20. LAMPLIT

twenty

LAMPLIT

L ucetta chased the deep yellow of runny yolk across her plate with a piece of toast. "Remind me to never doubt you again."

How wrong she'd been, thinking they didn't need Hennessey. But enjoying a hearty breakfast was not something they would've been able to indulge in without the Fae, and it had taken her an embarrassingly long time to realise this.

Maji smiled around her glass of orange juice. Freshly squeezed, its citrusy aroma spread wide. "I will."

Although one thing Lucetta planned on changing was sharing a room with the Fae and their Ursidae. The bears snored, loudly . Nonstop. She felt weary just remembering the racket, the way she'd tossed and turned with no hope of tuning it out, all while catching glimpses of Hennessey by the large window. They'd stood there looking out until dawn.

Furtively, Lucetta glanced at them. Hennessey was across from her, leaning back with one long leg draped over the other, idle and seemingly unperturbed while watching everyone else stuff their faces, touching none of the food themselves.

"Don't you eat?" blurted Oliver, asking the very same question Lucetta had itched to.

"Not this pig slop," they replied, bored.

"Oh yeah, you only eat plants." Oliver, sitting between Hennessey and Tau, speared a sausage with his fork and took a large, deliberate bite, squirting grease past his lips.

"Sentinel Tau says to behave yourself. You're embarrassing Them." Hennessey's thin lips peeled back with a nasty smile at Oliver's shock.

"He didn't!"

"They're just provoking you," said Lucetta, unabashed in her own amusement. Oliver was so easy to rile up.

Tau, for his part, entertained himself by producing diaphanous spheres between his claws. Shimmering like crushed emeralds, sometimes they fizzled out, or the spheres popped like soapy bubbles, sending sparks to singe the blue chequered tablecloth. They bore a resemblance to the barriers Tau used to keep miners out of certain areas within the mountain. Treacherously beautiful, incredibly painful.

Being too wide to sit with them, Ed and Fred were at another table in the furthest corner of the spacious room. As much as Lucetta liked the two, the way they devoured their breakfast of raw fish and berries was nauseating to watch. Red juice and salmon flakes coated their snouts, naked claws, and everything else within the vicinity.

She turned her focus to Benjamin beside her, then to her brother between him and Hennessey. Both men subdued, although Lucetta was glad to see Benjamin eating, even if he did so tentatively. Tension remained obturate in his posture. It had since they found Samuel, walking down the road toward Plainwall.

Both Benjamin and Maji had welcomed his change of heart, but Lucetta felt the clench of suspicion every time she let herself think about it. Unlike her friends, she knew Samuel had an ulterior motive. He always did. And that motive was usually him and his own well being, everyone else be damned.

What had he been doing, coming from the mine, anyway? Lucetta was sure he left before Benjamin had. There was only one road, not a chance they could've walked by each other without seeing. And regardless of what she thought of her brother, no matter how much she despised him, she knew Samuel wasn't stupid enough to take a shortcut through the forest.

So where exactly had he been hiding?

"It's Sentinel Iota who's next, right?" asked Maji, leaning back with a strained groan and patting her belly. "I think I ate too much."

"Dekatria Mine. That's a long trip." Lucetta took the abandoned toast slice from Maji's plate and buttered it for herself. "Hand me the berry jam?"

Sated from one of the best breakfasts Lucetta had in ages, they were back to driving along a countryside route. Trees blurred past, grass fields were smooth seas of green, and dew-laced wind speckled her hair as she leant her elbow out the window to rest her head in a hand. Idly, she listened to Oliver prattle on about how Tau shouldn't be left out there on his own, that he would have been fine sitting in his lap.

She felt for both. It did seem harsh they made Tau sit out on the back even though it was him doing all the work in recruiting the Sentinels. All in the faint hope of putting a stop to the Elders and their Proxies. It didn't feel right Tau had to do everything, although Lucetta wasn't sure how they could contribute. They were likely only slowing him down, when the Sentinel could move faster than she could think.

Oliver, however, refused to leave Tau's side and Lucetta—as well as Maji—would never leave Oliver's. Should they come across anything else as horrific as Malimoure, she'd be damned if she let her friends, including Tau, suffer on their own. Lucetta desperately hoped there was nothing else of the sort waiting for them, but instinct told her this was far from over.

With her thumb and pointer finger, Lucetta pinched the bridge of her nose. As if that would stem the trickle of harrowing things remembered. She had worked hard to build a blockade, but nightmares remained a regular occurrence anytime Tau's fireflies were nowhere in sight.

She cast her gaze to the maroon vehicle ahead, mind wandering to Samuel again.

He'd told her he had a good reason, to just trust him when she demanded to know what had changed his mind. Lucetta didn't trust him any further than she could throw him. Although, if she were to throw him off a cliff, then that would be pretty damn far.

A shake of her head cleared that thought.

"Thanks for agreeing to help us on such short notice," she said without sincerity, regarding Hennessey driving beside her. They were providing the black marketeer with valuable magic, and the Fae was likely getting the better end of the deal.

"Anything for Sentinel Tau," said Hennessey.

She highly doubted that. "What did you do in Malimoure? Obviously, you never went through the barrier."

"I saw you three disappear and knew better than to pursue. The magic there was a touch too foul for me."

"Did you know what it was before we got there?"

Hennessey gave her a sideways look, measuring. "I did not."

Again, Lucetta doubted it. The Fae had to be well informed, dwelling within underground circles that would surely make them privy to whispered information. Then again, when she and Maji had told them what was going on, Hennessey seemed surprised.

"What do you make of it all, then?" she asked.

"Which part? The one where they use humans to extract magic, and the Sentinels to sort the things they don't want? Or the part where they dump their old and broken toys back into this realm?"

"Ow, Ollie! Stop ," cried Maji. One look over her shoulder told Lucetta that he had, once again, turned in his seat to check on Tau.

"Both," said Lucetta.

"The first is brilliantly conceptualised, the second so short sighted it should be a crime." Hennessey's sideways glance lingered. "Almost as if two different parties are involved."

Taken aback, Lucetta didn't know how to respond. That possibility hadn't occurred to her.

"Sounds like you know more than we do." If she thought Hennessey would divulge anything else though, they didn't, only kept their steely green eyes on the road.

"I need to tinkle," groaned Ed. "And stretch my little legs."

Lucetta stirred off the window. The automobile's vibrations had lulled her into a doze. She stole a swift look at Hennessey's fancy wristwatch. They'd been on the road for five hours. Behind her, Ed groaned a second time.

"Oh, very well." Hennessey clicked their tongue, flashed the vehicle in front of them with the headlights, then pulled to the side of the road, jostling everyone in their seats.

Dark grey skies overlooked vibrant grassy fields, undulating silver under a strong wind pulling through the hills. Ed and Fred hobbled toward each other in a rush, as though they had been apart for years, then stopped to arch their backs and stretch their arms in perfect synchrony. Lucetta followed suit, clenching her teeth against the stiffness in her knees. A problem Oliver clearly didn't share, scrambling out of the car like a pop-out toy to be with Tau.

"Oi, is that a rabbit?"

Naked round ears twitched and wet noses snorted, then Ed and Fred shot off. Up the hill, clanging armour echoing as they charged after a brown blur flitting through grass. Lucetta might have felt bad for it, but the two Ursidae weren't exactly quick.

Maji joined her side, and while Lucetta's gaze had drifted to those rosy round cheeks, it caught on Tau and Oliver climbing up the hill, clearly trying to get away. Her smirk dropped at the sight of Benjamin and Samuel going after them.

"What the hell?"

"What?" Maji straightened up from touching her toes.

"Have you noticed how those two have been following Ollie and Tau around, pretty much everywhere ?"

"I did think it was weird when they asked us to switch rooms. It's never happening again, though."

Lucetta huffed. "You're telling me." She leaned in, whispering, "I swear Hennessey was awake all night, staring out the window."

Tau's towering frame climbed back into view at the hill's crest with Oliver at his side. Behind them, Benjamin and Samuel. Ire stirred deep within Lucetta, and she stalked toward the pair. She offered a smile to the glum-looking Oliver, while delivering a greeting to Samuel's shoulder by way of a closed fist.

"Luce," said Samuel mildly, rubbing his abused arm.

"A word." Refusing to give him an option, she grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled. Not until they were out of earshot did she let go. "What's wrong with you two? Why can't you leave them alone for ten minutes?"

Samuel schooled his expression into one of neutrality, and by Sentinels, it was a expression she had come to loathe .

"What do you mean?"

"We're only making sure they're alright." Benjamin looked over his shoulder at Tau and Oliver, now by the automobile.

"You need to let them have some privacy if you want them to be okay! What the hell has gotten into you?"

Samuel shrugged. "We don't trust Tau."

Lucetta's anger chiselled into rage. "You do realise that it's Tau doing all the work here, right? We're just slowing him from doing something you both want, something that could finish him off for good! Why the swiving hell can't you crawl out of his backside and let him get up Ollie's?"

"Don't be crass," Samuel admonished.

"We have our reasons." Benjamin once again glanced over his shoulder. "If you knew what we do, you'd understand."

"Why don't you tell me then, instead of huddling together like a pair of gossiping goats!"

"We'll tell you when the time comes. Right now, we need to focus on our goal."

Samuel walked off. Leaving Lucetta to glare at Benjamin, who at least had the decency to look sheepish.

"Come on, Ben. Leave them alone. Don't you think you owe him that much? Don't you think he deserves a bit of happiness?"

"He'll never get happiness if he stays with Tau."

The coldness of the words didn't match Benjamin's tone, heavy with defeat. Lucetta watched him follow Samuel, then shifted her attention to Tau and Oliver, who were taking what they could from each other. More of those one-sided kisses. It was weird, but if it brought either of them some semblance of happiness, she wasn't about to resent them for it.

Unlike those two.

Maji approached with a questioning look. "Everything okay? You look like you're going to explode."

"Those two are up to something," said Lucetta.

"Hurry along!" called Hennessey.

Like well-trained dogs, Ed and Fred came barrelling down a grassy hill, a very dead rabbit in Fred's naked claws. They looked pleased with themselves, flashing yellowed teeth.

"It's not easy, you know," huffed Ed.

"All that armour's bogging us down," puffed Fred.

"You're supposed to be warriors, at least pretend you have the stamina," said Hennessey. "Now throw that away, you're not taking it with you."

"Aw!" they chorused, but did as told and tossed the poor rabbit into the grass.

"Well, that died for nothing," said Lucetta, much to the outraged cries of the two bears.

"Now I'm going to feel bad!" bellowed Ed.

"Yeah! Why'd you have to go and say that?" added Fred.

Gliding back to the driver's seat, Hennessey said, "Something that's entirely on your conscience, no one else's."

Lucetta approached Tau, curled over Oliver against the automobile, and tapped a muscular arm. Tau turned his head to look at her, the large collars of his robe obscuring part of his mask. While there was nothing to suggest it, Lucetta rather felt like he was glaring at her.

"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to suggest that I sit at the back this time. We can squeeze Ed into the front and you can sit with Ollie, alright?"

Oliver's face lit up so much, it was worth the risk that came with her suggestion. She returned his smile. She blinked as Tau set his claw atop her head, briefly, and patted. Was he being patronising?

Then, he moved away, rounding the automobile and positioning himself on the back of it. Oliver's smile dropped.

"Sorry," murmured Lucetta.

"No, he's right. It's not exactly safe for us, is it?"

He looked so crestfallen, climbing into the vehicle after Ed, it reignited Lucetta's fury with Samuel. She sent a withering glare his way, not that Samuel caught it.

A further six hours before they reached the Noble Stoat Steppes, where the winds were formidable and grasslands never ending. The Dekatria Mine housed its workers above ground, their dwellings reminiscent of wooden turrets. A village of identical rounded structures encased in a night more brightly lit by stars than the Tesera mountains. Lambent, citrine-coloured spheres stippled the grass as far as the horizon—dandelions, scattering luminescent seeds with every powerful gust.

"I would love to have these," Maji lilted.

Although tempted to pluck one, Lucetta drew a hard line at touching the magic of unknown Sentinels.

Hennessey and the Ursidae opted to stay behind, while Tau walked ahead to the mine's entrance up the incline. Since hopping off the automobile, he'd been conjuring more of the diaphanous spheres between open palms, as if trying to get the hang of it. Lucetta turned a questioning look to Oliver, who answered with a faint shrug as he walked alongside her and Maji. Tau appeared to be in such a rush, they didn't have much hope of keeping up with him.

Sentinel magic strummed the air, the gales building the nearer they drew to the arched entrance leading into a low hill. Lucetta was sure the wind had more to do with Sentinel Iota than nature.

Tau came to a stop by the adit, one clawed sabaton on either side of tracks. Whether he was waiting for them or something else, Lucetta wasn't so sure.

"We better stay here," she said once reaching the last row of rounded dwellings.

Everyone other than Oliver did as suggested. The moment he reached Tau, the Sentinel walked inside. He must have been waiting for Oliver, specifically. With a huff lost to the wind, Lucetta regarded Benjamin and Samuel behind her, intending to push for answers.

A particularly powerful gust, followed by Oliver yelling, blustered past. The old wood of nearby structures rattled. Maji turned her back against the onslaught and was sent crashing into Samuel. Lucetta dug her heels into the gravel to keep from being pushed over, then caught sight of Oliver rolling out the adit like a human tumbleweed, a tenacious wind around him in particular. Sending him down the path, and debris up into the air.

Lucetta laboured forward. She reached out to catch him, only for Oliver to bowl her over. Sharp stones dug into Lucetta's back. She coughed and swore, then pushed Oliver off her abdomen. He flopped into her lap and she wrapped her arms around him to shield his face.

"It's after me!" he cried as a vortex built around them.

Wind lashed, rubble sliced skin and clothes. Dust drew into her nose with every inhale. Lucetta ducked into Oliver, covering his eyes with a hand just as he curled his arm around her head to shield it. Winds pummelled from all angles, there was nowhere to escape—

An abrupt silence settled over them.

Rather, within the dome. The vortex still raged beyond the peculiar green sphere Tau had been working on, now large enough to shield both Lucetta and Oliver.

She palmed her dust-burned eyes, squinting upward. Through the shimmering emerald, a hazy spectre stood atop the mine's entrance. Sentinel Iota, Their speckled white cape like moth wings and furry antennae protruding from a large hood fluttered in the gales. Shadows hid Iota's face but for rounded eyes, glowing yellow.

And below by the tracks was Tau, exuding displeasure.

Vivid spheres sprang from his palms. Flung skyward. Sending Iota's image scattering into the air. They reappeared at the foothill, moth-like cape swaying. Blinked out of existence. Back again, further away. Tau flitted across the grass in pursuit, appearing here, there—impossible to track, chasing Iota along the expanse and taking the gales with him. Flashes of green and white lights the only telltale signs of where both Sentinels had gone.

Oliver groaned, relinquishing his firm grip around Lucetta's head.

"You okay?" She stroked around his abraded cheek.

"Ugh, yeah. Thanks for catching me." He rolled off, crawling on his knees before managing to stand upright. The barrier surrounding them moved up with him, and Lucetta couldn't help but be impressed.

"I think Tau was working on this for you."

"I think so too." Oliver was banged up, his lip split, and there were dashes of red all over his face, but his smile dazzled as he held out his hand. Since they were both the same height, Lucetta didn't need to worry about singeing the top of her head.

"Just one question," she dusted off her backside, "Why is Iota attacking?"

"No idea." Oliver looked toward the flashes of light. "Mu did the same. I almost drowned."

Lucetta's eyebrows shot up in askance.

"That was overwhelming!" Maji came sprinting, stopping short of touching the barrier. She had better sense than Lucetta, clearly.

She opened her mouth to continue, but winced and covered her head at a distant vivid flash rippling through the air. Its advancing waves brought an onslaught of debris and flurries of dandelion seeds. Then the winds died down, and so did the barrier. Not a second later, Tau appeared beside Oliver, standing stoic and silent as ever.

"Success?" Lucetta ventured.

Tau's knuckles dusted across her forehead, the faint touch alleviating the stinging in her eyes and any cuts she must have earned. No sooner had Lucetta's injuries healed than Tau turned his focus on Oliver.

She suppressed her amusement, then held out a hand for a flustered Maji to take. "What do you say we go for a stroll?"

Maji spluttered against the seeds clinging to her lips, but slipped her fingers into Lucetta's waiting hold. "Okay."

Leaving the others, they ambled back to the automobiles, hand in hand. It was nice.

Hennessey was alone in the vehicle, eyes closed and legs up on the front passenger seat, arms folded behind the head.

"Where are Ed and Fred?" asked Maji.

"They smelled something." Hennessey didn't bother opening their eyes.

"Why are they after Ollie?" Lucetta demanded.

"Sorry, who?"

"Oh, come on."

Hennessey smirked, finally bothering to look at her. "Why would Sentinels be after the bantam?"

"That's what I'm asking you! Blessed Sentinels. Mu tried to drown him and Iota tried to suffocate him. Tau seems to know it. He's been working on a barrier to keep him safe. Why?"

"What makes you think it's him they're after?" The Fae languidly stretched with the faintest of groans. "Did it not occur to you that perhaps they're out for Sentinel Tau's blood, but the only way they can hurt Them is to go after the creature? I assure you that by now, it's common knowledge among them that Sentinel Tau has got Themselves a plaything."

Lucetta mulled on that.

While every miner liked to boast their Sentinel was the best, it was no secret Tau had powers well beyond any of his kind. Of course, that begged the question of why he was so much stronger than the others, and what in particular made him so. At least Lucetta could assume that if any of the other Sentinels knew about Oliver, then they would have caught wind of Tau opening the door to their homeworld for Emergence to invade.

"Right," she said at length, undeterred by Hennessey's eyes, again closed. "Well, we're going to walk around for a bit."

"Take your time, I'm resting."

"And make no mistake," Lucetta added, "Tau adores Oliver. Don't call him a plaything again."

"Whatever you say."

With a lingering scowl, she walked back uphill with Maji beside her. Miners had emerged from their towers to investigate, no doubt having heard the commotion. Lucetta veered off the path and through the ankle-high grass. Whatever Tau had done to Iota, They were nowhere to be seen, yet the dandelions remained.

Up ahead, Tau stood watching over Oliver, in hot pursuit of something with the Ursidae.

"There are weird, stretched mice here!" Oliver panted, skirting to a halt and frantically looking around. "I want one."

Maji's cheeks puffed with mirth. "Stretched mice?"

"There it is!" He pointed at a tiny brown critter scampering away, barely visible in the grass. Oliver gave chase, along with the two bears, sending more dandelion seeds scattering.

"I think that's a stoat." Maji snickered.

Walking up to Tau, Lucetta gently elbowed his forearm. "Hennessey said they're resting. I think that means we have time to kill."

He nodded, then resumed his careful watch over Oliver, still chasing a stoat he had no hope of catching. Lucetta led Maji up the gradual incline of a low hill, eventually settling down among fluffy, glowing spheres. The wind, though less tenacious, persisted, sending their hair aflutter. It wasn't uncomfortable, especially not once Maji laid down right beside her, close enough for their arms to touch while they stared up at wispy dark clouds skirting the sky.

"It's strange to think that if you never asked Ollie to join us, we wouldn't be here now," said Lucetta, toying with cool grass at her sides. "He'd be gallivanting with Tau and other people now."

"Or in jail. Or worse, he'd be dead," mused Maji. "You remember how hard we had to fight to keep him employed?"

Of course, Lucetta did. She'd fought the hardest, the loudest. To spite Samuel, mostly, but unlike her brother, Lucetta was familiar with curses and the toll they took. Dealing with her mother's curse of bloody visions for years, she hadn't needed to think twice about protecting Oliver. Not least of all, sending him away from Tau meant death for Oliver.

Lucetta made a noncommittal noise when a touch snaked around her fingers. Maji, still staring upward, was holding her hand. Hesitantly, but it was an initiative she'd never taken before.

"I don't really know how it would work," said Maji, hushed. "I've been thinking about what you said, but I just don't know."

"It's okay." Maji didn't have to say it for Lucetta to know that their relationship would never go past what it was. At best, she and Maji could share the occasional kiss, a warm embrace, and it would end there. Never providing the intimacy Lucetta craved. An intimacy Maji couldn't give her.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Looking at anything other than scintillating stars was difficult. "I'd rather have you as a friend than nothing."

Said plainly because it was true. But Sentinels, the pain ran deep into her heart. Lucetta had allowed herself to fall for someone completely unavailable and not heeded the warning signs until too late. Now, here she was, torn between begging Maji to reconsider, or letting it lie.

"What do you think you'll do after all this?" asked Maji.

So, she'd moved on, as clear an answer as any to what Lucetta had to do.

"Seems like we only just talked about that," she replied. Things hadn't been much better on the way to Idosburgh, but they were unquestionably worse now. Before Malimoure, Lucetta had the faint hope of life returning to normal after finding Benjamin. That was entirely out of reach now, too. "I'm not sure."

"I'm not ready to go home," said Maji. "But mining doesn't feel right anymore. It stopped feeling right after that Horror came through Onyx's portal."

Lucetta's face grew taut, aware Maji had chosen her words carefully. There was no doubt in Lucetta's mind that Maji still blamed herself for it. They couldn't say for certain that throwing a stone through the portal had provoked the Horror into entering their world. Wandering Horrors were quite capable of doing so all on their own, from what she'd seen. Something she had already said to Maji.

"If we get rid of the Proxies and Elders, then there's no place for Sentinels to transport Dire things to. So, if we keep mining, what happens to all those things? Will they be unleashed on us directly, or will Sentinels destroy it all?"

"I don't know."

No, Lucetta didn't think she would. She wondered if even Tau knew the answer to that. "And if a Sentinel dies, who will replace them?"

Sentinels lived for so much longer than humans, but their deaths weren't unheard of. Then what? People would become what she and Oliver had seen in Ondine's memory realm, suffering afflictions worse than death.

Tired feet whipped through grass. Oliver collapsed beside Lucetta with a groan, his frail chest rising and falling under heavy panting.

"Couldn't catch it," he rasped.

"I'm not surprised," said Maji with a laugh.

Equally unsurprising, Tau appearing within Lucetta's line of vision before he dropped down by Oliver, lying on his back with his limbs spread much like they were. Lambent clusters of seeds drifted around, bright against the midnight sky. Lucetta lifted her head at the sound of more footfalls, and suppressed a grunt of irritation at the sight of her brother and Benjamin. They joined without so much as a word.

"What were you talking about?" Oliver asked with a content sigh.

"What to do with ourselves after all this is done," said Lucetta.

Predictably, Oliver said, "Oh, I haven't really thought about that." He shrugged, his shoulder bumping Lucetta's. "Don't have anywhere to go. I guess it depends on where you go, Sunshine."

"To my village?" Maji sounded hopeful. "It's beautiful. I think you'd like it there, Tau. At least I wouldn't be going home empty-handed."

Oliver chuckled. "You went to mine for riches and came back with a Sentinel and a hanger-on."

"A Sentinel and his boyfriend," Lucetta gently corrected, and Oliver looked at her with another one of those endearing smiles. Too pure in its joy.

"I guess none of us got what we wanted out of mining, did we?" Maji mused.

"I got something way better out of it." Oliver shifted to press himself into Tau's side.

Lucetta scoffed. She sure as hell couldn't relate to that. She'd come to make Samuel answer for his crime and instead, he now lay in the grass nearby. Still selfish and still a liar.

Rising to her feet, she spluttered against seeds clinging to her lips, furiously wiping them away with the back of her hand. "Let's go back to Hennessey." As Oliver moved to sit up, she added, "You stay here. Take some time with Tau. Alone ."

Gratitude softened Oliver's face and Lucetta winked, knowing neither Samuel or Benjamin would be so blatant about their stalking that they'd insist on staying. Sure enough, the two got up and followed her and Maji down the hill. In a moment of daring, Lucetta swooped low and plucked a dandelion. Its hollow stem popped with ease, and she held it up with glee, only for the glow to fade, leaving nothing but an ordinary-looking weed.

"Shit," she muttered, watching the hairy seeds whip away into the wind.

Maji chuckled. "Oh well."

Once far enough Tau and Oliver were only obscure shadows, Lucetta whirled to glare at the two men.

"How about you tell us what's got you so riled up about Tau this time?"

"It's not a good idea," said Benjamin.

"They might as well know," said Samuel. "It's important everyone has all the facts."

Lucetta clicked her tongue. "Whatever it is, out with it."

"I'm confused," said Maji.

"Sam seems to think we shouldn't trust Tau. So go on, tell us. I'm done with your secretive bullshit."

Benjamin scowled Samuel into silence and said, "It's not the right time."

"How about this then? If you don't tell us, we're going to leave both of you behind. We can easily do this without you," Lucetta continued, intent on cutting the two to the bone. "The only reason Maji and I are tagging along is for moral support, because we're their friends. Real friends who don't push and bully Oliver into things. You're both worse than baggage, because you're entirely useless. In case you forgot, Ben, if it weren't for Tau, you would have died in Malimoure and Sam wouldn't be gracing us with his presence right now."

The hurt in Benjamin's face was almost satisfying, whereas Samuel remained his composed self. She wanted to sock him squarely in the jaw.

"Alright then, I'll tell you. Don't say you weren't warned." Samuel rolled his shoulders.

"Sammy…"

"You heard her," he turned to his husband, "we're not real friends, otherwise."

Lucetta crossed her arms over her chest and waited.