted.”
“Would you stop looking?” She hiked the covers up again and Reida snickered. “Wait, did you just call me a friend?”
Reida cast her a glare that had her quickly burrowing even further under the blankets. “You have a problem with that?” She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, you’re a friend. You killed for me.”
That got Karin a puzzled look from Sethan. “You what?”
“Nothing.” She burrowed further behind him still.
“Besides,” Reida continued, “it’s not like I want to bed you anymore. I’m not into tits. Though apparently Sethan is, so maybe we could share-”
“No!” Karin snapped, clutching at Sethan’s shoulders as if she might actually try to rip him away from her.
“Shame,” said Reida. “So…why the disguise?”
“I-I wanted out of that orphanage, and Berwyk was only taking boys. When they thought I was one, I wasn’t about to argue. And then Sethan…”
“Right, right,” said Reida. “Because Berwyk won’t kill your girlfriend as long as she’s your boyfriend.”
“Precisely,” said Sethan, squeezing Karin to him.
Reida rolled her eyes as Karin reddened again. “How convenient.”
“I’ve always thought so.” Sethan made to kiss Karin on the forehead, but she waved him away.
“Now would you get out!” she yelled at Reida. “Or at least turn around long enough to let me find some clothes.”
“You know,” said Karin, idly watching her feet dangle over the end of Reida’s bed. “I’ve never had a girlfriend before. I’m not even really sure what girls do together.”
Reida peered up from the sprawl of papers on the floor, a pen twirling between her fingers, and raised a brow. “The same shit we always do.”
“Really?
“No, because now that I know you have tits, we’re just going to put on pretty dresses and brush each other’s hair. And talk about boys, of course,” she added, with a grin.
“Oh?”
“Of course not! What kind of girl do you take me for?”
“I-I’m sorry.” She shoved a hand into her hair, color seeping into her cheeks. “I’ve just gotten so used to being a boy, sometimes I start to think I am one and girls are something alien. I’d kind of hoped maybe they did interesting things together.”
Reida shrugged. “Maybe they do. I don’t quite understand them myself, to be honest.” She was back to inking her lines, and Karin found herself with nothing to see but the back of her head and sighed.
“You know, I actually don’t think I’d mind that whole hair brushing business. I mean, if I had any hair to brush.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not really,” she said, quietly, bracing herself for the inevitable scathing remark.
There was a rustling of pen and papers as Reida put her work aside. “Hang on,” she said, pushing herself to her feet. “I’m sure I’ve got one somewhere. You know, talking about boys doesn’t actually sound half bad either.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, so spill. How is he?” She pulled open a drawer, dug around a bit inside, and tossed a hairbrush down on the bed.
“How… Wha-?” Karin dodged as a hand mirror and a tube of paint came flying her way.
“Sethan.” Reida turned back to her with a toothy grin. “How is he? In the sack?” She added the completely unnecessary clarification of a crude coupling between her fist and finger, and Karin just gaped at her for a moment, scarlet from ear to ear.
“He, er, uh. It’s, uh… it’s pretty good, I suppose.”
“You suppose?” She settled beside her, snatching up the brush and the paint.
“It’s not like I have anything to compare it to!” Karin blurted. Reida clucked her tongue as she ran the brush over her scalp. “M-maybe we should go back to when we thought girls didn’t make sense.”
“Oh, but this is just getting juicy.”
The brushing ceased and she felt the cold, wet, press of paint at the base of her skull. “What are you doing?”
“You’ll see.”
There was the touch of her fingers and then a momentary sting. “No, really. What are you doing?”
The next thing she knew, Reida was shoving the mirror into her hands with a smug “What do you think?”
Unable to force it shut, Karin clapped a hand to her mouth. Thick, shiny black hair hung nearly to her shoulders. She reached up a hand to feel it, giggling as it fell, soft and silky, between her fingers. “We, uh, we probably should… put it back the way it was…”
Reida answered with a derisive sniff. “Enjoy it for a while. It suits you. What?” she said, when Karin shot her a look. “Sethan goes around with curls halfway down his back. I don’t see why you-“
“Sethan has nothing to hide,” Karin said softly.
Reida studied her for a moment, wrinkling her nose. “I suppose it does bring out your girlie features. Now then, we were talking about boys.”
“Right,” said Karin, still absently toying with her new hair. “So, when was the last time you…” She made an attempt to copy Reida’s gesture, only to find herself blushing fiercely.
Reida shot her a glare as she snapped the cap back on her paint stick. “You’re right,” she said. “Girl stuff is stupid.”
“That long, huh?”
“Take pity on me and share?” she said, with a bat of her lashes and a flash of her teeth.
“Not a chance.”
“Do you ever wish I was pretty?”
The book Sethan had been studying nearly fell from his hands as he turned to regard the girl perched at the desk. “Huh?” was all he could manage.
“Do you ever wish I was pretty?” Karin repeated, her eyes on the mirror as she pinned the end of the bandage in place under her arm. “You know, that I wore dresses, or ribbons in my hair… or had hair at all.” She ran a hand through her short, course, dark locks with a frown that only deepened as her hands slid to her front to check her shape. “Or breasts for that matter.”
With a sigh, Sethan tucked his thumb into his book. “Where is this coming from?”
“You do, don’t you?” She laid a hand on the paint stick only to shove it across the desk as if it had offended her.
“Where do you get that idea?”
“Because you’re not answering.”
“It’s a foolish question.”
“You didn’t even try to tell me you think I am pretty. Do you?”
With a sigh, he tossed the book down on the bed. “This is Reida’s doing, isn’t it?”
“There you go again, ignoring the question.” She spun away in a huff, but he could see her watching him in the mirror, out of the corner of her eye, as he crossed the room.
“Look,” he said, bending over her shoulder to slide a hand beneath her chin. He forced her head up so she would have to look squarely into the mirror. “You’re beautiful, alright? Even if you are infuriating sometimes.”
She laughed at that, and it brought color to her cheeks and a light to her eyes, and even with her hair cropped short and her breasts strapped down, Sethan swore she he’d never seen anyone more beautiful. And the way she was watching his reflection, he was sure she could see it written in his eyes.
“You know,” he said, scooping the paint stick from the desk and pressing it firmly into her palm. “You’re so much easier to deal with when you’re a boy.”
“Here.”
Karin rolled up on her side to get a better look at the book Sethan was dangling in front of her. “What?”
The book bobbed up and down and she struggled to focus on the text. “This is what Berwyk is so afraid of,” said Sethan, settling on the edge of the bed.
“Huh?” She gave up on trying to follow the words as Sethan continued to jostle the pages and instead snatched it out of his hands.
She sat for a long, quiet moment, staring at the page, not quite believing what she saw, even as she read it a second time and a third. “This says that the key can summon a god?” she said at last. “This… this son of yours, he’d be able to summon a god.” With a grin broader than she’d ever seen on him, Sethan nodded “And you…you want that, don’t you? You want a god.”
“Can you imagine it?” He said, and she felt the urge to flinch away from the hand that settled on her shoulder.
“That, uh, that really would be something- W-why are you l-looking at me like- Sethan?”
“You know I love you,” he started.
It was too late to escape the hand except by throwing it off, so she just squirmed beneath it. “I-I do, but-“
Sethan leaned in, pulling her closer. In her lap, the book fell closed, and she found herself staring at the cover with its ragged binding and faded title rather than meet his eye. “I want you to bear my child.”
“You want what?” She twisted sharply, jerking her shoulder free, and tossed the book into Sethan’s lap as if it had bitten her.
“Think about it!” His tone was buttery. The rejected hand made a grab for her cheek, and Karin scuttled back among the pillows. “You, and me, and a god.”
“And a baby!”
“Yes, well…”
“Do you have a clue how to take care of a baby? Do you have any idea how much work is involved?” She was shaking now so badly that she could barely find the words, but Sethan still seemed to be unfazed. Tears welled in her eyes. “Do you realize what you’re asking me to do? I strap these down every day!” she said, raking her hands over her front. “I can’t go sucking in a belly and pretending it’s not there!”
“I know, I know. But hear me out-“
She ducked another attempt to stroke her face. “You’re asking me to blow my cover, to destroy my whole world!”
“You don’t have to decide right now, take some time to warm up to-“
“Berwyk will kill me!”
“Shh, shh!” He brushed the tears from her cheek as they began to spill. “I’ve already got that figured out. See, you could-“
“I am not doing it!”
“Think about it, Karin. It’s not as if I have other options.” He had her trapped now, an arm on either side of her, his nose hovering above hers as if he might kiss her.
“It’s not- You’ve already decided, haven’t you? You figured I’d just go along, and if I don’t, that’s okay, you’ll just keep after me until I change my mind.”
“You make it sound so calculated.”
“It’s not?” she snapped. “Just how long have you been planning this? Months? Years? Since you first started helping me strap myself down?”
“I-“ For the first time, he faltered.
“You have, haven’t you? You’ve just been using me!”
“No! No, I want you to do this with me.” His palm slid over her wet cheek and down her neck. “If I simply wanted to use you, it’s not as if I need to ask.”
“It’s not as if-” Karin choked. “Get your hands off me!”
“Karin-”
“You want a baby, go find yourself a whore to have it with! I said don’t touch me!” She shoved him and he fell back on the bed. “I don’t want to see you again!” She snatched her cloak from the back of the chair and tore out of the room.
“What did he do?”
Karin froze. She hadn’t heard her approach. At least it was Reida. What she would have done if someone else had crept up on her like that she hadn’t a clue. With a heavy sniff, she forced her shoulders straight and her head high. “What did who do?” she said, her voice cracking. “What… what makes you think anyone did anything? M-maybe I just want to sit here. Alone. In the dark.”
“Blubbering in your girl voice.” Karin bit her lip as Reida stepped into the light, tipping her head to catch her eye. “In your- Gods, I know it’s dark, but shouldn’t you put those away?”
Karin’s eyes fell to her breast and she swore as she realized she’d fled the room in nothing but a nightshirt and a thin cloak. Reida shrugged out of her cloak and draped it gently over her shoulders. With a muttered “thank you,” she clutched it to her chest.
Reida settled on the wall beside her. With a slow, sad shake of her head, she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and shoved it Karin’s way. “So, what did the bastard do?”
Karin watched the handkerchief bob once, twice. She felt her lip begin to tremble, and her shoulders ached with the urge to curl in upon herself and sob. “He…” She snatched the cloth from Reida’s hand, wadded it against her nose and blew into it hard. “He wants a baby.”
Reida swept into the room, a steaming plate in hand and a bundle tucked under her arm. The door snapped shut behind her.
“I have had about enough of you moping about my room every day,” she declared. “He’s not worth it. I brought you some fresh clothes and some breakfast and, for gods’ sakes, would it kill you to take a bath?”
From deep within her cocoon of blankets, Karin shot her a venomous glare.
“You know, you don’t have to worry about the whole baby thing anymore.” The plate clattered against the desk and Karin flinched as the clothes came flying her way.
“Y-you talked him out of it?” With hands that were sluggish from their recent lack of use, she started to unroll the shirt and pants.
“I’m pregnant,” said Reida, as simply as if she’d been announcing the weather.
Karin froze. The clothes slipped from her numb hands. “You’re what?”
“I brought you a fresh roll of bandages too,” she continued as if she hadn’t heard, “but I suppose you’ll want to eat first, so I’ll just leave them on the dresser.”
“You’re making this up! This is some sort of sick joke to you, isn’t it?”
“Nope,” said Reida. “Definitely pregnant. Your food is getting cold.”
“H-how could you!”
“Seriously, if you’re not going to eat it, I don’t mind leftovers.” The grin she shot her at that was the final straw. Hurling the blankets down, Karin leapt up from the bed and charged.
“Reida!” she cried, grabbing her by the arm and forcing her around. “I thought you were my friend!”
Reida brushed her hands away. “I am your friend,” she said, curtly. “I did this for you, you know.”
“You slept with Sethan, for me?”
“Well, someone had to.” Her gaze drifted back to the plate and Karin had the urge to grab it and throw it across the room. “You told him he should go fuck a whore.”
“I-I didn’t mean-” she sputtered.
“You know, he’s really not worth it. I mean, he could barely even-”
“Get out!”
Reida sniffed. “This is my room.”
“Then I’ll get out.”
“Not with those hanging out, you won’t.”
Karin looked down at her unrestricted breasts and grabbed her cloak and threw it over her shoulders. Then she snatched Reida’s for good measure and put it over her own. “I hate you,” she said, reaching for the door.
As it slammed behind her she heard Reida call, “I’ll just eat your eggs then, shall I?”
Karin raced through the manor halls, bare feet slapping the cold stone floors, both cloaks whipping about her shoulders. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she raised a hand now and then to bat them away. She wasn’t sure where she was headed, just that she had to keep moving. Away was all she could think, away from everything.
She found herself in the front hall, a few yards from the door and still without a plan, when a voice from behind stopped her cold in her tracks.
“Well, well,” said Kinu. “Look who finally decided to show his face.”
Her jaw fell. Her heart raced. She looked to her front. The cloaks hung, thick and loose, over her chest, cover enough as long as he didn’t get too close.
He took a step towards her and his boot rang against the flagstone like thunder. “Where have you been the last two weeks? Rumor has it you’ve shacked up with Reida.”
There was a protest forming on her lips when she realized her voice was not masked. She stood there for a moment, shaking, with her hand to her throat where the mark should be, frantically searching for a way to escape.
“Sethan get tired of your scraggly ass?” said Kinu. “I don’t see him coming to save whisk you away this time.”
Kairn gulped at the air while tears flooded her vision. She swallowed hard, gathered her cloaks, and sprinted for the door. Her hand was an inch from the knob when the door swung out, and she tumbled right into Sethan.
Blueberry Yogurt #18. Negotiation
& Soft Serve 2/50 - Apple Pie #21. Roommate
with Chopped Nuts, Hot Fudge, Whipped Cream, Cookie Crumbs, Malt,
and a Brownie
Story : knights & necromancers
Rating : R
Timeframe : 1240's-50's
Word Count : 5129
Malt Prompt : Mod Prompts (from Casey) Change the gender of any main character and see what happens
Malt Prompt : Trick or Treat - (from Kelly) If I had been the Virgin Mary, I would have said "No." - Margaret Smith
Malt Prompt : Summer Prompt - I seduced your ex-boyfriend, to help you get over him
Malt Prompt : Mod prompts - (Macbeth) "I knew it! I knew it! Well, not 'knew it' in the sense of having the slightest idea, but I knew there was something I didn't know!"
- Willow, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Season 2
Malt Prompt : Bingo - Sethan + public place + cover blown + a night to remember + oh. my. gods.
Malt Prompt : PfaH - Roommate + Kairn + don't tell a soul
phew, that's a lot of malt....
follows Part One
So, I thought this was going to be 2 parts and done, but then I had Marty read it (I had all but the end done) and he raised a bunch of questions and now the end is sort of in limbo. Being the impatient creature I am, I am posting part 2 anyway with an evil cliffhanger and hoping I can work out a reasonable end to this mess!
Sethan was seated on her bed, an open book poised beneath his nose. Karin plopped down beside him, heavily enough to jostle the bed, sighing when he barely glanced up at her.
“Did you see the new master?” she said.
“Tarek?” He yawned and turned a page. “I did. I expect it’s his apprentice you’re interested in though.”
Karin slumped against him with a sigh. “Am I really so transparent?”
Sethan shrugged. He shifted the book to one hand and, still not bothering to face her, draped an arm around her shoulders. “I just know you.”
“It’s just, well, sometimes I wonder…”
“I’m glad you did it.” The hand on her shoulder tightened and Karin tensed.
“Oh?”
The book fell to his lap, his thumb tucked inside the pages, and Sethan finally turned to fix her with that bright blue stare of his. “Of course,” he said. “There’d be no us, you know. If you weren’t a boy.”
“Well,” said Reida, hands on her hips, “if it isn’t Berwyk’s golden child.”
Sethan didn‘t so much as look up as he dragged another stroke across the form. “What do you want?” said Karin.
Reida edged around the circle. “Whatcha got there?” she said, leaning into the space between them. “Human? Nice.”
“It is,” said Karin. The new girl wedged herself between them, forcing her to scoot hastily out of the way. “Hey! You mind?”
Reida shot her a look, nose wrinkled and thick lips curled, before turning back to Sethan. “Do you talk? Or is that what he’s for?”
Sethan traced another line.
Reida leaned around him, planted a hand in an open space amidst the form, and aimed a wicked grin up from beneath Sethan’s downturned face. “You know,” she said, slowly, “I hear Berwyk took your balls to keep you from spawning little magic brats.”
Sethan barely blinked. “You hear a lot of things, don’t you?” said Karin.
She turned that toothy grin on her. “I hear you’re his bitch.”
Heat flooding her cheeks, Karin sputtered and swallowed. “A-am not!” she snapped.
“You see, you add a ring here” - Reida’s chalk clacked against the slate - “and another half ring here” - she bent to swipe a few quick strokes across the bottom of the form -“and one point becomes three.”
There was grumbling among the older boys. “When did she get to be so special?” said Aldo.
“It’s only ‘cause her precious master took over teaching.”
Reida ignored the remarks as they continued to fly, scrawling another form and another on the board instead.
“What do you think?” Karin peered over her own forms at Sethan.
“I think you’re missing a line, here.”
“I meant about the new girl,” she said, hastily fixing her form.
“Oh.” Sethan gave the board and Reida’s rapidly growing web of sigils a thoughtful stare.
The older boys’ protests culminated then in a shout of “Girls shouldn’t do magic!” from Aldo. This was followed by a loud pop and a puff of black smoke erupting from his half-finished construct.
Sethan cast the soot covered Aldo a smirk. “She’s not bad,” he said.
“The line across the top-” Sethan started.
Karin snatched her hand away before he could grasp it. “I’ve got it,” she snapped.
Unperturbed, he reached for her again. “It’s crooked. Let me-”
She stopped him with a glare as she set the paint back to her chest. “I said I’ve got it. You don’t need to do everything for me; I’m not some imbecile.”
As she finished the form, Sethan occupied himself fishing through the dresser drawer. In the mirror, she saw him come up after a moment, holding the roll of bandages. “But I like helping you.”
Karin fixed the reflection with a scowl and pressed her fingers to the mark. Warmth slid through her chest and when she opened her mouth her voice dropped. “You don’t need to.”
Sethan frowned. “I don’t understand. Did I do something wrong?
“No.” She slapped the paint stick down against the desk. “Just let me do something right sometimes.”
“Sethan.” Reida strode into the lab, book in hand.
Across the room, the two of them lounged against a bookcase, Kairn with his nose in a book, Sethan with his arm across his shoulders. Sethan lifted his head and quirked a brow. “One of your master’s earth magic books?” he asked.
Reida nodded, only half listening. She was too busy watching the way Sethan’s fingers curled over Kairn’s arm. It was always Sethan touching Kairn, never the other way around, though Kairn was never out of Sethan’s reach. What she wouldn’t give to see how it played out when they were alone. She’d heard that there were wind forms that-
“Are you going to hand it over or not?” Sethan chuckled as she realized she’d been standing in the doorway, dangling the book in the air for a full minute.
“Of course.” She settled beside him, close enough to brush his leg with hers, and tossed the book in his lap.
Kairn shot her a look that was hard to read. Jealousy, curiosity? Whatever it was, it wasn’t friendly. He was always so guarded around her, around everyone, really.
Sethan cracked open the book, and Reida leaned in to point at the pages, and Kairn’s brow furrowed. That was most definitely jealousy, and those eyes were set on the breasts Reida had angled under Sethan’s nose. She flashed him a grin and, realizing he’d been caught staring, he blushed like a girl.
“Y-you’re… you’re hurt.” That was an understatement. Reida was curled up on the floor in one corner of the lab, skirts hiked up around her waist, a blood soaked towel stuffed between her legs, shaking and cursing.
“I’ve got it under control.” There was a paint stick in her hand, the slick red grease worn down to a nub, and lines and rings laced their way up and down her legs amidst patches of blood.
“But-”
“But what?” Her voice was firm but her shoulders lurched with an involuntary sniff.
“That’s…” Karin bit her lip, shuffled closer still, and eyed the stains on Reida’s skirt, the dark spots on the floor. “That’s a lot of blood.”
“And?”
“And you can’t keep doing this. One of these times he’s going to kill you.”
“What do you care?”
Karin bent low and extended a hand. “I’d like to think we could be friends.”
“Hmph.” Ignoring the hand, Reida pushed herself to her feet.
“You don’t need to let him do this to you,” said Karin. “No one needs to let anyone do this to them.”
Reida laughed as she pushed past her. “You run home to Sethan like a good little bitch. I can take care of myself.”
Karin caught Sethan’s arm as he slid it from beneath her. He paused, already half out of the bed, to shoot her a questioning look. She felt suddenly vulnerable, lying there on her back as Sethan’s eyes slid over her, and a blush swept through her cheeks. “You, uh, you don’t always have to go creeping back to your own bunk, you know.”
Sethan frowned at the narrow strip of mattress left beside her. “It’s not as if there’s room for us both in yours.”
“I’ll make room.” She shoved herself up against the wall and gave the bed a pat.
Sethan quirked a brow but crawled back into the covers. There was an awkward moment of arranging and rearranging limbs before she settled into the crook of his arm. “You really want to spend the whole night like this?” he said.
With an ear pressed over his heart, Karin slid a hand up over Sethan’s ribs and smiled. “You really need to ask?”
He closed a hand gently over her shoulder and pulled her tightly to him. “I don’t suppose I should.”
“I love you,” she whispered into his chest.
Sethan’s lips brushed the top of her head as he gave her another squeeze. “I love you too.”
Back so tight against the wall she could feel every corner of every stone where it met her back, Karin stared, terrified, at the arms pinning her in.
Reida’s pearly grin hovered inches from her face. “It’s such a shame you’re Sethan’s bitch,” she said. “The things I could show you…”
“I-I don’t like girls.” She pressed herself even more firmly to the wall, wishing she could somehow just pass right through it.
Reida snorted. “Don’t knock what you haven’t tried.” Cocking her head, she edged even closer. “I can see what Sethan sees in you. The way you squirm and shake. It’s delicious.” Her hand slid from the wall to the base of Karin’s ribs. “Has he ever tried knives on you?”
“What? No! Y-you’re sick!”
“Gods, I’d love to make you scream. But, you know, I’ll settle for a little peek.” Reida’s hand made a dive for her waistband. Karin yelped and launched herself at the other girl. She caught Reida square in the chest, and she tumbled back, across the hall and into the far wall.
Reida rebounded off the stone, clutching her shoulder and fuming. “You little bitch!”
“Keep your hands off me!” yelled Kairn, as she turned and bolted down the hall.
It was rare Kairn went anywhere by himself, so when Reida spotted him ambling across the lawn with a basket of linens against his hip and not a sign of Sethan anywhere, she decided it must be her lucky day.
She sidled up to him and matched her pace to his. “Where are you headed without your shadow?”
Kairn flinched. “Just…just to do some laundry.”
“Berwyk has people for that, you know.” She reached for the corner of a sheet that dangled over the lip of the basket.
Kairn jerked the laundry away with a scowl. “I-I like doing it myself,” he said.
“What have you got there anyway?” Wanting to do your own laundry was one thing. Covering it all up with a sheet and not letting anyone look was another. She made another grab for the sheet.
“S-some linens.” Kairn flushed and he jerked the basket away again, but not fast enough.
“Bloody linens.” Reida smirked and Kairn’s blush deepened. “I thought you said you two weren’t into knives.”
“We’re not! I just…Let me go do my wash,” he said, doubling his pace.
Reida caught sight of Sethan, waiting by the stream, and thought it best to let him
There was a writhing corpse in the middle of the lab, hobbling on its knees and screaming in incoherent fury, supposedly dragging Master Ephram’s soul about with it.
“Put him back!” Karin yelled. The palms against her ears did little to mask the unearthly cries, but she pressed them even tighter anyway.
“Not that easy,” said Sethan.
“Forget easy,” said Reida, ignoring him. “It’s not possible.” She turned to the corpse. “You hear that, you bastard, you’re stuck.”
The body…demon…Master Ephram, Karin didn’t know what to call the mess, just continued its howling. Another hunk of rotted tissue sloughed off its shoulder to land with a sickening thump on the stone.
He deserved this somehow, if anyone ever deserved to be transformed into a hideous undead shell of a creature.
Reida laughed at the corpse, slinging insults, spitting in its face. He deserved that too. All the things he’d done to her, to any other girl he managed to get his filthy hands on. Karin was never so glad to be a boy as when Master Ephram was around.
“Wait,” said Sethan. He was bent over the forms, tracing a line with one finger. “I think I might be able to fix this.”
All the color drained from Reida’s cheeks. The string of curses she’d been spouting died.
Karin wasn’t sure what she was thinking picking it up, but next thing she knew she had a board in her hands and she was swinging. Over the crunch as the board met the corpse’s head, she heard Reida laughing again.
Karin woke to Reida’s loud declaration of “Oh. My. Gods.” She jumped at the sound, dislodging Sethan’s hand from its resting place against her bare breast. Looking down as Sethan’s hand fell over her belly and he let out a snore, she found the sheets gathered around her waist. She jerked her head up to meet the intruder with a scream.
“I knew it!” Reida yelled, as Karin scrambled to get under the covers.
Sethan gave a yawn and a slow, lazy stretch. “Stuff it, Reida, everyone already knows I’m sleeping with him. So you got yourself a little peep show-“
Blankets gathered all the way to her chin, Karin dug into the mattress behind him. “S-Seth, she didn’t just- She saw-“
“Damn right I got a show! That’s no him.”
“Reida!” Wedged between Sethan and the wall, she was shaking so hard the whole bed trembled with her. Sethan turned to face her, one eye open, as if he was still deciding if this was worth waking up to deal with.
“I knew it!” said Reida, all but jumping up and down in excitement. “I knew there was something wrong with you.”
“Reida, please!” Karin wailed. Sethan snaked an arm around her but it felt like lead against her shoulders.
“You hide your voice along with your breasts then?”
“You can’t tell anyone about this!” said Karin. “Not a word.”
“Not unless you want to wake up to a lot worse than pincers,” Sethan added, with a sleepy scowl at Reida.
“Relax, I’m not about to send a friend to Berwyk to get gutted.”
“Would you stop looking?” She hiked the covers up again and Reida snickered. “Wait, did you just call me a friend?”
Reida cast her a glare that had her quickly burrowing even further under the blankets. “You have a problem with that?” She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, you’re a friend. You killed for me.”
That got Karin a puzzled look from Sethan. “You what?”
“Nothing.” She burrowed further behind him still.
“Besides,” Reida continued, “it’s not like I want to bed you anymore. I’m not into tits. Though apparently Sethan is, so maybe we could share-”
“No!” Karin snapped, clutching at Sethan’s shoulders as if she might actually try to rip him away from her.
“Shame,” said Reida. “So…why the disguise?”
“I-I wanted out of that orphanage, and Berwyk was only taking boys. When they thought I was one, I wasn’t about to argue. And then Sethan…”
“Right, right,” said Reida. “Because Berwyk won’t kill your girlfriend as long as she’s your boyfriend.”
“Precisely,” said Sethan, squeezing Karin to him.
Reida rolled her eyes as Karin reddened again. “How convenient.”
“I’ve always thought so.” Sethan made to kiss Karin on the forehead, but she waved him away.
“Now would you get out!” she yelled at Reida. “Or at least turn around long enough to let me find some clothes.”
“You know,” said Karin, idly watching her feet dangle over the end of Reida’s bed. “I’ve never had a girlfriend before. I’m not even really sure what girls do together.”
Reida peered up from the sprawl of papers on the floor, a pen twirling between her fingers, and raised a brow. “The same shit we always do.”
“Really?
“No, because now that I know you have tits, we’re just going to put on pretty dresses and brush each other’s hair. And talk about boys, of course,” she added, with a grin.
“Oh?”
“Of course not! What kind of girl do you take me for?”
“I-I’m sorry.” She shoved a hand into her hair, color seeping into her cheeks. “I’ve just gotten so used to being a boy, sometimes I start to think I am one and girls are something alien. I’d kind of hoped maybe they did interesting things together.”
Reida shrugged. “Maybe they do. I don’t quite understand them myself, to be honest.” She was back to inking her lines, and Karin found herself with nothing to see but the back of her head and sighed.
“You know, I actually don’t think I’d mind that whole hair brushing business. I mean, if I had any hair to brush.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not really,” she said, quietly, bracing herself for the inevitable scathing remark.
There was a rustling of pen and papers as Reida put her work aside. “Hang on,” she said, pushing herself to her feet. “I’m sure I’ve got one somewhere. You know, talking about boys doesn’t actually sound half bad either.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, so spill. How is he?” She pulled open a drawer, dug around a bit inside, and tossed a hairbrush down on the bed.
“How… Wha-?” Karin dodged as a hand mirror and a tube of paint came flying her way.
“Sethan.” Reida turned back to her with a toothy grin. “How is he? In the sack?” She added the completely unnecessary clarification of a crude coupling between her fist and finger, and Karin just gaped at her for a moment, scarlet from ear to ear.
“He, er, uh. It’s, uh… it’s pretty good, I suppose.”
“You suppose?” She settled beside her, snatching up the brush and the paint.
“It’s not like I have anything to compare it to!” Karin blurted. Reida clucked her tongue as she ran the brush over her scalp. “M-maybe we should go back to when we thought girls didn’t make sense.”
“Oh, but this is just getting juicy.”
The brushing ceased and she felt the cold, wet, press of paint at the base of her skull. “What are you doing?”
“You’ll see.”
There was the touch of her fingers and then a momentary sting. “No, really. What are you doing?”
The next thing she knew, Reida was shoving the mirror into her hands with a smug “What do you think?”
Unable to force it shut, Karin clapped a hand to her mouth. Thick, shiny black hair hung nearly to her shoulders. She reached up a hand to feel it, giggling as it fell, soft and silky, between her fingers. “We, uh, we probably should… put it back the way it was…”
Reida answered with a derisive sniff. “Enjoy it for a while. It suits you. What?” she said, when Karin shot her a look. “Sethan goes around with curls halfway down his back. I don’t see why you-“
“Sethan has nothing to hide,” Karin said softly.
Reida studied her for a moment, wrinkling her nose. “I suppose it does bring out your girlie features. Now then, we were talking about boys.”
“Right,” said Karin, still absently toying with her new hair. “So, when was the last time you…” She made an attempt to copy Reida’s gesture, only to find herself blushing fiercely.
Reida shot her a glare as she snapped the cap back on her paint stick. “You’re right,” she said. “Girl stuff is stupid.”
“That long, huh?”
“Take pity on me and share?” she said, with a bat of her lashes and a flash of her teeth.
“Not a chance.”
“Do you ever wish I was pretty?”
The book Sethan had been studying nearly fell from his hands as he turned to regard the girl perched at the desk. “Huh?” was all he could manage.
“Do you ever wish I was pretty?” Karin repeated, her eyes on the mirror as she pinned the end of the bandage in place under her arm. “You know, that I wore dresses, or ribbons in my hair… or had hair at all.” She ran a hand through her short, course, dark locks with a frown that only deepened as her hands slid to her front to check her shape. “Or breasts for that matter.”
With a sigh, Sethan tucked his thumb into his book. “Where is this coming from?”
“You do, don’t you?” She laid a hand on the paint stick only to shove it across the desk as if it had offended her.
“Where do you get that idea?”
“Because you’re not answering.”
“It’s a foolish question.”
“You didn’t even try to tell me you think I am pretty. Do you?”
With a sigh, he tossed the book down on the bed. “This is Reida’s doing, isn’t it?”
“There you go again, ignoring the question.” She spun away in a huff, but he could see her watching him in the mirror, out of the corner of her eye, as he crossed the room.
“Look,” he said, bending over her shoulder to slide a hand beneath her chin. He forced her head up so she would have to look squarely into the mirror. “You’re beautiful, alright? Even if you are infuriating sometimes.”
She laughed at that, and it brought color to her cheeks and a light to her eyes, and even with her hair cropped short and her breasts strapped down, Sethan swore she he’d never seen anyone more beautiful. And the way she was watching his reflection, he was sure she could see it written in his eyes.
“You know,” he said, scooping the paint stick from the desk and pressing it firmly into her palm. “You’re so much easier to deal with when you’re a boy.”
“Here.”
Karin rolled up on her side to get a better look at the book Sethan was dangling in front of her. “What?”
The book bobbed up and down and she struggled to focus on the text. “This is what Berwyk is so afraid of,” said Sethan, settling on the edge of the bed.
“Huh?” She gave up on trying to follow the words as Sethan continued to jostle the pages and instead snatched it out of his hands.
She sat for a long, quiet moment, staring at the page, not quite believing what she saw, even as she read it a second time and a third. “This says that the key can summon a god?” she said at last. “This… this son of yours, he’d be able to summon a god.” With a grin broader than she’d ever seen on him, Sethan nodded “And you…you want that, don’t you? You want a god.”
“Can you imagine it?” He said, and she felt the urge to flinch away from the hand that settled on her shoulder.
“That, uh, that really would be something- W-why are you l-looking at me like- Sethan?”
“You know I love you,” he started.
It was too late to escape the hand except by throwing it off, so she just squirmed beneath it. “I-I do, but-“
Sethan leaned in, pulling her closer. In her lap, the book fell closed, and she found herself staring at the cover with its ragged binding and faded title rather than meet his eye. “I want you to bear my child.”
“You want what?” She twisted sharply, jerking her shoulder free, and tossed the book into Sethan’s lap as if it had bitten her.
“Think about it!” His tone was buttery. The rejected hand made a grab for her cheek, and Karin scuttled back among the pillows. “You, and me, and a god.”
“And a baby!”
“Yes, well…”
“Do you have a clue how to take care of a baby? Do you have any idea how much work is involved?” She was shaking now so badly that she could barely find the words, but Sethan still seemed to be unfazed. Tears welled in her eyes. “Do you realize what you’re asking me to do? I strap these down every day!” she said, raking her hands over her front. “I can’t go sucking in a belly and pretending it’s not there!”
“I know, I know. But hear me out-“
She ducked another attempt to stroke her face. “You’re asking me to blow my cover, to destroy my whole world!”
“You don’t have to decide right now, take some time to warm up to-“
“Berwyk will kill me!”
“Shh, shh!” He brushed the tears from her cheek as they began to spill. “I’ve already got that figured out. See, you could-“
“I am not doing it!”
“Think about it, Karin. It’s not as if I have other options.” He had her trapped now, an arm on either side of her, his nose hovering above hers as if he might kiss her.
“It’s not- You’ve already decided, haven’t you? You figured I’d just go along, and if I don’t, that’s okay, you’ll just keep after me until I change my mind.”
“You make it sound so calculated.”
“It’s not?” she snapped. “Just how long have you been planning this? Months? Years? Since you first started helping me strap myself down?”
“I-“ For the first time, he faltered.
“You have, haven’t you? You’ve just been using me!”
“No! No, I want you to do this with me.” His palm slid over her wet cheek and down her neck. “If I simply wanted to use you, it’s not as if I need to ask.”
“It’s not as if-” Karin choked. “Get your hands off me!”
“Karin-”
“You want a baby, go find yourself a whore to have it with! I said don’t touch me!” She shoved him and he fell back on the bed. “I don’t want to see you again!” She snatched her cloak from the back of the chair and tore out of the room.
“What did he do?”
Karin froze. She hadn’t heard her approach. At least it was Reida. What she would have done if someone else had crept up on her like that she hadn’t a clue. With a heavy sniff, she forced her shoulders straight and her head high. “What did who do?” she said, her voice cracking. “What… what makes you think anyone did anything? M-maybe I just want to sit here. Alone. In the dark.”
“Blubbering in your girl voice.” Karin bit her lip as Reida stepped into the light, tipping her head to catch her eye. “In your- Gods, I know it’s dark, but shouldn’t you put those away?”
Karin’s eyes fell to her breast and she swore as she realized she’d fled the room in nothing but a nightshirt and a thin cloak. Reida shrugged out of her cloak and draped it gently over her shoulders. With a muttered “thank you,” she clutched it to her chest.
Reida settled on the wall beside her. With a slow, sad shake of her head, she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and shoved it Karin’s way. “So, what did the bastard do?”
Karin watched the handkerchief bob once, twice. She felt her lip begin to tremble, and her shoulders ached with the urge to curl in upon herself and sob. “He…” She snatched the cloth from Reida’s hand, wadded it against her nose and blew into it hard. “He wants a baby.”
Reida swept into the room, a steaming plate in hand and a bundle tucked under her arm. The door snapped shut behind her.
“I have had about enough of you moping about my room every day,” she declared. “He’s not worth it. I brought you some fresh clothes and some breakfast and, for gods’ sakes, would it kill you to take a bath?”
From deep within her cocoon of blankets, Karin shot her a venomous glare.
“You know, you don’t have to worry about the whole baby thing anymore.” The plate clattered against the desk and Karin flinched as the clothes came flying her way.
“Y-you talked him out of it?” With hands that were sluggish from their recent lack of use, she started to unroll the shirt and pants.
“I’m pregnant,” said Reida, as simply as if she’d been announcing the weather.
Karin froze. The clothes slipped from her numb hands. “You’re what?”
“I brought you a fresh roll of bandages too,” she continued as if she hadn’t heard, “but I suppose you’ll want to eat first, so I’ll just leave them on the dresser.”
“You’re making this up! This is some sort of sick joke to you, isn’t it?”
“Nope,” said Reida. “Definitely pregnant. Your food is getting cold.”
“H-how could you!”
“Seriously, if you’re not going to eat it, I don’t mind leftovers.” The grin she shot her at that was the final straw. Hurling the blankets down, Karin leapt up from the bed and charged.
“Reida!” she cried, grabbing her by the arm and forcing her around. “I thought you were my friend!”
Reida brushed her hands away. “I am your friend,” she said, curtly. “I did this for you, you know.”
“You slept with Sethan, for me?”
“Well, someone had to.” Her gaze drifted back to the plate and Karin had the urge to grab it and throw it across the room. “You told him he should go fuck a whore.”
“I-I didn’t mean-” she sputtered.
“You know, he’s really not worth it. I mean, he could barely even-”
“Get out!”
Reida sniffed. “This is my room.”
“Then I’ll get out.”
“Not with those hanging out, you won’t.”
Karin looked down at her unrestricted breasts and grabbed her cloak and threw it over her shoulders. Then she snatched Reida’s for good measure and put it over her own. “I hate you,” she said, reaching for the door.
As it slammed behind her she heard Reida call, “I’ll just eat your eggs then, shall I?”
Karin raced through the manor halls, bare feet slapping the cold stone floors, both cloaks whipping about her shoulders. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she raised a hand now and then to bat them away. She wasn’t sure where she was headed, just that she had to keep moving. Away was all she could think, away from everything.
She found herself in the front hall, a few yards from the door and still without a plan, when a voice from behind stopped her cold in her tracks.
“Well, well,” said Kinu. “Look who finally decided to show his face.”
Her jaw fell. Her heart raced. She looked to her front. The cloaks hung, thick and loose, over her chest, cover enough as long as he didn’t get too close.
He took a step towards her and his boot rang against the flagstone like thunder. “Where have you been the last two weeks? Rumor has it you’ve shacked up with Reida.”
There was a protest forming on her lips when she realized her voice was not masked. She stood there for a moment, shaking, with her hand to her throat where the mark should be, frantically searching for a way to escape.
“Sethan get tired of your scraggly ass?” said Kinu. “I don’t see him coming to save whisk you away this time.”
Kairn gulped at the air while tears flooded her vision. She swallowed hard, gathered her cloaks, and sprinted for the door. Her hand was an inch from the knob when the door swung out, and she tumbled right into Sethan.