Night to Remember I
23rd of Frost, Year 391 of the Age of Sundering
Part II
Part II
She scanned the bar for nothing, letting her eyes wander aimlessly before she froze. Was she imagining things? Her eyes met a pair of familiar blue ones. Ryo. Fuck. The crowd parted for him, mostly due to his gray wings. They were tucked as closely to his back as he could manage, but they were definitely hard to ignore in a crowded bar. What made even stand out even more was that his white hair was still neatly styled and his white shirt was pressed to perfection. As handsome as always. Definitely a contrast to the scruffy crowd who had spent most of the night drinking.
Veriel broke their gaze and looked down at her own drink before taking another swig.
“Endrik! You came!” Thaddus called out, standing from his seat and waving him over.
He smiled and shook his head. “I’m not here to join you. I need Veriel to come with me.” One of the patrons stumbled right into his wing and the avialae had to help him up. “We have a new assignment and I just need her for now.”
Hearing the sound of her name, Veriel looked up slowly. Strands of her black hair fell into her face and she brushed it out of the way with annoyance. The lamp behind his head was blinding her and she had to squint her eyes. It framed a halo around his head. “Me? In case you forget, knight-commander, I’m off-duty. You can’t order me around right now.”
“I know, I’m sorry. You know I’ll never do this unless it’s urgent.” His bright blue eyes were locked on hers, but she was in no mood to be swept up in it at the moment. In fact, he was the last person she wanted to see for these past few days.
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Of everyone that could have come looking for her, Veriel did not expect Deia to be the one sauntering over to the boulder she had perched herself on. From her swaying steps, the human woman was probably drunker than Veriel was. It was a surprise considering Deia was the type never to let herself go beyond the point of being tipsy. Though, the birthday party was rowdier than anyone had expected, perhaps she got too carried over like everyone did.
Veriel had to help the other woman climb up where she was sitting, both of them nearly falling over into the tumultuous sea three times. Once Deia was safely sitting, none of them said anything. Her freckled face was flushed from the alcohol, framed by her fiery red hair. She couldn’t tell how long they sat before finally, her companion’s voice broke the sound of the waves.
“I am going confess my feelings to him.”
She felt her heart drop but she kept her eyes on the horizon, her feet kicking gently in the water. The cold helped distract her from her pounding heart. She didn’t need to ask who Deia was talking about. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed, leaning back on her arms. “Maybe it’s because we’re friends. Maybe because it just feels like I should.” The young woman began fidgeting with the golden bracelet on her wrist. “People might have missed it, but I can see it in your eyes. Maybe it’s clear to me because I love Endrik too.”
Deia said it so matter-of-factly that the elf didn’t even bother denying it. Perhaps she should be quiet. It was none of her business, but the words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them. “If you did, you shouldn’t have left him.”
It was about two years ago that Ryo had admitted to declaring his feelings to Deia. Thaddeus had his heart broken for the millionth time and the four of them decided to go for a night out. Perhaps it was an effort to cheer up a friend or perhaps he needed to get it out. But he told them about what he did. How Deia didn’t give him any answers. A few weeks after that, they all heard about how she was dating one of the pathfinders. He kept his distance from her since then.
“I made a mistake,” Deia admitted, her voice cracking at the end. “I was stupid and I hurt him and I regret it.
The siltori finally turned her head. A tear glistened on her face, but Veriel wasn’t feeling particularly sympathetic. It wasn’t her place to say it, but Veriel couldn’t help herself. “What makes you so sure he’ll go to you?”
Maybe he’ll choose me. But she didn’t say it out loud. It sounded silly enough in her head. As silver eyes met green ones, Veriel felt a knife in her chest. Despite her tears, there was a steadiness in Deia, a certainty. She believed that Ryo would come to her if she asked. Perhaps he would. It might have been years, but there was no denying that their ties to each other were strong. Even Veriel had to admit to that.
“I know him and he knows me. We only had each other for years, before anyone else. We cared for each other, loved each other. I was a fool for not seeing that, but I’ll beg him for forgiveness if I have to.”
Veriel stayed silent, looking up at the stars as she felt her eyes burn. There was nothing she could say to that. She couldn’t even be mad at her. How could she blame Deia for being brave and trying? She was too cowardly to do the same, how could she have the right to be mad?
“I’m sorry, Laveriel, but I need to do this. I have to or I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
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“Don’t you think this is a terrible idea?” Veriel drawled as she lifted her head up. The avialae had to support most of her weight as they walked out of the bar, but she finally gathered the strength to push him away and leaned against the damp wall. She couldn’t even remember how he convinced her to leave. “I can’t really help when I can barely even stand.”
For a moment, she let herself stare at him. Had Deia spoken to him? Did she confess? Did he accept her feelings? Should she ask? Definitely not. There was no way she hadn’t told him right? It’s been a week since their conversation at the beach.
Gods, she sounded like a stupid teenager. Maybe she should stop drinking so much.
Ryo turned to look at her, his eyebrow cocked. Her heart skipped a beat for a brief moment and she hated herself for it. “We both know that you’re only drunk because you want to be. Sober yourself up before we reach the fortress.”
Surprised, the siltori couldn’t stop herself from laughing. As far as Veriel could tell, no one had ever really paid any mind to her habit of suddenly sobering up when she needed to, no matter how drunk she had been. Of course, he had to be the one who noticed. “Nothing ever goes past you, huh?”
She took a deep breath and called upon the tightly knit aether in her core, the witchmarks on her body glowing softly. The lightheadedness bled away, the heat in her cheeks and chest cooled and by the time they came out of the corner, Veriel’s drunkenness had been neatly tucked away into her aether. It was a trick she had thought of in her early days of experimenting with affliction. A useful thing for certain when she needed to keep her wits and she never had to suffer from a hangover in her life.
“How did you know?” Veriel asked curiously. She bunched up her red skirt in her hand so that she could jog and catch up to him.
“Paying a little attention goes a long way. You should try it sometimes.”
Veriel rolled her eyes even when the thought of him noticing such things made her warm. “We’re far enough from everyone now.” She gestured at the empty streets around them. “Are you going to tell me what this is about?”
Ryo straightened and his eyes darkened as he spoke. “A team managed to capture a member of the Cult a few hours ago. They’re keeping him in the dungeons. The original team suffered severe injuries and it seemed like they would be out of action for a while. They want to know what information the cultist and they want us to take over. We have to extract-”
It clicked. Veriel stopped in her tracks and she frowned. “They want me to torture the man.”
Ryo’s lips were pressed into a thin line as he nodded, pausing with her. While his body seemed relaxed, she could see the tension in his wings. “If you don’t want to, I’ll tell them. You have no obligation to do this as a warforged. I can-”
She half-smiled and waved his concern away. She was just surprised. It wasn’t often that they wanted to wield her magic in such a way. “It’s fine, Ryo. An order is an order. Besides, I’ve done this before.”
