8. Mica

Chapter 8

Mica

Every day Ra spent in Mica's home eroded a little more of his disdain for the man and he hated it. It didn't matter that he was so caring for his niece. It didn't matter that he was so dedicated in his efforts to help diagnose the stronghold's problems. It didn't matter that he left a string of smiles on his courtiers' faces as he passed. None of that could undo the unforgivable betrayal in their past.

Despite that, despite everything that was wrong between them, every time they interacted he lost all control, either of his emotions or his body. Either one was infuriating and combined it was a recipe for disaster. When Ra cocked his head in challenge at him, it reminded him of all the times he'd done the same on their video calls before things went wrong. When he'd befriended Elysia within moments of meeting them, it reminded Mica of all the reasons he'd fallen for the man in the first place—his warmth, the charisma that hid a razor-sharp strategic mind worthy of any elemental courtier. Ra could've been the perfect complement to him if only he wasn't human with all the weakness and limited lifespan that entailed. If only he hadn't sworn his admirable loyalty to another court long before they'd ever met. If only he hadn't held Mica's heart in his hands and slowly crushed it right before his eyes.

That was the litany he forced himself to run through his mind the next night as he found himself forced into proximity with the man again. He'd spent the day in the neighbouring region checking up on the elemental who ran things there and had been caught out in another disturbance from the sentience while he was there. One that had caused a landslide in an area they'd been considering extending a settlement into. The chaos of the fracturing ley line in the area had upset the local wildlife and by the time he'd helped Lachlan repair the damaged earth and calm the winged carnivorous monkeys that threatened to swarm down onto the livestock in the area, his suit was ripped and covered in dirt and his hair was a tangled mess. More and more of his time and energy were being sunk into problems like this, and the more distracted he became with that, the more freedom the ambitious members of his court had to cause trouble.

Swearing under his breath at his ridiculousness for sneaking into his own home, he'd done his best to get in and out of his rooms to shower and change without running into the human he couldn't trust himself to be near. To no avail.

Ra was leaning against the breakfast bar with his arms crossed and the achingly beautiful lines of his body on full display in his tight jeans and t-shirt when he re-emerged.

"This is a surprise. To what do I owe the ‘pleasure' of your company?" Ra said before he had a chance to stride past him.

"I'm not your damn guest. These are my rooms," Mica muttered.

"Really? Could've fooled me. You're barely here. Are you even sleeping in your bed?" Ra said.

Before Mica could reply, a silent scream filled his mind and he jerked his head to the east as if he could see through the stronghold's walls to whatever had set it off.

What's wrong? he asked the sentience, already grabbing his phone from his pocket so he could get a report from his staff.

It rang before he could make the call and the name made his heart stop for a moment. With the stronghold almost catatonic in panic and Serena calling him, there was only one likely cause—Kaia.

"Where is she and what happened?" he asked as he answered the phone.

Ra must've sensed something from him because he snatched the phone from his grip and put it on speaker before grabbing his hand to drag him toward the exit.

"She's in Kim's room stuck in a flashback. I have the power blast contained but I'm going to have to knock her out if she can't stop projecting or she'll burn out," Serena said.

"We're on our way."

"I thought the stronghold was supposed to prevent this from happening," Ra growled as they ran through the tunnels towards the trainee quarters.

Barely slowing, Mica swept him up into his arms so they could move faster.

"It's too attached to her. To you both. It's panicking. Serena mentioned they were becoming co-dependent."

Mica was too busy trying to stabilise the dozen tiny rockfalls the stronghold was causing in the caves and keep the damage from spreading any further afield to speak further as they rushed through the tunnels. They were silent until they reached the door Serena was standing in front of. The copper of her magic glittered in a sphere that disappeared into the walls as she surrounded the bedroom with her magic to shield them all from the blast of Kaia's power.

Putting Ra down at the entryway, Mica reached out with a touch of his own magic to turn Serena's barrier transparent. What he saw there made him blanche and then rage, both his own anger and the sensation of Ra's down their connection burning through him. Kaia was slumped unconscious on the floor and disturbing images flashed from every wall, floor, and ceiling as the stronghold channelled the girl's nightmares into a visual spectacle.

"Let me in there," Ra said, voice clipped and desperate.

"I got Kim out when I first arrived but Kaia's not responding and her magic will burn you to a crisp if you try to touch her," Serena said.

Resting his hand on the nape of Ra's neck where his collar sat, Mica let his power extend from the mineral ringing his throat across every inch of Ra's body.

"He'll be fine now. Let us through," Mica said.

Serena's eyes widened in surprise at the level of protection he'd placed on the human, but she didn't waste any more time. Mica strode through the barrier as soon as he sensed it change, Ra close on his heels.

He'd realised the ward was blocking sound from escaping the room, but nothing could prepare him for the effect of stepping into the tiny room and hearing the echo of Kaia's voice ringing in the space as the memory of her torment played out in high magical definition on every rock surface surrounding them. The stronghold was just as trapped in her nightmares as she was.

" No! Please! It hurts so much. It's too much. Caelus, please stop. I can't…"

He thought there would be nothing more heart-breaking than that slow weakening of Kaia's voice until it was barely audible. He was wrong. The next second, agonised screams rocked through the air around them as they were surrounded by a view of the rock cell she'd been kept in when she was kidnapped by the Air Court and the anathema device that had been connected to her to drain her young body of magic.

The view was from Kaia's perspective, the chains holding her to the wall stretching up from her too-thin bruised wrists as the looming figure of Caelus, one of the Air Court's previous senior courtiers, leaned over her to adjust something. It was horrifying. And, even worse, he knew that in the chaos of what had followed Kaia's recovery, Caelus had never been held accountable. He suspected the second-in-command to the previous Air Lady had been trying to use Kaia's power to boost his own so he could take over if she died but, thankfully, Bastion and Ra had saved the girl before he could complete the transfer. Caelus had disappeared somewhere in the American Continents before the council could summon him to account for his crimes.

Ra had all but flown to Kaia's side when they'd entered, pulling the girl into his arms and rocking her as he tried to wake her. "K-bear. Sweetheart. It's over. You're in Kim's room in the Earth Stronghold. Feel the limestone under your fingers? Smell Mica's magic on me? You're safe here. I've got you. No one is ever going to hurt you like that again."

The human kept up a constant stream of soft reassurance as Mica reached out to the section of the stronghold's sentience present here in the room and did the same thing, gentling it with his mind.

She needs you calm. Anchor her to the present, don't chain her to the past , he told it.

The sentience responded with horror at the suggestion it was chaining her like Caelus had. No chains. Helping , it said. At least it was talking now.

How are you helping? Mica asked, confused.

Her magic isn't blocked anymore.

Distracted by their conversation, the images and sounds had faded from the room and Mica heard a quiet moan as Kaia shifted in Ra's arms and the constant blast of the girl's magic suddenly cut off.

"Oh thank the Earths you're awake, baby girl. You scared me," Ra said.

"I'm okay," she croaked. Ra just held her tighter.

Serena's ward dropped and the woman stepped into the room, making it a very tight squeeze between the four bodies and three sets of wings in the small space. Standing up, Ra carried the girl out into the communal space and Mica went to make them all a calming tea and call for dinner to be brought to them. He didn't think any of them could face a crowded dining hall after the evening's events. As he waited for the tea to steep, he stepped away to check in with his scouts and deal with the new damage to the stronghold. Thankfully, none of the minor collapses had been in inhabited areas.

Kaia was curled up in the corner of a couch when he returned, Ra sitting nearby with a reassuring arm around her.

"What happened Kaia?" Serena asked as Mica passed the drinks around.

"I connected to the stronghold the first day we were here, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't purposefully channel my magic, even though I've done it so many times before," Kaia said, frustration in her voice despite the trauma she'd just been through.

"We talked about that. It takes some elementals months to master. You've barely been here a week. You are doing just fine," Serena said.

"But Kim and Jasper are so far ahead of me and I'm just useless ," Kaia said.

"There is nothing useless about you, K-bear. You've saved Bast and Hel more than once with your magic," Ra said.

Mica had heard of the times Kaia had escaped safekeeping and put herself in danger to help defend their city. It was impressive for one so young. It was also part of why she'd needed training so urgently.

"But that's just it! I should be able to do this already!" Kaia shouted.

Mica sighed. They should have anticipated the impatience of youth. "What did you do, Kaia?"

Ra glared at him. "Don't blame her for her trauma! It's not her fault?—"

"No, he's right, Uncle. I did do something," Kaia interrupted softly.

Mica just waited patiently, knowing the girl would come out with it in her own time. She was a responsible child and she'd had to grow up too fast in her captivity. She knew she needed their help.

"I was talking to Kim and we realised that all the times I'd channelled my power since … you know … I had been under threat and I was really, really afraid. Serena had told us about visualisation and how magic can react to our emotional state, so we thought if I maybe imagined myself back in a stressful situation like that, it might let me channel my magic again. So, I meditated like we've been learning and focused on trying to feel the most frightened I could," Kaia explained.

"Oh, you poor child. You didn't need to do that to yourself," Serena said.

"It worked, didn't it?" Kaia snapped back, her jaw thrust forward in challenge.

"And how much control did you have?" Serena asked, voice still patient.

Kaia looked away.

"The purpose behind the meditation and acknowledging our emotions is to find a place of calm so we control our power instead of the other way around," Serena gently explained.

"But it's not working!"

"And so long as you continue to believe that, you will continue to fail," Serena said.

Kaia's face fell and tears glistened in her eyes at her teacher's words.

"I believe in you. I would not have let you come here if I didn't. You will master this, but there is no shortcut," Mica said, infusing as much confidence as he could in his words. Sometimes, the young just needed to know there was someone in their corner. Ra was watching him with an inscrutable expression.

"I miss home. I miss my māmā," Kaia said. And that was the crux of it. The reason she'd been so desperate to sprint to a finish line that didn't exist. Controlling and wielding the kind of power they did was something you worked on for an immortal lifetime.

Ra pulled the girl back into his lap, carefully rearranging her wings, and nestled her head under his chin. The move filled Mica with an unwelcome ache of longing.

"Shall we call Ana so you can talk to her about all this?" Ra asked, a teasing note in his voice.

Kaia flinched. "Don't even joke about that! She'd be so mad at me."

"Nah, sweetheart. She'd be so worried for you," Ra corrected.

"I don't want to make her sad again," she whispered.

"You didn't make her sad. The world did. But if you don't want her to be sad again, you need to let Serena help you stay safe."

"I will. I promise," Kaia said.

"Excellent! Must be time for dinner, then," Serena said, jumping up to grab the cart of food the two had been oblivious to.

"Serena?" Kaia called, waiting until the woman looked over to continue. "I'm sorry I didn't talk to you."

"That's okay, child. You will next time," she said.

Mica stuck around throughout dinner and the movie Ra put on afterward, grabbing one of the spare computers so he could sit at the dining table and communicate with his people to smooth the remaining chaos the stronghold's panic had caused. He could've left them to it. His power was no longer required. But something about the little found family giving each other comfort held him there. The soft laughter coming from the couch was a soothing backing track as he closed his eyes and sunk his consciousness into the sentience surrounding them so he could direct the engineers to areas where their magic would help stabilise the caves. The stronghold was quiet but clingy in the back of his mind, constantly seeking out his reassurance.

"You coming to bed?" Ra asked, just as he finished coaching the stronghold through absorbing the last of the tell-tale rubble from its tunnels.

Mica's eyes flew open as a spear of need shot through him at the words. He glared at Ra for being the catalyst of yet another betrayal by his body.

"Fuck's sake. I didn't mean it like that . You look exhausted. Let's go," Ra said, jerking his head toward the exit.

It must've been later than he'd realised because the tunnels were empty as they made their way back to his wing of the caves. Without asking, Ra poured them both a glass of whiskey when they arrived and then stepped onto the balcony to stare out into the darkness of the jungle as if it might contain the answers to Kaia's pain. The humid night pressed close around them and the sounds of wildlife in the distance faded from his awareness as he focused in on the picture Ra made there—shoulders hunched and tense, feet spread as if he was poised to take off running again at a moment's notice.

Dammit. He shouldn't care what the man was feeling. Shouldn't want to wrap him in his wings to block the world away until he'd had a chance to rest. Not trusting himself to step closer, he leaned against the cave wall behind him.

"I will destroy Caelus," Mica promised. The horror of watching Caelus' exploitation and torture of Kaia hadn't left him for a single moment since they'd born witness to it.

"Not if I kill him first," Ra replied.

Mica clenched his jaw in frustration, taking a sip of his whiskey before he started yet another argument with the man. This is exactly why they could never be together. Ra thought he was invulnerable because he'd survived at Bastion's side for so long, but the truth was that the Soul Court was so distant that he'd never faced a fraction of what the other courts were capable of. Mica was all too painfully aware of just how poisonous a viper Ra could be in the political arena, but all the traitorous schemes in the world couldn't protect him from a magical strike he would never see coming.

"He's too powerful and you have no magic to defend yourself. I will take care of it," Mica said.

"Fuck you. I bet I can kill him before you even get close," Ra snapped, turning toward him with fire in his eyes.

Mica smirked and shook his head. "You'd lose that bet." Instantly, he regretted the words. He'd only cemented the determination he could in Ra's storm-grey eyes.

"Fine. What are the stakes?" Ra growled.

"I'm not doing this with you. You are not to go after him," Mica said.

"I'm not one of your people to order around!"

"That's exactly what you are. What you agreed to," Mica growled, even though he knew better than to give an order that wouldn't be followed. Ra cared too much for Kaia to leave this in the hands of someone else.

"You and I both know how this is going down. Or are you too scared of losing and having to pay up?" Ra taunted.

This was ridiculous. What did he care if Ra got himself killed? Ignoring the sudden nausea at that thought and the spiky ball of anger in the back of his mind that was the stronghold, he set his terms. "Fine. If I kill him first, you tell me your real name."

Ra looked almost sheepish for a moment. "Seriously? Can't you pick something more arrogant and rulerish?"

The man had always been cagey about his name even after they'd had a hundred late-night phone calls where they'd talked about everything from their childhoods to their worst dates. He knew the story of how Ra came by his nickname. It was a shortening of some sort. Like how Ra called Bastion, Bast. Ra had joked that their nicknames shared an old human pantheon—deities of the Sun and Protection. He'd mentioned the word rā meant sun in the Māori language as well, which is why little Kaia called him Uncle Sunshine. The name suited him and his irreverent brightness. Ra had never given a hint of what the name he was born with was, other than to say it was one more reason he hated his estranged parents who'd died shortly after the first melding.

"No. If you insist on this foolishness, you can pay the consequences," Mica said.

Ra glared at him. "Fine. And when I win, you owe me a kiss. A proper one."

Mica's eyes widened in surprise and flicked down to Ra's lips despite himself. He swallowed back a groan as Ra's tongue flicked out to lick them. The man knew exactly what he was doing, too. Damn him.

"Done," Mica said, his voice dropping lower as he fought to keep control of himself.

It was all he could do not to haul the man into his arms when they shook on it, so he retreated from the balcony as soon as he lost the warmth of his hand against his own.

"Oh, and Ra?" he said, turning back with his hand on the door to his private rooms.

"What?"

"You are not to leave my sight when we visit the Air Court for Daria's ascension."

Ra's curses had him smiling. The human knew there was only so far he could push him and disappearing when he was Mica's plus-one at an official function would be over the line.

Good luck winning that bet when he couldn't leave Mica's side.