Spear of Destiny James Baldwin (free romance novels .TXT) 📖

rubbing the base of her horn against my lower back. “You’re jeaaaaalous.”

I grumbled to myself as I pulled up the Message Center. The unnamed <ADMIN> email was still sitting there, unread, along with two others. I brought up Suri’s PM history, patched through, and waited for her to pick up. To my surprise, she actually did.

"Hey," I jammed my hands down where pockets normally went on a pair of jeans, and growled when I remembered there were none. "How's Cutthroat going?"

"Tired. Pissy. She's got nine eggs, Hector." Suri sounded tired and pissy herself, a little breathless over the comms. "We're just passing over the Bashir now. ETA is in twenty-four hours. How's things at the fort?"

"We're not at the fort. We just handled a difficult quest. Difficult as in, I’m probably going to have nightmares about it." I rubbed the back of my neck, looking out over the plateau. "Listen, I wanted to run something past you. But you might not like it much."

A pause. "I'm listening."

"Both Rin and Vash want to take Jacob to the Riverside District and have him do some community service. They’ve both nagged me about it, but I told ‘em it’s your decision. Do you trust them to start rehabbing him, or do you want to wait and handle it yourself?"

Another pause. Longer, this time.

“How are we going to make sure he doesn’t get away?” Suri asked flatly.

“Good question. I think all we can really do is make sure he’s got the usual kinds of field trip security. Visible clothing, leg chains, a good escort,” I replied. “Maybe a leash.”

"What about a bracelet or something with the Mother's Coin inside it?" Karalti asked.

I blinked a couple of times. I'd forgotten all about the Mother's Coin. It was a minor artifact we'd looted from Davri the Laundress, the crime boss we'd killed in Dalim, and it worked like a tagging device.

“Karalti just suggested a tracking device,” I said. “In case you didn’t hear that.”

“I did. And I think that’s a bloody good idea,” Suri’s voice was stiff, but calm. “I also know it's about the only option we've got, short of bricking him up inside a wall and feeding him through a tube. Go ahead and figure out some kind of program for him. See how he responds when he's dealing with people he has to actually relate to.”

“Alright. And I’ll make a tracking anklet and weld it on to him myself. I don’t want him near any of my citizens without us knowing exactly where he is.” I leaned back against Karalti, resisting the urge to rub against her like a randy cat. "I love you, okay? We'll see you soon, and then we'll go kick some huge wormy butt."

Suri laughed, briefly. "Yeah, alright. Assuming I’m not leading a train of little hooklings around the castle.”

We closed the call, and I sighed with relief. I rubbed my forehead and made to stand up, and my message center chirped. I pulled it over to see Suri had sent a follow up message. 'Love you too'.

I couldn't help but smile. It was pretty sure it was the first time we'd said it to each other in as many words.

Chapter 56

We dropped Vash back at the castle, and while he coordinated a security detail and the medicine wagons, I went to the smithy. Half an hour of improvised crafting later, I had gained some basic levels in Metalworking and had successfully creating Archemi's first [Prison Tag Anklet], a welded manacle we soldered around Jacob's ankle. It was a pound of solid iron, and unless he was willing to cut his own leg off, he wasn't getting rid of it.

Once they were on their way, Karalti and I left for an overnight retreat to her favorite place in Myszno, just the two of us.

We appeared over a mountain hot spring fed by a cascade of steaming, water-filled limestone terraces. The water was a brilliant blue, steaming into the air. There was a grotto cavern filled with soft pads of brilliant green moss. At the shallow side of the lake was beach of sorts, a bare area of mineralized rock turned white by limestone. Beyond that was nothing but miles of wild alpine forest. Pines rustled, birds trilled and whooped from the trees, insects hummed, squirrels flicked their tails as they scampered over the branches. I breathed deeply of the crisp, fresh air as Karalti touched down, and felt the muscles of my back and shoulders relax.

“I’m glad you suggested this. We really need it after that cheery little adventure.” I slid to her elbow and hopped down, landing lightly on the feathery grass. “God… the talk I had with Vash after we left the boneyard was fucking intense.”

“I overheard your thoughts while you were talking. I think I’m starting to understand it all.”  Karalti stretched and yawned, flicking her wings and shaking herself out. “There’s like a big stew pot full of people, right? And the pot mixes the people’s souls up, so every person who’s born is like a cup of soup from the pot.”

“Pretty much. Though I think the soup pot is slowly getting bigger as more people here become self-aware.”

Karalti stretched, rising high on her feet, and shifted smoothly to her humanoid shape. My heart caught in my throat as the light cleared, revealing her standing on small bare feet, lovely and nude.

“Am I made from these people?” she asked. “Am I made from the Athena-thing?”

“Yeah. You are.” I drifted toward her. She didn’t move as I reached for her, stroking her collarbone, her breasts, the sides of her ribcage. “But you’re absolutely, one-hundred percent my favorite cup of soup.”

Karalti let out a delighted, barking laugh, then turned and skipped toward the water. I lunged forward a step, nose working, then remembered I was still wearing twenty pounds