14. Ra

Chapter 14

Ra

The two of them spent the rest of the morning wandering the Tree City. It was a marvel of elemental architecture—residences and shops grown right out of the tree trunks in twisting shapes of beauty. They stopped for lunch at an outdoor market of street vendors, finding a spot on the edge of the platform to sit and eat staring out into the chaos of plants that made up the canopy. Thanks to the magic of the elementals who maintained the space, the greenery was far thicker and more varied than would naturally occur but somehow still let the sun filter through. Flowering plants created a riot of colour where they twisted around nearby branches.

For the first time since they'd arrived, Ra could see the bustling hive of elemental activity he'd expected to find in the stronghold. The constant flashes of colour from the wings of people coming and going was a sharp contrast to the tense quiet movements of Mica's staff who remained in the caves.

A group of younger elementals laughing and teasing each other near them made him smile.

"What do people do for fun around here?" Ra leaned over to ask them, hoping he wasn't about to face the same kind of vitriol Wren threw his way every time they spoke.

These elementals were much more like Elysia though, greeting them both warmly.

"The outer platforms like these host dance parties at night," said an elemental, who'd introduced herself as Esme, her eyes drifting over his body with appreciation. "I've never danced with a human. You want to stick around and play?"

Ra returned her smile as Kaia made a noise of faux disgust. "How do you always find someone to flirt with wherever we go?" she muttered with fond exasperation.

"I'd love to, but I need to head back to the stronghold this afternoon. Do you ever dance there?" he asked Esme.

"Nah. It's too formal. Lord Mica's millennial celebration will be there, but I'm sure the real party will shift here once the official stuff is done," she said.

Ra had almost forgotten the party Mica had mentioned to celebrate 1,000 years of his rule. He wondered who was organising it. Probably Wren if people were already writing it off as boring. The seneschal had no idea how to have fun.

Kaia's brow had furrowed at the exchange. "Do you visit the stronghold much?" she asked.

The group of elementals shifted in their seats and exchanged glances that were difficult to read. "We used to when Lord Mica hosted meals or activities for us, but it's been a while. It's easier to do that kind of thing out here."

It wasn't difficult to read between the lines. They didn't mean easier, they meant safer.

"No wonder the stronghold's so lonely," Kaia said, voice sad. "You're all abandoning it."

"It's not like that. We'd still go there if we were invited," one of the other elementals said, a man Ra guessed to be somewhere late in his first century, with wings that were a rich brown tipped in copper.

"Is an invitation required?" Ra asked, curious.

More guilty looks passed between the elementals. That would be a no then. The stronghold was always open to Mica's people.

Kaia still looked upset at the way the stronghold had been left alone when it was hurting and he could tell this meant a lot to her. As he thought back to the way the caves had put on such a stunning light display to the music Mica had played and even to the music in his earphones, an idea sparked in his mind.

"I used to run a nightclub back home. If I set up a dance party at the stronghold, would you folks be able to spread the word and get people there?" he asked.

They looked sceptical. "Yeah, that would be awesome, but would Lord Mica let you do that?"

"Let me worry about Mica," Ra said.

Esme smirked. "Yeah, you seem like you could talk a man into just about anything. We've got to get back to work but give me your number and we'll make it happen if you tell me the time and place."

Exchanging phone numbers with Esme, they waved farewell to the group and went to return their dishes to the food vendor.

"Thank you for doing that, Uncle. Earthshine would be so happy to have all those people and music to keep it company," Kaia said.

"My pleasure, baby girl. What shall we do now? Fancy a milkshake from that stall over there?"

"Nah. I'm okay, thanks. Lord Mica always brings me a hot chocolate for afternoon tea and I don't want to spoil my appetite. Do you think he'll come find us soon?"

Wait. Mica did what?

"What do you mean Mica brings you hot chocolate?" Ra asked.

Kaia looked at him like he was crazy. "What about that sentence didn't you understand, Uncle?"

"The bit where the stuffy Earth Lord I never see any sign of for days is having afternoon tea with my niece every day."

Kaia looked surprised. "Oh. Well, he is. He lets me talk about back home when I'm feeling homesick. And he asks about what it was like to have the ceptae and vampyr in school with us and things like that."

Ra's eyes narrowed in concern. "What kind of questions exactly?"

Kaia rolled her eyes. "I grew up surrounded by the ruling partnership, Ra. You know I've had training on how to avoid questions that might become a security risk for māmā and Uncle Basti. He was just being nice. And maybe trying to learn a bit more about the new peoples on the Earths, given he doesn't get to talk to them every day like we did."

"Why haven't you mentioned this before?" Ra asked. They ate dinner together every day and exchanged a constant stream of texts.

"You both get weird if I talk about the other to you. I didn't want to make it worse. But you must be doing okay if he's going to let you organise a dance party, right?" Kaia asked.

"Oh, sweetheart," Ra said, pulling her into a hug. "Please don't hide anything from me just to make me feel better."

Kaia looked up at him with suspicion. She'd known him from birth, after all, so she was well familiar with the kinds of trouble he got up to. "You are going to ask Lord Mica's permission before you organise this thing, right?" she asked.

Ra grinned down at her. "Do you want to bring back the stronghold's whānau or not? Like with this trip, sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness, K-bear. If there's any trouble, I'll make sure it's only me who gets the blame."

" Uncle! That is not reassuring," Kaia cried, shoving at him even as she smiled in exasperation.

Ra laughed and was about to suggest another race when a deep voice that sent a shiver through every cell in his body called out from behind them.

"What is not reassuring? What are you planning now?" Mica asked.

Ra turned to face the Earth Lord. Mica had caught up to them at a garden of sorts hidden in the canopy, a series of platforms of different heights and sizes that were covered in exotic botanicals and trickling fountains. Leaning against the nearest tree, he cocked an eyebrow.

"Took you long enough to find us," he said, ignoring the questions he didn't want to answer and hoping Kaia didn't give the game away before he'd even started playing.

"I was very clear that you were not to fly with anyone but me. Explain yourself," Mica snapped, stepping forward like he was going to pin him against the rough bark.

Sadly, he aborted the move and kept a few paces between them when his eyes flicked to Kaia, who was watching them like they were a tennis match, eyes bouncing back and forth between them.

"It's my fault, Lord Mica. I wanted to come see the Tree City with him," Kaia cut in.

Mica's eyes softened a little as he turned his attention to the girl. "This is not your fault, Kaia. He didn't even text me to ask if I had time to take him."

"Would you have come?" Ra asked.

Mica clenched his jaw. "I was busy and outside of phone reception or I would've dragged you home hours ago, but that is not the point."

"It's entirely the point. Unless I'm a prisoner, you can't just expect me to stay put because you're too busy to take me for a ride," Ra said, smirking as Mica's pupils dilated at the subtle innuendo.

It was quickly followed by a flash of anger through their connection before Mica locked it down. Apparently, the Earth Lord didn't like the thought of anyone else taking him for a ride.

"I expect you to follow a direct order," Mica said.

"It seemed more like a wishful statement than an order."

"I don't trust you to wander around unattended. For all I know you're inciting my people to betray me again. You're lucky I trust Elysia implicitly. Next time you leave the stronghold without me, I will send you home. Understood?" Mica growled.

Ra couldn't have stopped the stabbing pain and guilt Mica's words sparked from travelling down their connection if he tried. The elemental would never trust him again. Rightfully so, given he'd used his temporary freedom to meet with Kairon. Something Mica would absolutely see as a betrayal as the vampyr was a leader in his own right and associated with a rival court. Kairon should not have been in the city without seeking permission from Mica first, but neither of them had wanted to risk their request being denied when Kaia's wellbeing hung in the balance. He just hoped Elysia didn't catch any trouble for it if Mica figured out what had happened.

Seeking comfort, Kaia shifted closer and leaned into him, squeezing his hand tight.

"Yeah, I get it," Ra said, voice flat as he looked away.

The short flight back to the stronghold was another exercise in torture as Mica once again eschewed using a sling like Elysia had in favour of carrying him in his arms. The physical contact made their connection thrum brighter, making it impossible to hide the hints of emotion slipping through. The only plus side, if you could call it that, was that Ra knew he wasn't alone in having to fight the insane attraction between them.

Kaia was quiet on the return journey and veered off to the entrance closest to the trainees' quarters with a wave when they got back rather than following them down to land on Mica's balcony.

As Mica pulled away from him, his sleeve pulled up and Ra couldn't help but reach out to grab the thin colourful bracelet wrapped around his wrist. It was woven of silk threads of copper and the blue-green of Mica's eyes with a single strand of tan leather wrapped between them that spoke to Kaia's increasing skill. She'd obviously used a touch of magic to get the colours right, something she wouldn't have been able to do a year ago.

"Kaia gave it to me," Mica explained, holding still as he inspected it.

"I know. You should be honoured," Ra said. Dammit. As if he needed another reason to love the elemental. Why did Mica have to remind him he had a heart after all by supporting Kaia so empathetically?

Mica raised a brow in question. "How so?"

"She only makes them for people she considers whānau—family," Ra said, gesturing to the twisting tan leather on his wrist that Kaia had made for him years before, which nestled against the other more deadly leather cuffs that hid his garottes.

"The leather matches the one on mine," Mica observed.

Ra sighed. "She can be a right little matchmaker. You should've seen her when she was adopting Hel into our family. She made her four ." He paused for a moment, looking down at where he was still touching the warmth of Mica's wrist. "Thank you for reaching out to her. It means a lot to her."

"Just to her?" Mica asked softly, reaching to tip his chin up with a single finger so he was forced to make eye contact.

Jerking his face away, Ra pushed past the elemental to head inside. "Fucking hell, Mica. Enough with the mixed messages. You were clear you don't trust me as far as you can throw me, so stop pretending you care."

"Ra! Come back here. We're not done with this conversation," Mica snapped, following him into the living area.

Ra spun back toward him at the entrance to his bedroom. "What conversation? The one where you try and make this damn connection even more unbearable?"

"No. The one where you explain what you were thinking leaving the stronghold without me, and exactly what you and Kaia got up to for five hours," Mica said.

Ra reared back, the whiplash of Mica's words catching him out despite the fact he should've learned to brace for it by now. "You tell me. You're the one that put a monitoring collar on me."

Mica frowned. "I was too busy to check it."

"Sounds like a you problem."

Ra smiled as Mica's fists clenched by his sides and his wings trembled with suppressed annoyance. At least he could still get under the Earth Lord's skin.

"Fine. Give me an update on your work, then. Have you made any progress or are you too distracted swanning about?" Mica said.

Ra snorted, stalking over to pour himself a whiskey. He was too sober for this conversation. Without even thinking he poured one for Mica too and then kicked himself for the instinctive need to care for the elemental. He was so fucked.

"I've scanned as much as I can with the drones, but there are key parts of the stronghold I can't access because they're blocked by rockfall. I need to find a way to get to them. I also need to talk to a magical engineer soon about tweaking the integrations in my computer. It was originally set up primarily to function with Bast's soulweaving, even though it was created with more standard elemental magic. The calibration is a bit off, which is stopping the map I'm building of the ley lines from focusing and flexing the way it needs to," Ra said.

"Why do you even need a map? I can sense where all the ley lines run," Mica said, but the question seemed genuine rather than antagonistic for once.

"Unless you've got an eidetic memory, even you will struggle to recall the exact shifting locations of every ley line running through here. The map will display a real-time three-dimensional depiction of them so you can assess where the problems are coming up. Then we can model the effects of different treatments until we find one that gets them untangled and running back where they need to be," Ra explained, wandering over to his computer and sitting down on the couch so he could bring up the half-complete map to show Mica what he meant.

Mica came up behind him and leaned in close, peering at the screen. The warm breath on Ra's neck and the familiar scent of the elemental had him squeezing his eyes shut for a moment to suppress a surge of lust before he regained control.

"You can see the minor ley lines are blue and the major ones are copper. Once we get the calibration right they'll stop jumping around so much, but these dark patches here and here are where I'm missing vital data that correspond with key nexus points," Ra continued.

Through their connection, Ra felt Mica's power flare behind him—a point of warm reassurance.

"If you leave the computer with me, I think I can fix your calibration issue," Mica said as his magic flowed past Ra's skin into the machine sitting on his lap, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind it.

"Do you want to talk to the original engineer?" Ra asked, carefully avoiding using Zee's name.

Mica huffed a laugh that tickled against his neck. "I taught Zahra most of what they know about engineering. I'm sure I'll be fine without their assistance."

Ra rolled his eyes at the arrogance. "Okay, sure. But don't you think it's possible they learned some new things since they've been gone? Especially about human technology? Wouldn't it be faster to just get over yourself enough to have a little conversation and accept some help?"

"I don't need an outsider's help to keep my people safe," Mica growled in his ear.

He guessed that was the answer to his pondering on whether Mica might reconsider letting Kairon help as well.

"It'll take you twice as long, but whatever," Ra said.

"Do you have a plan for the black spots?" Mica asked.

"I thought if I secured some scanning tech that didn't have any external moving parts, then Earthshine might be willing to absorb it through the rockfall like the way it absorbed that glass on our first night here," Ra said.

There was a brief pause where he could feel Mica checking in with the stronghold through their connection. "Yes. It will do that for you. It would do a lot for you," Mica said, sounding chagrined at the thought.

This was where it was going to get tricky. Bracing himself, Ra did his best to try and keep his emotions to himself and his voice casual. "Good. I've found something that might work in Granite Bay. I just need to head over there and check I can modify it the way I need to before we pick it up."

"I will take you tomorrow," Mica said.

Ra hid a wince. "Yeah, about that. You can't come with me. It's with one of my Soul Court contacts and he'll freak if he thinks you know about him."

Mica went dangerously still behind him and he wished he could turn to keep an eye on him, but something told him he'd be better off staying put.

"Is it him ?" Mica asked, voice low and dangerous.

Fuck. He couldn't lie his way out of this. Mica would sense the deception. "Yeah," he whispered, confirming it was the person who'd enabled him to extort Mica's food supply the previous year.

"Absolutely not. Find your tech somewhere else and give me your contact's name while you're at it so I can finally rid myself of the traitor you've been hiding from me," Mica snarled.

"That is not fucking happening. And the alternative to this tech is me building something from scratch, which will take at least another month. Come on, it's not like you're losing anything by letting me do this. You don't know who he is anyway," Ra said.

He'd never felt such rage from Mica, but it was quickly shut down until there was so little sensation through the connection he almost couldn't tell it was there.

"Fine. But I am taking you to the city and you're not going more than a minute's flight from me," Mica said.

"Deal. But you have to swear not to try and identify him. No following me. No setting your people after him," he said.

"You are in no position to make that kind of demand."

Ra shrugged. "Do you want to heal the stronghold or not?"

Mica grabbed his jaw and twisted him until he was staring up at the beautiful rage-filled elemental. "I will leave him be this time only because Earthshine's damage is escalating and I spent the entire morning locked away dealing with it, but I will be listening to every word you say through your collar," he growled, searching his eyes for any sign of betrayal.

It was the best he was going to get and it was enough to keep the oath he'd sworn to Saryn not to betray his identity to the Earth Lord. Mica wouldn't recognise his contact's voice and all he needed to do was confirm the tech could take his upgrades and handle the pressure of being buried deep in rock without compromising the external seal, so it should be fine. He'd be in and out in five minutes and Saryn was a sneaky bastard at the best of times. He wouldn't give himself away, even if he didn't know they had an eavesdropper.

What was the worst that could happen?