Warsinger James Baldwin (read this if TXT) 📖

take copies like that. If we have to duplicate a book, we mere mortals must copy them by hand or send them to a press, which takes almost as long. I admit I'm a little jealous.”

“I'm jealous you can read and write,” I replied. “Thanks, man. Keep it real.”

It was a long walk back to the hangar. Everyone had gone home for the night, and it was dark enough that Karalti's body almost blended into the shadows of the cavern. One oil lamp had been left on for her, the golden light glinting off the scales of her neck and jaw. She snoozed on, oblivious as I took the lamp and crawled under her wing, which still covered my bedroll like a marquee.

Ignas had given me a lot to think about myself and my new responsibilities in Myszno, not to mention Baldr and Suri. He was right, about all of it. Intentions didn't count for shit. Actions, and the consequences of those actions, were what mattered. Actions like, say, prioritizing Dakhari history so that I could show my girlfriend that I cared about her quests and what was important to her.

I took a deep breath, settled in, and pulled out the book on Dakhari history. It was a big, thick volume on a dry academic subject, full of words I didn't know and wouldn't be able to understand. It weighed half a ton, sitting there in my hands.

“Willpower, willpower, here we go.” I heaved a sigh, cracked the pages, and began to read.

Chapter 19

Three hours and a couple chapters later, I went to see Suri.

I cleaned up as much as I could before knocking on the door of her suite. By the smell of her perfume and the woody incense she liked to burn, she was home.

“No, thanks. I don't want anything.” Her voice was roughened from crying.

“It’s not the butler,” I called back, leaning close to the keyhole. “But you know what? I managed to find a butler for Kalla Sahasi?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” I grinned. “But he’s missing his left arm, so he serves us right.”

I played a rimshot on the frame of the door. There was leaden silence from inside.

“I’m still pissed at you, you know,” she called back.

“I know. I came to say sorry, but bad jokes are literally the only way I know how to start conversations like this.”

There was the sound of a chair scrape back, then a sniffle, and then jingling steps, getting closer. The bolt on the door turned, and then the jingling withdrew.

Grimacing to one side, I opened it just enough I could stick my head in. “So I wanted to tell you that- wow-wow-wee-woah.”

Suri had gotten her hands on a really, really nice dress. It was little more than a sheath of dense golden chains, linked together so closely that it hung like fabric instead of metal. Starting from her neck, the chains covered everything they needed to, draping around the curve of her breasts and around her hips until the lower loops hung past her knees. She'd done her short hair up with a fan-shaped ornament that matched the dress, and her makeup. Her neck and legs both seemed to go forever.

“Go on, then.” She sniffed, and looked sharply over at me. “Gonna tell me what a waste of money this is?”

“Uhhh...” I blinked a couple of times, trying desperately to tear my eyes away from the endless rolling plains of her chest. I shuffled the book I'd brought up into my armpit. “No. You’re gorgeous. What can I even say other than ‘sorry for being a self-centered shitlord’?”

Suri turned and looked down, then sighed. “Yeah… look. Me too. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have chewed you out, then or just now. My head isn’t on straight. You were just try’na be responsible before, and I… fuck.”

Suri's shoulders dropped, and she went back to the vanity where she'd laid out her makeup and brushes and slumped down tiredly into her seat. I sidled into the room and closed the door behind me.

“We both screwed up.” I dropped the book onto her bed and went to her. When I was behind the chair, I held my hands up over her bare shoulders. “We're tired and stressed and we took it out on each other.”

Suri reached up and caught my hand, and guided me to cup her cheek. “Yeah. We did.”

“You’re right on both counts. I am trying to be responsible for the first time in my life, but I also ended up sounding like an ass.” I had a powerful urge to stroke her neck, and let my fingers play along the thin strands of metal there. “I was speaking to you like your goals didn’t matter. I'm sorry.”

“It's fine. I was wrapped up in what we’d just read and… I dunno.” She sighed and laid the weight of her head in my hand, baring the length of her throat. “You must think I'm vain as hell, getting all dressed up like this.”

“I figured you were getting dressed up to feel better.” Her perfume was different to Karalti's, sweeter and smokier, but I breathed in deeply as my brain began to reroute my blood to other, less intelligent parts of my body. “Were you thinking of going out?”

“Nah. I was just gonna stay in. Eat some chocolate, drink some booze, try and forget the smell of the Dregs, you know.” She nuzzled her cheek against my palm, and as she did, the fine chains slid over the skin of her throat. My heart suddenly jumped to life, beating a deep double thump in my chest. The rest of the world receded into a film of white noise. My teeth and fingertips began to tingle.

“Yeah... “ I unhooked the clasps on the dress, and let the chains slide down her neck. I slowly traced the unseen line of her jugular up to the edge of her jaw. She tipped her head back, lips parting with a gasp, and a pleasurable thrill pulsed through