Chapter 21

Sun sat with her friends at the playground on top of the wooden tower; it was basically theirs at this point. They had never seen another soul there. It was the day after their suspension. Sun hadn't been allowed to catch up with them yesterday. Kalys kept her busy in his office. 

At times when he stepped out, Sun had tried to make conversation with his lieutenant. It was the first time she had been in that part of Perdition and around the people her brother worked with. Lieutenant Reeves seemed almost uncomfortable to have her talking to him and would keep looking to the door as if expecting trouble to walk through it any second until she stopped. So eventually she just didn't bother. 

Sitting in that office all day with Kalys had been a bit tense; there was just always this pressure when she was with him, this expectation—of what she wasn't sure. To be perfect maybe? And this fear of failing to meet that expectation. Since she was far from perfect, she was well aware she was failing, and it stung. She wasn't even sure why she felt the need to live up to what he wanted or why she wanted his approval in the first place. 

"Maybe you should just let your brother kill Vaan," Zen said. "The guy's a fucking prick."

Sun didn't really think he meant it, but he was still sporting his bruises and black eyes, and they all realised how out of hand it could have gotten. One of them could have been stabbed! Sun could have lost an eye with how close that blade had come to it. Zen was just pissed off. Wearing their injuries was part of their punishment. The infirmary had been ordered not to heal them.

It still surprised her Nick had been the one to throw the first punch. That just wasn't like him. Especially not over a nasty comment. 

"Zen, why don't you go get us something to eat?" Nick suggested.

"Yeah, I could eat," Zen agreed.

"Here," Sun gave him a handful of coins. 

She tried to spare them having to use their own money as often as she could since she had plenty to spare. 

"Thanks, Sunny," he said as he took them. 

With Zen gone, it was a lot quieter. He had been grumbling almost nonstop since they had met up. He actually enjoyed combat class and was annoyed to be missing it. He didn't regret jumping in to defend his friend, of course, but he was still pissed over the consequences. 

"Are you all right?" Sun asked Nick as she shuffled around to face him. He had a black eye but had mostly walked away unscathed.

He had always been a quiet boy, but there was a heaviness to his silence this time. 

"He shouldn't have said that to you," Nick told her. 

"Arseholes will be arseholes," she tried to shrug it off, but the words did still sting. 

Was she just becoming overly sensitive? First, to the tension with her brother, and this weird approval-seeking she had going on, now to nasty words from someone who'd never had anything but nasty words for her. 

"You didn't need to hit him for me," she said softly. 

"Most of what he says washes right off you; that didn't. You didn't deserve it."

He looked across at her, his hair falling in his eyes. He had always been able to read her better than anyone, and he was just perceptive in general.

"I don't know why that bothered me like it did," she sighed. "I think I'm just being overly sensitive to everything lately."

Nick took her hand in both of his, holding it tightly but avoiding looking at her.

"A lot's happened with you," he said. "And it's winter."

She conceded that point. Once winter passed and things settled, maybe she would too. 

"Still, don't get yourself into trouble on my account," she told him. 

He gave her a soft smile. "Like you wouldn't for us?"

She could concede that point. It was easier to defend them than it was to defend herself at times. 

"Lady Illusen!"

They both looked to where Mika was heading their way, bundled up against the cold. Sun had never seen her outside of the manor; it felt a little strange if she were honest. And she was especially unused to hearing her call her Lady Illusen. But then, they were in public. Sort of. 

"Mika?"

"Lord Illusen requests your presence at the manor.," she told her. "There is an important matter that must be addressed."

She exchanged a look with Nick; this had to be about the fight yesterday, and they both knew it. Had he decided what to do with Seph and Vaan? She still knew where she stood on the issue, and she hoped he wouldn't go too far. He didn't seem the type to get so hung up on vengeance. But she supposed she really didn't know all that much about him despite how long they had been living together now. She knew a few surface things—favourite colour, how he liked his tea, that he took nightly walks about the garden before he went to bed, and personally took care of the ravens in the aviary... 

But beyond that, his opinions on just about anything were a bit of a mystery. Family first was important to him; she knew that much at least. And slights against it were apparently punished harshly. 

"I'll see you later, Nick," she said. "Tell Zen I said bye."

She hauled herself up and used the slide to get down to Mika. 

"How did you know where to find me?" She asked as they made their way to the carriage.

"Your brother, he's very skilled when it comes to sensing auric signatures. He was able to get a general idea of where you were once he focused hard enough."

She didn't even know people could do that. Or that they all had signatures that could be sensed. She supposed it made sense; whenever Kalys had used his aura to intimidate and suppress, there was a distinct feel to it. She did wonder why that wasn't taught at the Academy, though; it sounded useful. 

They climbed into the carriage, and it set off for the manor. 

"Do you know what's so important?" Sun asked her.

"Something to do with the fight yesterday. And there are guests. What was the fight about?" She asked curiously.

Sun shrugged. "We talk shit, then we fight. That's how it's always gone. But before, there was no one to care how it ended up."

Bloody Kalys, throwing his weight around... She figured the only reason the Academy had even punished them as they had was due to her newfound status and their desire to stay on—or get back into—Kalys's good graces. Seph was a noble, granted not of her rank, but his parents had never jumped in demanding blood in recompense. Kalys was throwing off the whole dynamic.

When they got back to the manor, Mika led her to the second parlour. It was larger and far more formal than the one they usually used. It was clearly designed to intimidate. When she stepped inside the room, her brother was standing before Seph and Vaan, who were on their knees. They appeared uninjured; Seph's family must have had them healed too. There was an older woman there, her brows furrowed and eyes brimming with worry and fear. Must be Seph's mother. 

"Sun," Kalys greeted. 

"What's going on?" She asked warily, coming to stand by his side.

"The Belzars have come to offer their apologies and make amends," he told her. "They're also taking responsibility for the other boy's actions."

She looked hesitantly at the boys on the ground, their jaws clenched, eyes fixed on the floor, and their forms tense. This was not what she wanted at all.

"Great. Thank you. Now we can all move on," she said, hoping that would be the end of it. 

"Hardly," Kalys's voice was glacial as he stared down at the boys. "I want to know what led up to the fight."

Vaan and Seph looked up at her, and she stared helplessly back. She would rather Kays not know what was said.

"Does it matter?" She asked Kalys. "What's done is done."

"It matters to me," he said. 

"I said some awful things to her," Seph told him. "And Nick punched me. I tackled him. Then it just... turned into a bit of a brawl."

"What things?" 

"Kalys..." Sun pleaded softly. Why couldn't he just drop it?

"I can't remember it word for word," he confessed. "I called her a slut... And something about her father casting out her—her whore mother... because whores can only birth filth..."

His voice lowered the more he spoke, and Sun inwardly cringed. Both at the words and at how Kalys might take them. The other woman in the room seemed to deflate, her expression absolutely miserable. 

Kalys didn't move a muscle, but the temperature in the room plummeted, and spikes of ice rapidly formed over the ground, the sharp points aimed at the boys. They cried out and flung themselves back, hitting the wall of the parlour, their backs pressed against it. The ice slowed, a few points coming to rest at their necks. They were terrified. 

"Please stop," she gasped out, grabbing onto his wrist, hoping to divert his focus.

She knew he was powerful, but to pull water out of nothing like that... To wield the ice with such precision... She really ought to reconsider how far she pushed his patience at times. 

He didn't appear to be listening to her, his eyes fixed on Seph, but then he spoke to her.

"Perhaps, Sun, we should cut out the tongue that can spew such vile words and cut off the hand that cut you."

Gods, was he serious!? She stared at him horrified, shaking her head a little. He side-eyed her a moment, his countenance softening ever so slightly. 

"Then what do you propose?"

"They're terrified; you've made your point. I'm sure they'll never do it again. Can we just be done with it?" She asked softly.

He let out a barely perceptible sigh before his gaze once more fixed on the boys. The ice dissipated with a mere thought from him, but the tension didn't drain from the boys or her. 

The fight hadn't even been all their fault. Nick had thrown the first punch. She felt partly responsible for how all this had come about. And she never would have expected things to escalate the way they had. 

"It would behove you to remember my sister has more mercy than I do," he told them. "Now leave." He looked to the mother. "But you and I will have words."

She nodded before gesturing to the boys to do as they were told and leave before the man changed his mind. 

"Sun, go to your room," he told her. 

She didn't like being dismissed like some errant child, but she obeyed, scurrying from the room. She didn't think he would hurt the woman, and since Kalys had dismissed the boys, she didn't think he would change his mind and hunt them down just to maim them either. 

When she left the parlour, she didn't head to her room, instead making her way to the front doors. She quickly caught up with Seph and Vaan, but aside from some weighted looks, they didn't acknowledge each other. At the front doors she held them open for them, and they all went outside. She cast one last look in their direction before leaving the grounds. In a way she was relieved to have been there, if only to stop it from becoming something far worse. In another way, she wished he hadn't called her back at all. That wasn't something she had wanted to witness. 

A part of her would like to think it was all a show to scare the boys, but she couldn't be sure if that was true. If she ever did anything to dishonour him, would he consider punishing her in a similar fashion? She had believed him to be quite restrained; he hadn't seemed that way today. It had been quite a calm, cold fury, though. He hadn't raised his voice—he hadn't needed to—the power behind his words had been self-evident, and his threats had certainly not sounded empty.

Despite how horrifying the situation had been, though, she couldn't deny the little thrill that had gone through her knowing how far he would go just because he felt she had been insulted. Of course, Seph had also insulted their father, which was probably the primary motivator for Kalys's reaction. 

But still...