Luminous

68 - Rattling Cages

"Oh, bugger. I'm turning into your brother."

Safely back inside the tent she shared with Coris, Meya grumbled as Zier stood her on her feet. Zier straightened up and eyed her warily. 

"Impertinent question," He began. Meya raised her eyebrows. "When's the last time you bled?"

Blushing, Meya reached for the folding screen, pulled it out to full width, and began undressing.

"'Bout a fortnight ago. 'Twas late and I was getting nervous. Thank Freda—"  She cursed under her breath. She undid the last knot on the bodice, then shrugged her soiled kirtle onto the floor. Zier's hand poked under the screen and whisked it away. "I'm using the Silfum, dun worry." 

Silence fell as Meya changed into a chemise for bedtime. Zier was just straightening up when she emerged. He tossed her sweaty smock onto the pile on his arm.

"Neither dwale nor poison work on your kind. Are you sure Silfum would protect you?" He strode off and deposited her laundry in the basket. A jolt of horror rushed through Meya. She brushed it aside.

"At least I'm human down there, according to your brother." She jerked her chin at her lower half, folded the screen, then slumped onto her mattress. "At any rate, we're back to courting. That should assuage your fears."

Meya grinned up at him, hands clasped over her folded knees as she rocked back and forth. Zier blew a sigh of relief, but he still looked troubled as he settled on Coris's mattress.

"So, what was it, then?" 

Meya bit her lip, then sighed in surrender.

"Last night I learned that I sucked all the minerals out of Crosset's soil, created a famine and starved hundreds of people to death." She forced out a bitter grin as she picked at her nightdress, "And it seems me body's stopping me from using that power again. Ever."

"Maybe you could just learn the other abilities and ignore it. It's enough if you could transform and fly and breathe fire, right?"  Zier suggested. Meya shook her head. She'd toyed with the idea herself.

"I must fly across the ocean." She sprang up and paced, "I must feed like a dragon and fill up me metal stores while we're in the Sands and the Blue Mountains. They're the only places I can feed without destroying a village or two!"

She burst out in desperation, flailing arms falling to her sides with a clap. Zier scratched his nape and avoided her gaze. Embarrassed, Meya closed her eyes and rested her burning forehead against the wooden tentpole. Then, a sudden inspiration hit her.

"The Axel—" She gasped. She heard the sound of hay chafing. Zier must have jolted hard on the mattress. "Coris—How did you deal with the guilt?"

She turned to the younger Hadrian. Zier's eyes were like diamonds, hard and flashing. He picked up a stray pebble.

"I didn't have to. It's not my fault." He shrugged, his fingers exploring the blunted edges of the tiny stone. Meya's grip on the pole fell slack. She blinked in disbelief.

"It is your fault!" She snapped. Zier glared back, eyes blazing with fury.

"If Father and Coris had shown me one shred of appreciation, Graye would never have been able to turn me." He said coldly, "And I've never asked Coris to take the blame for me—unnecessarily too, as it turned out."

Zier smote the pebble against the ground, then cradled his head in his hands. The suffocating silence echoed with their loud breathing.

"Look, I love my brother." Zier whispered, still refusing to show his face, "I hate seeing him like this as much as you do, but it's not like I forced him to do anything."