Chapter 5
In Another’s Service
The assassin walked away from the bed and toward the tiny kitchen. When he returned, he had a plate of easy-to-eat foods. He put the dish down on a small table she hadn’t noticed by her bed, which meant that someone had been in there for a while. When he returned again, he had a large glass of water and a chair. He put the chair near the bed and held out the glass of water.
Rosaline watched him as much as she could, but her mind was hazy. After he had watched her for a while, Darius spoke, “You have been out for more than a week. Had you been out much longer, you would have died.”
Rosaline tried to think about what had happened, but it seemed more like a dream. “He’s in trouble,” her voice was incredibly hoarse, and she realized she was thirsty. Sitting up, she found her body barely listened to her.
Darius helped her sit up, then placed a few pillows behind her back. Sitting down again, he held out the drink, and Rosaline couldn’t help but stare at him as she drank. As soon as the glass was empty, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome. Have something to eat.”
She looked over at the plate, but her stomach churned. “I don’t think I can.”
“You will need to eat as soon as your body can process food. You have barely eaten since he left, and not at all in over a week.” He leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees, and looked her in the eyes. Rosaline felt like a mouse under the gaze of a lion. There was no way to escape those stunning pink eyes. “How much do you remember of what you saw?”
Rosaline blinked. “Am I not in trouble?”
“What is more important right now?”
Rosaline nodded, “Right. Ignacio found Dulce, but the Unwashed were already there. She led him away from the danger, but refused to leave with him. When he tried to insist that she go with him, she used some kind of powder to knock him out. She then drew magic out of him to keep him safe while he was asleep. I… followed her back and Draven was there. He killed all of the Unwashed, and when she tried to do the same thing to him—use the powder on him—he held her hand and released it in her face. She wasn’t even aware when he took her away.” She frowned and looked away, “Although I’m not entirely sure what he plans to do, I suspect that Caspian is somehow involved.”
Darius didn’t show any emotion as she spoke, but as soon as Rosaline finished, he frowned and looked toward a small window. “I would not be at all surprised if your suspicion is right. The champions don’t often work with Draven, and I don’t know of any assassin who has spoken to him about Dulce.” He was quiet for a while, leaving Rosaline to consider what she had seen as she stared at his profile. “It is very risky, but I dare say that Maverick had to talk him into it. There is no chance that Draven would do something at Caspian’s request, though it seems only slightly more likely that Maverick would be able to convince him.” A smile flitted across Darius’s face, “It is good to see that Ignacio wasn’t the only one concerned about her. They should have told me, though, because I would have found something else for him to do than waste time in Ishtar. His talents are needed in so many other areas, but Orion didn’t want him to feel like we were punishing him. Considering Dulce’s importance to the seers, I thought that it would help them without the assassins being directly involved since Ignacio was going as an old friend instead of an assassin. Guess Caspian found a better way.” He looked annoyed as he finished.
“Ignacio isn’t out of danger yet.”
Darius turned back to look at her and wait for her to explain.
Rosaline tried to pull her thoughts together. “There was poison in his system, but I am not sure where it came from. I was telling him to purge, but he was too worried about Dulce. When I tried to get him to focus, he…” she tried to fight down tears as she remembered how he was looking at her, “he didn’t trust me.”
Darius nodded. “Don’t take that personally. What you did was,” he pursed his lips, “not something that most magic users can do. Manifesting yourself in front of him, his reaction was understandable.”
“But I touched him. Shouldn’t he have been able to tell it was me?” Rosaline looked at her hands. A large hand crossed her vision and forced her to look up into those startling pink eyes.
“You did what?” There was something in his voice that was scary.
“I… I…” Rosaline swallowed, but found she could not look away. “I touched him. When he was waking up. He was disoriented and confused, so I tried to comfort him by acting like we usually do. I bumped him with my shoulder and that seemed to help for a little bit. I don’t know why that changed, though. Then the next thing I knew, I was slammed back into my body.”
“I apologize. Perhaps I was a little too forceful in pulling you back, but any longer and someone else would have started to figure out what you were doing.”
Rosaline blinked a few times, trying to process what he had said. “You mean… no one else knows?”
“No.” His expression was blank as he looked at her. However, his appearance was far less imposing than his bluntness from the darkness. A part of her mind was noticing how attractive Darius was, and she wondered why he chose to stay hidden.
Most of her thoughts were turning to Ishtar where she was afraid of what was happening to Ignacio. “I'm worried about him. I think he was planning on shifting and running back to the cemetery. From there I have no idea what he will do. He’ll probably realize that someone else was there, and will take off, trying to track down Dulce, ignoring the fact that he is poisoned. Darius.” She grabbed his hand. “Is there any way that you can force him to come back?”
Darius looked down at her hand, then back into her eyes. It took a moment for Rosaline to realize that she had touched him. Pulling her hands away, she missed the shifting expression on his face. She was blushing when he started speaking, “We can certainly tell him that there is an emergency that requires his abilities.”
“Great!” She tried to stand up, but fell back on the bed.
“You are going to need to stay in bed for the next week. You really pushed yourself beyond any known limits with this little stunt.”
“But he was in trouble!” She could feel her heart speeding up and her breath was shallow. “I think I need to lie down.”
Large hands caught her as she started to sway. “I think that would be a good idea, but you have to eat first. I have made something that isn’t filling that shouldn’t bother your stomach. Had I known that you managed to physically manifest, I would have made a few other dishes to help you faster.” He looked at the door. “Actually, under the current circumstances, I think I have a little time. But you will need to join me because we are not done talking.”
He picked her up and carried her in a blanket and several pillows over to the small kitchen. Placing her gently on the table, Darius made sure she was resting against a wall. “I do apologize since it isn’t ideal, but we have to talk so that I know exactly what happened.”
“What about Ignacio? We have to get him to come back home.”
“He knows.”
“What?” Rosaline closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You cannot go to sleep without eating.” He placed a small plate of wafers beside her. “They should help you until I finish.”
Rosaline picked up a wafer and bit it. Shocked by the taste, she looked over at Darius as he quickly moved around the kitchen. “Wow, that is incredibly good! What is it?”
“It’s something special, but not designed for what I need. It will only keep you awake for a few minutes.” He didn’t even look at her. “Have you ever manifested through a dream before this time?”
“I didn’t even know that is what I did.”
“Good to know, but was that the first time you did it?”
Rosaline thought back, “Um, I don’t think so.”
“When might have you done it before?”
“After I took my vows. I think I was visiting my mother at night, but I couldn’t say how many times I did it. She seemed so miserable when she was alone. I also went to my father’s grave since I am not allowed to go near cemeteries any more. Until what happened with Ignacio, I thought I was never able to touch anyone, or even communicate with them. Although, I think that my mother felt my presence because she seemed calmer when I left.”
Darius nodded as she spoke, but let her talk without interrupting.
“I think I knew that I did something differently this time because my body shuddered. It was painful. I was aware of that, but ignored it because he looked so confused, and I didn’t want him to be alone.”
Darius continued to nod, but his expression had changed.
“How did you know how to get me back here?”
He looked over at her as he pulled a bowl out of her cupboard. “You are not the first person who has manifested elsewhere, though I admit that I’ve never seen anyone leave so little behind. I thought you were dead when I first came to check on you.” He brought the bowl over and sat on the table near her. Darius adjusted her body so that she was propped up against the wall, then he began to spoon-feed her as he spoke. “What you did was incredibly dangerous. It takes most people years of training because being detached from your body can kill you if you are gone too long or if you overstretch your consciousness. And Ishtar is a long way from here.”
Rosaline kept her eyes downcast, eating each spoonful without saying anything. She had no idea why Darius was being so attentive, almost kind. Nodding her head periodically, she listened to him. A part of her wondered how long he had been around because the things that he knew were well beyond anything she had heard. Then again, druids and assassins had very different information and understandings about life and death.
When he finished explaining what she had done, Darius stood up and put the bowl in the sink. A second later he was picking her up and taking her to the bed. “Now, it is time to tell you what you need to do going forward.”
Rosaline looked up at Darius as he sat down. “You are going to make me do stuff to keep you quiet about what I did?”
The look on his face was a combination of hurt and shock. “Why would I do that?”
“Isn’t that why you are staying quiet? I know that people use the high priestesses; so many of them are indebted that it is shocking that they still function.”
Darius opened his mouth, then thought better of it. Narrowing his eyes, he pursed his lips, his mind clearly spinning. “That is decidedly not what I wanted to hear.”
“I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news again.” She shrunk down under a blanket a little.
Thinking she was cold, Darius reached over and pulled it up and tucked her in. “No, no, I already knew, I just did not know that they were letting the uninitiated know. It is… very disturbing.” He rubbed a hand against his forehead. “That is going to make things more difficult because they already think of you as one of their own.”
“It is only a matter of time.”
“A few of us have been wondering if that is true.” Darius stood up and moved away. “At least we have been since I found out you have been following Ignacio.” Pacing around the room, he began to make her feel ill at ease. Finally, he looked over at her, “I am not keeping this quiet just for you, and I am not going to force you to do something you don’t want to do. However, I will urge you to help.”
Rosaline shifted a little, “Why me?”
“Because we don’t know exactly how far your abilities extend. And right now, we aren’t sure what kind of magic we will need.” He sat down and looked at her, “It has been several weeks since you last spoke with Itzel.”
Rosaline’s eyes widened, “How is that possible? I thought you said it was a week.”
“When you remove yourself from your body, you lose your anchor in reality.” She looked at him and shook her head. Darius ran a hand across his mouth, “You are removing yourself from linear time. There is no corresponding amount of time you are gone. When I woke you, it had been a week, but your body and mind were not syncing up, so I, um, manipulated time around you so that you could recover on your own. Without sleep, your body and mind were able to start operating as they should. The food kept you functioning, but it cannot fully replace sleep. That is why you feel exhausted. You haven’t slept in weeks.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand. Doesn’t that mean you haven’t slept?”
“I will once you are recovered.”
“What about Ignacio?”
“He is already here. Dulce has sent him word that she is fine, so he calmed down not too long after arriving. Though he is wondering why we haven’t sent him anywhere after saying that we needed him back. That one has been difficult.”
Rosaline closed her eyes and tried to understand exactly what had happened. “I’m having a hard time following what has happened. If you have been here with me, how do you know what has been going on outside?”
“Don’t worry about it.” He waved a hand. “Just think of it as you were unconscious for a few weeks and now you are recovering. The food that you ate and a good night’s sleep will make you almost as good as new. Tomorrow, you will be accompanying Ignacio and a few other,” he cleared his throat, “people.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Rosaline narrowed her eyes. Something about the way he glossed over the people bothered her.
Darius looked at the door, “Dulce will be among them, though her abilities are fairly narrow. She is being accompanied by Draven. I think you will like her, despite your initial impression. You, Ignacio, Benettio, and Faith will be traveling with them. The poison that you mentioned that was in Ignacio’s system was a tool of the Unwashed to try to control Dulce. He did purge it, by the way.” Darius stopped and looked at Rosaline. “When you disappeared, he wasn’t sure what it meant, but purged in case. You saved him a lot of pain. Unfortunately, the poison in Dulce’s system has been harder to purge. And that is why so many magic users are traveling together.”
“That sounds like it will be an interesting lesson.” Rosaline was beginning to feel exhausted.
“You can certainly look at it that way.” He helped to settle her down in the bed, shifting her further back so that she didn’t fall out as she rolled to face him.
“Why do you hide in the shadows?” Rosaline was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open, but she had some questions she wanted to ask.
“It is easier than answering questions about my appearance.” His voice sounded a little sad.
“That isn’t the whole truth. If you are worried about your appearance, though, I can tell you that you are incredibly handsome. The second most handsome man I’ve ever seen. And I have never thought that the guardians were particularly handsome. Maybe it is your eyes, they suck a person in and hold them captive.”
“I’m not sure that is a positive view.”
“I would love to see more of you. It’s funny.” She wiggled a little under the blanket.
“What is?” The voice was nearby, but Rosaline couldn’t open her eyes.
“I thought that Itzel was making it up, but she knew what you look like. You must really like her to let her see you. That, or she makes you feel really comfortable.” There was silence. Peeking her eyes open a little, Rosaline saw Darius’s expression. “Oh, I see. You are in love with her. You should tell her, you know. She really needs someone, and I think that you probably do, too.” She closed her eyes, fighting to finish what she wanted to say. “You hide in the shadows, and I used to think that it was because you didn’t like us very much. Or that you wanted to keep your anonymity. Or something. I don’t know, I guess I never gave it too much thought because it was your preference. Now that I have seen you—not just what you look like, but how caring you are—I am certain that you deserve more. If you live like this, you will be miserable. And so will she.”
A hand brushed her hair out of her face. “I am not completely certain you aren’t trying to talk to someone else.”
Rosaline pushed her face into the pillow. “He’s in love with Dulce. And I have my own path.” She fought to open her eyes. “I'm talking to you, Darius. We all take you for granted, and if you don’t do something, there will be nothing but regret in your future. You are amazing and unbelievably handsome. She would be crazy to turn you down.”
Whatever Darius said in response Rosaline missed as she drifted off to sleep.