18. Ra
Chapter 18
Ra
After succumbing to their desires against the wall near the dining table, Mica disappeared off to speak with the healers. At this rate, they'd have fucked against every surface in the living area before they even got near an actual bed. He'd offered to accompany Mica and talk the mages through what the model was doing, but Mica said he needed to warm them up first. The fact Mica had taken the computer with him suggested he might not even bother calling in Ra if he thought they could make progress without him.
Feeling more homesick than he had for weeks, Ra went and found Kaia so they could video call their friends and family back in the Soul Court. Even Kaia's giggles as they spoke to Zee and her māmā didn't help much, because the whole time he wanted to be asking the Soul Court's magical engineer for their thoughts on healing the stronghold, but there was no way Mica would be okay with that.
Wren's sneering face and whispered threats when he passed the seneschal in the tunnels on the way back was just the icing on a shit sandwich. He still couldn't shake the guilt about not telling Mica about Kairon's visit, either.
The one light in the cave's darkness was the way most of Mica's people now stopped to chat with him as he passed, many telling him what an amazing time they'd had at the dance party. One of the subcommittees of Mica's upcoming millennial celebrations even reached out to him to help plan the music side of things. He could only assume they'd hidden that request from Wren. It was almost like being back in the Soul Court as he laughed and joked with some of the younger elementals while they figured out how to scale up what he'd done in the pop-up club to the much bigger event. People would be coming from around the world to show their respect to the Earth Lord for 1,000 years of unusually responsible rule.
Mica was nowhere to be found when he finally stumbled back into their wing of the stronghold sometime late that night. He thought about following the ever-present tug in his chest to find the Earth Lord and force him to rest, but he wasn't sure what welcome he'd get. Especially if he interrupted the mages trying to come up with a solution.
Instead, he downed a whiskey and slunk off to bed, sleeping even worse than he had the previous night.
When he staggered into the living area late the next morning, Mica was sitting at the dining table working.
"Morning," Mica said, glancing up with a smile.
Ra paused next to him for a kiss before going to grab them both a coffee. "You look happier than yesterday," he observed.
"We think we have something that will shift the ley lines back where they need to go. We're going to give it a go this afternoon when the children are all out on a field trip so we don't have to worry so much if something goes awry," Mica said.
"Want me to take a look at your plan?" Ra asked, handing Mica his drink before leaning back against the breakfast bar to take a much-needed sip of caffeine. He didn't know how he was going to deal with the lack of coffee if he had to return to the Soul Court one day.
"No offense, sweetheart, but you don't have the magical knowledge to make an assessment and the final plan won't be ready until lunchtime anyway. We'll be fine," Mica said.
Ra took a deep breath and counted to five slowly in his head before he responded. Mica was 1,200 years old, he reminded himself. It wasn't surprising it would take him a little while to overcome his preconceived ideas.
"I've been working with the Soul Court mages for over two decades. I have as good an understanding of elemental magic as someone who doesn't wield it can have. I also have way more experience with different ways of working it with technology than your people do. Let me help," he said.
"And I have centuries more experience than you in keeping the stronghold thriving. I told you we have a solution already. It's not necessary," Mica said.
Ra tilted his head, wondering why the man was being so stubborn. "Did your mages refuse to work with me?" he guessed.
"Not all of them," Mica said, looking away.
Which probably just meant Elysia and Serena had stuck up for him. They were the only powerful mages he'd spent any time with.
"Isn't the whole point of your stupidly ruthless elemental politics that you have complete control over your court? Why do you care what they think when it could make a difference to our Earthshine?"
"I told you. Navigating this is as much about keeping the confidence of my senior courtiers as it is about healing the damage. Our magics are an ecosystem that supports the stronghold. I need us all pulling in the same direction, not fractured by arguing over your involvement, or we won't succeed. Plus it makes Earthshine unstable when we discuss you."
"Because your mages are being pig-headed assholes," Ra snapped.
"It's not your call. They're not going to let us fail. The stronghold is the core of everything that makes the Earth Court what it is. It's their home," Mica said.
Ra stiffened. "And it's not mine?" he asked quietly. He knew he hadn't been there long, but he'd thought things had shifted between them. Mica's hesitation was all he needed to see. "Don't answer that. I don't think I want to know."
"It's complicated. You're still a member of a rival court. If it will make you feel better, you can monitor the changes through your scanners while we work," Mica offered.
If it would make him feel better. Not if it would help, because Mica still couldn't see that he wasn't a useless human. He wasn't going to abandon Mica or Earthshine when so much was on the line, though. Whether he could stand to stick around afterward as his heart was chipped away one broken shard at a time by Mica's distrust was another matter.
The location the mages had picked for their working was over the nexus most damaged by the broken ley lines, which happened to be the same glade they'd landed in the other day. Below their feet, deep underground, was a series of tunnels that had collapsed in the immediate aftermath of Bast and Hel healing the reality contagion that had threatened the world.
He'd set up his computer as far from the elementals as possible, hooking into the static scanners they'd positioned throughout Earthshine to keep an eye on how the ley lines were shifting.
"Why is he here, my lord?" Wren asked from nearby.
"Why are you here? Aren't you like the babiest of mages?" Ra snapped back. Not his most mature moment but he was fuming at the elementals' refusal to work with him when it could be the difference in succeeding.
"Enough. You're both here because I want you to be," Mica said as if that should be the end of it. As if Ra was just another one of his staff.
Whatever. He had more important things to focus on. Like monitoring the stronghold to keep his mate safe during whatever they had planned so he could tear him a new one in private once they were done.
"Mica, I don't think this location is going to be the best for whatever you're planning. It is showing the most damage generally, but it's not the most volatile and, looking at the flows from this point, I think you could end up increasing the imbalance if you direct too much power here," he said.
"That is Lord Mica to you, human," Lachlan growled from where he was standing near Wren.
Oh great. They were forming a little anti-Ra clique. He rolled his eyes at the posturing. He didn't know when the regional lead had shown up again but he really could have done without his aggravating presence making this even harder.
"Ra is more accustomed to reading the models he's looking at. Maybe we should double-check our working," Elysia chimed in.
"Do I tell you how to grow your plants, Elysia?" the dry voice of the head Mage healer Garett asked, condescension clear in his tone.
None of the elementals looked over forty, but Ra imagined Garett as a grumpy old curmudgeon nonetheless. When you lived forever it was hard for new blood and fresh ideas to get a foothold in the leadership. He'd thought Mica had better judgement than that, but apparently whatever internal politics were at play meant they were stuck with this guy with a stick up his ass.
"If you give me the details on how much power is going where, I could run some scenarios to see how the ley lines might respond," Ra offered through gritted teeth. He wouldn't let his temper put the stronghold at risk. He had to try and get them to see sense.
Mica met his gaze and shook his head. "Thank you, Ra, but we don't have time. We only have a limited window to do this working before the ley line shifts again. Then we'll have to wait at least another week."
Something wasn't right here and he really didn't like it. Wren had been deep in conversation with Garett and Lachlan when they arrived and they'd stopped talking the second he stepped into the glade. He couldn't help but feel like they'd delayed starting until it would be too late to slow things down when they'd left it until this afternoon as well. They could easily have sent the kids off earlier in the day so they had more time.
As the mages gathered their magic and the earth beneath their feet began to thrum with power, Ra's worry only deepened. He could see the nexus below them swelling with power through his scanners until it overflowed out to the crisscrossing ley lines that fed into it, but he couldn't see what they were hoping to achieve by doing it. This was just reinforcing the existing flows, not shifting or reconnecting them. As powerful as the elementals surrounding him were, there also wasn't nearly enough magic being used to make any real difference to something as vast and complex as the stronghold's sentience.
"Mica, I don't think…" Ra started to say.
His words were cut off by a huge earth tremor and a deafening roar that got louder and louder until he stumbled as the earth through the glade was riven in two, a jagged chasm spreading open only metres from where he stood. Heat blasted his face like a furnace as magma was forced up near the surface from how deep the damage went.
What the fuck had just happened?
Mica and Elysia fell to the ground from where they'd been hovering mid-air as the other mages turned accusing eyes his way. He barely paid them any mind because Mica all but collapsed when he landed, clutching his head.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Ra cried, running to where Mica had dropped to one knee.
"He's fighting to calm the stronghold after you sabotaged it," Garett sneered, shoving Ra away from Mica.
"What the fuck are you talking about? I told you not to do whatever it was you just did!"
Mica staggered to his feet and turned to the mage with a frown. "Ra doesn't have any magic. He couldn't have done this."
"Look at the source of the damage, my lord. You'll find it's one of his scanners that you let him sink into the stronghold like a cancer," Garett said.
Mica's frown deepened as he turned his head toward the stronghold and held a glowing hand out that sent copper power sheeting across the broken earth.
"He's right. The rift came from your sensor," Mica said, turning to him.
Ra's mouth dropped open, but before he could defend himself, Wren chimed in. Of course.
"Our spies recently gave me footage of Ra meeting with a vampyr leader in the Tree City several days ago. I was waiting until we'd completed this working to bring it to your attention. I apologise, my lord. If I'd realised how dangerous he was I would've acted sooner," Wren said, handing Mica a tablet that presumably contained the footage.
Mica turned to him with hurt in his eyes.
"It's not what you think. He was there helping Kaia," Ra said.
"So, why didn't you tell me?" Mica asked.
"Because you wouldn't have believed it was innocent!"
"Perhaps we could get to the bottom of this if Ra provided access to his message records so we could see what was communicated," Lachlan offered, voice falsely conciliatory.
Ra glared at the elemental. "You know I can't do that. It has all my Soul Court contacts in it."
"So you admit you're still working for a rival court then?" Lachlan asked.
Fuck. He'd been well and truly screwed over. He should've guessed Wren would be planning something.
"Mica, come on. You know I wouldn't do this. What benefit do I get from a random hole in the ground?" he said, waving at the chasm.
"It extends all the way into Lady Nerida's territory. We'll be lucky if she doesn't see the damage as an act of war," Mica said, voice tight.
Ra turned to Garett and Wren, incredulous. "Really? You hated me so much you would risk starting a war over it? What the fuck were you thinking? You need to fix this."
A flicker of uncertainty showed in Garett's face, but it was quickly squashed. Maybe they hadn't meant things to go this far, but it was too late for him to own up to whatever they'd done to cause this now without facing severe repercussions. Wren, on the other hand, didn't look the slightest bit regretful.
"My lord, you need to act decisively to show what happens when someone betrays you," Wren said.
Turning to Mica, Ra watched him with concern. Not for himself, but for the strain he could feel his mate was under trying to stabilise the extensive rift in the landscape while keeping the stronghold from panicking and dealing with this insidious crap from his people. The Earth Lord throbbed with raw power as he tried to contain the worst of the damage this plan had set in motion.
"Ask Earthshine what happened. It will tell you this wasn't me," Ra said, striving to stay calm so Mica wouldn't think his fear came from guilt.
"The stronghold is incoherent right now, Ra," Elysia explained quietly when Mica didn't immediately reply.
"Let me deal with him for you while you focus on what matters," Garett said to Mica, and Ra's eyes narrowed as he felt the collar around his neck grow hot like it was responding to a magical attack against him.
Mica was staring at him like he was a stranger, but before he could say anything more, a rumbling scream like the earth had found a voice echoed in the air and broken hunks of molten rock started flying from the chasm, pelting around them like burning hail. Wren and Garett cowered under the worst of it, the head mage quickly shifting his focus to shielding himself instead of whatever the collar had blocked him from doing to Ra with his magic.
"The stronghold is protecting you," Elysia said, vines of greenery extending from their hands to shelter them and Mica from the ricocheting missiles.
"Because I didn't do anything to hurt it," Ra snapped, voice pleading for Mica to understand as the Earth Lord stood there, still silent.
The falling rocks continued to multiply, growing so numerous that he lost sight of Mica, Elysia, and everyone else, but not a single one hit him. However panicked Earthshine was, it was still being careful not to harm him. What the fuck was he going to do?
Scanning his surroundings, he noticed there was a clear passageway deeper into the jungle, away from the elementals threatening him. It wasn't in his nature to run when he'd done nothing wrong, but, in this case, removing himself from the situation might be the only way to get the stronghold to calm down so Mica could deal with the international incident and keep his people safe. Also, he wasn't sure he could face seeing the look of betrayal on Mica's face for a single second longer. He needed space.
Turning his back on the man who held his breaking heart in his hands, he jogged through the swirling blizzard of rock. Once he'd started running, he couldn't stop, because if he stopped he'd have to face just how much this hurt. He kept running even after he passed the edges of the stronghold's awareness and the chaos of magic around him gave way to eerily quiet jungle. Kept running until his lungs ached and his legs were shaking with fatigue. Until darkness fell and he couldn't go any further without tripping and doing Garett's job for him.
When he finally stumbled to a halt, he had no idea where he was. Grassy plains stretched to his right in a landscape riven with volcanic boulders. Putting his hands on his knees, he fought to catch his breath.
"I love it when my prey runs itself to ground."
It took him longer than it should to place the female voice speaking from the shadows but in his defence, the only time he'd heard it before she'd been screaming for vengeance against him—Lucia, the sister of the elemental he'd killed.