Blood & Ink (Ink Born Book 2) Page 6

  I had no idea what to do or say. After a long moment, I walked to him and ran my fingers over the palm of his hand. There were no suitable words.

  “It’s time,” Faren called through from the other side of our wall.

  Keirn put his shoulders back and smoothed out his white tunic. He walked out into the main area with an air of purpose. I followed him. He had said to stay with him, after all.

  “He is not an elf,” Faren hissed.

  Keirn looked between me and the Cait Sidhe. Elves began filing into the space, making it increasingly cramped.

  I took Keirn’s hands in mine.

  “I’ll be in our room when you’re finished,” I said.

  He gave a nod of understanding, and I left him before I caused trouble with his clan. Tensions were running high. There was no reason for me make things worse. I kept my eyes down, and the elves parted so as to make sure I didn’t touch them. The message was clear. I didn’t blame them. I was an outsider at a very emotional time.

  Darkness fell quickly. The interior of the tent hadn’t been particularly bright to begin with, but once the absolute darkness of night fell the shadows began dancing over the walls. The soft pale-blue light of the fires was oddly soothing and incredibly warm. I’d stripped down to a t-shirt and jeans. I wanted to strip down further, but didn’t dare for fear of offending someone. I sat on the floor and stared into the flames, looking at where I was in my life. Death had that impact on people. It made you pause and reminded you that you had a limited amount of time. My life wasn’t ideal, but I was surrounded by good people. Of course I missed Isa, but he’d been right. Once we’d been separated for more than a couple of days, I’d grown to realise that I didn’t miss him as much as I’d convinced myself I did. He was a fantastic guy, I was proud of all he’d accomplished, but there needed to be so much more. Maybe I just wasn’t ready for a relationship.

  As the time passed, I began to think about my position as an ink magician. I had to hide what I was, and yet I was supposed to be an ambassador. I was supposed to maintain the balance and stop people from abusing the ink magic. Yet, if I went public, the council and who knew who else would pounce on me.

  My blood ran cold at the idea of the council sinking their claws into me. I hadn’t dared look into the extent of their political power in Prague. In Wildrun, they had been nothing short of terrifying, to someone like me at least. The council were much like they sounded, a group of powerful magicians and supernatural creatures that dictated the laws of the land. They came to power through blood. Some were born to it, others were rumoured to have fought their way to the top, literally. They would have dragged me from my life and taken whatever they damn well pleased from me. I shuddered at the thought. They were the law. There were no limits. Once they decided that someone belonged to them, they were lost to the world.

  There had been pure silence for the duration of my time alone with the flames. I had no idea what to expect for the ritual Keirn was doing. I hadn’t expected such an unbearable silence. It weighed on me. Finally, the sound of footsteps and murmured conversations came from outside of the small room and breathing came a little easier. The craving to work with ink subsided, and I listened for Keirn. He was my guide in this increasingly unsettling situation.

  Keirn’s fox appeared first. The fox’s white fluffy face appeared under the wall to the hallway. It scrabbled in the earth for a moment before it pulled itself under the wall into the room. It bounded over to me and jumped on my chest before it nuzzled against my neck and licked my ears. I laughed and petted it until it calmed and curled up in my lap with a smile on its face. I hoped that meant that Keirn was ok. He and his fox were bonded as tightly as we were with our tattoos. The fox picked up on Keirn’s mood. I hoped that my rubbing the fox’s face and stroking down its spine soothed Keirn at least a little. He was going through a lot, and I hated that I couldn’t stand at his side to give him the strength he asked for.

  Keirn stepped into the room once the footsteps and conversations had migrated outside the tent somewhere. He looked down at me and his fox. A small smile crept across his lips. I stood, closed the space between us, and held him close to me. He wept onto my shoulder as I stroked his hair.

  “I’m sorry I can’t do more, old friend,” I whispered.

  He felt so small and fragile in the dancing shadows. I wanted to whisk him away and keep him safe from the world.

  Sixteen

  Keirn had recovered somewhat and changed into his more normal clothes. He kept the feathers in the knot at the nape of his neck, and I helped him apply sky-blue paste to his hair. The stripes sat alongside the blue and violet stripes, making him rather striking. Music began to play outside, and Keirn dropped his eyes once more.

  “His time has come. Faren will guide him to the next stage,” he said softly. He stroked the palm of my hand with his slender fingers, his eyes watching my hand as he did so. “They blame me. Killian never connected fully to the life network; they say it’s my fault for leaving.”

  I stroked his face and tried to understand. “I thought elves connected naturally at birth.”

  Keirn sighed. “They do, and then they form their own individual node at puberty. Killian never formed his own node. As the spirit walker, they feel I should have been here, to help him.”

  “Do you believe that?”

  He raised his eyes to mine, his mouth set in a firm line.

  “No.” He swallowed hard and wiped at his eyes. “I could have supported him through my node for a limited time, perhaps a year, but there was no saving him. His energies were never fully formed.”

  He looked to the doorway and stood taller.

  “I wish you could be at my side for this, Dacian, but... I can’t. I’m sorry. I’ll come and get you as soon as I can.”

  With that, he strode out into the main tent, leaving me with his fox and the dancing shadows. I sat down on the bed, and the fox hopped up into my lap. It soon began whining and tried to bury its head under my arm. I scooped it up into my arms and held it close to my chest, where I rubbed its face and ears, trying to soothe it. After a while, it whimpered and quietened.

  I felt lost. My chest was tight. I desperately wanted to be out there, to help. It wouldn’t have been fair to do so, to force my way into their private moment. So I waited.

  The quiet ate at me for what felt like an eternity. Keirn’s fox remained tense in my arms. Finally, more music started again, and Keirn stepped into the room. He held his hand out to me.

  “Now we celebrate his life,” he said with a faint smile.

  His fox jumped down and wove his way around Keirn’s legs as I began looking for more clothing to keep me warm.

  Keirn placed his hand on my shoulder. “You won’t need more clothing. The fires keep the camp very warm.”

  He guided me out into the camp. His fox remained glued to him. We made our way between the tents to a central meeting area where a large blue fire burned. A flock of wild magic had gathered over the flames and was cavorting overhead. Ribbons of silver and rose lazily swirled and twisted around more energetic gold and blue orbs. The elves mingled around the fire with smiles on their faces. I put my arm around Keirn’s waist and held him close to me as I took everything in.

  The elves were very tactile. They moved slowly and fluidly around each other. Each smile was greeted with an equal smile, hands brushed hands and stroked faces. Keirn’s father and what I assumed was his mother stood on the opposite side of the area to us. Keirn’s father’s face shifted to one of fury when he met Keirn’s eyes. I rubbed my thumb over Keirn’s hip, reminding him that he wasn’t alone. He relaxed into me and stepped forward towards the small crowd.

  A pair of younger women greeted Keirn with gentle hands on his arms and soft smiles. They didn’t extend the tactility to me, instead giving me a polite nod and moving on. Slowly we moved through the group. I noted that Keirn never initiated the touch, and a number of older elves actively avoided him. It seemed that the clan was split on their feelings about him.

  Once we had met everyone apart from Keirn’s parents, who kept as much distance between us as possible, the celebrations shifted in tone. The music, which seemed to come from the fire, took on a stronger heavier beat. The elves began to dance, a joyous, energetic dance that rippled through their bodies and radiated their happiness. I couldn’t help but smile despite myself. Keirn carefully guided me out to the edge of the clearing and handed me a plate of food.

  “It would be inappropriate for me to dance,” Keirn said.

  The pain cut through his words. I couldn’t wait to take him away from the situation, to reaffirm his bonds with those who loved him. We watched as the wild magic mimicked the motions of the elves below it, pulsing energetic movements and great flashes of colour. I felt distant from it all. It was a beautiful display, a celebration I felt sure Killian would have been honoured by, but I felt Keirn’s pain. He should have been at the heart of it all.

  When the celebrations quietened a little, we slipped away back to our room with Keirn’s fox still glued to his ankles.

  “We’ll leave at sunrise,” he said.

  I wanted to take him away there and then, but that wasn’t my decision.

  Keirn secured the door to our room and double-checked it before he stripped down to his boxers and joined me under the warm blankets. It had been a good while since we’d shared a bed, but it felt as natural as breathing. I pulled his slender body to mine and wrapped my arms around him. Without thinking, I kissed the crook of his neck. He relaxed into me, his breathing deepened, and he fell asleep with his fingers entwined in mine.

  Seventeen

  Morning came by all too quickly. Keirn woke the moment the light shifted outside. His fox crawled up the bed and licked both of ou
r faces before he began tugging on my hand. The poor little creature was clearly as ready to leave as I was. We dressed quickly and in silence. Keirn didn’t so much as glance at the main area of the tent where Killian had been the day before. He walked with a quiet determination, his back stiff and straight, his movements sharp and precise. His parents gave us a small nod from the doorway of the largest tent in the grouping. Nothing was said.

  A small group of elves ran over to us and ran their hands over Keirn’s arms and hands. I stepped aside to give them more room as they smiled at him and brought him back into their life network. A young girl bent down and rubbed his fox’s face. The poor thing froze and seemed entirely lost as to what to do with itself. The girl kissed between its ears, stood and ran away into the group of tents again. Once everyone was satisfied that Keirn had been suitably sent off, the group left. Keirn gave me a weak smile and led me back out of the camp and into the bleak white wilderness.

  The shift in temperature was far more gradual than I had expected. Slowly, the air became cooler and sharper as we left the safety of the blue fires.

  “They will move on this afternoon and continue their journey. They maintain the life network throughout half of Norway. This was the first time they’d stayed in one place for more than a week in years,” Keirn said.

  I had no idea what to say.

  “Thank you, Dacian. I’m glad Killian could meet you,” Keirn said after a painful silence.

  “I’d accompany you to the ends of the Earth, old friend.”

  He smiled at me and gave a small nod, more to himself than anything. We continued on to the knowledge merchants without anything more needing to be said. I wish I could say I’d enjoyed the landscape or something, but it was barren and white on white. It wasn’t the sort of place I’d wish on anyone.

  The knowledge merchants were very much themselves on the journey back. We travelled with the same ship we’d been on the day before. Fein must have paid them quite a sum to make such a trip. Ryan, the same merchant that had sat with us before, began with simple questions such as how the trip went. When I replied with monosyllabic answers, he tried another angle.

  “Don’t the snow elves need a network to live? How is it that Keirn lives as a lone elf?” Ryan asked.

  I didn’t know the answer, and Keirn tensed but said nothing. I gave Ryan a tight smile.

  “I fail to see why we should answer such a question,” I said.

  Ryan gritted his teeth and fell quiet for a while.

  “Surely your tattoos must be itching to be free, wouldn’t you like to let them wander?” Ryan asked with his charming smile.

  I shrugged.

  “No,” I said.

  “Are they not bored and frustrated cooped up under your skin?” he pushed.

  I shrugged again. I suspected he was trying to find out what happened to the tattoos while they resided in their art. That was something that tattoo magicians and scholars had tried to answer for many decades, likely longer. I suspected they remained in some node on the ink network. I added it to the long list of questions to ask the ink network when it had calmed and was more receptive to answering questions.

  Ryan gave up and allowed us to finish the journey in a cool silence. The snow had melted in the city, and I was glad of it. I’d always enjoyed the snow and the crispness it gave to the world, but I’d be quite happy to not see it again until the next winter. The ink network began testing the edges of my mind the moment we stepped into our elevator. I pushed it back impatiently and squeezed Keirn’s shoulder, trying to bring him back to me.

  The elevator opened to Vyx and the cougars grinning at us. Shadow pulled Keirn into a bear hug, Vyx danced around them and gave Keirn a quick hug once Shadow released him.

  “We’re so sorry about your loss, but we want to make sure you know we love you,” Vyx said as she took his hand in hers.

  Keirn wiped at his eyes and smiled at her wordlessly.

  “Thank you, little vixen,” I said for him.

  Luka didn’t get his chance to hug Keirn. Vyx led him away to the art studio and declared he had to help her set up the art show.

  “She plans on distracting him and heaping love on him,” Luka said with a smile.

  I laughed. “I think that’s exactly what he needs right now.”

  “Fein wanted to remind you that the sigils need to be done as soon as possible,” Shadow said.

  I sighed and went looking for coffee. It was going to be one of those days.

  Kyra waited until I had the hot cup of coffee in my hand before she began clawing at my back and demanding freedom. I put the coffee down as carefully as I could while the little wretch tried to dig her way out of my skin. She didn’t so much as look at me when I let her out. Instead, she high-tailed it to the art studio, where she leapt on Keirn and rubbed her face against his. Maybe the wretched cat wasn’t all bad.

  Shadow moved around me in the kitchen and filled a number of plates with food. I stole a couple of sandwiches for myself and headed into my room. Vyx’s little parrot flew in behind me and hopped up and down my desk, inspecting the paper and pots of ink. I watched it with a smile as I ate and tried to decide which sigil to tackle first. The one at the top of list was for a temporary glamour to make the recipient appear to be ten years younger with brilliant eyes and a body to rival a succubus. It had to last exactly twelve hours. The other sigils were equally specific, which told me they were custom orders. It was normally down to low-level ceremonial magicians and hedge witches to produce the simple sigils. They could give someone a touch of extra luck or take the edge off the cravings of an addiction. The blood magicians could do larger works, such as making an airship faster or giving someone a temporary intelligence boost. The blood magician sigils came with equal and balanced downsides, though, something not many people were willing to risk.

  The little parrot took the corner of the ticket to Vyx and Keirn’s art show in its beak and dragged it over to me. I smiled and ran my fingers through the soft feathers behind its head.

  “I know, the show’s tomorrow, it’s mayhem here.”

  The bird hopped up and down on the ticket a couple of times and chirped. I scooped it up and placed it on my shoulder.

  “Things will be calmer soon,” I said softly.

  The ink network bit into the back of my mind. I pulled a fresh piece of paper to me and braced myself to begin the next battle.

  Eighteen

  I managed to wrangle the ink network into behaving itself and helping me form two sigils before I was ready to start banging my head on my desk. The little parrot nibbled on my ear and tried to soothe me. At least I assume it was, I didn’t have the communication bond with it I did with Kyra and Aris. I made a mental note to look into that.

  A knocking came from my open door. I looked over to see Luka leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed across his chest.

  He frowned. “Still struggling with the ink network?”

  I dragged my fingers through my hair and leaned back in my chair.

  “It feels like I go to war every time I try to do something,” I said.

  “What’s the actual problem?”

  “It keeps trying to take over my hands and drag me into itself? The inky blackness without warning. It pushes me around and keeps trying to say I belong to it,” I said, the exasperation making it hard not to shout.

  He smiled and nodded as he shifted his weight.

  “It sounds like you’re both solo alphas and you’re going head to head. You need to work as a pair.”

  “Well, when you put it like that...” I said sarcastically.

  He snorted and smiled.

  “When was the last time you vented and relaxed?”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. Did he just ask me when I last got laid?

  He laughed, a genuine laugh that made his eyes crinkle and his chin tilt up. I hadn’t seen him show that much emotion with anyone other than Shadow.