“Then I expect the same in return,” I said, sounding braver than I actually felt. It was one thing to smart off to Randall; it was another to do it alone in Castle Freesias where no one could hear me scream.
He paused. Then, shockingly, “Fair.”
“It is?”
“You aren’t a child anymore, no matter how much you tend to act like one.”
“Thank you? I think.”
“I don’t have time for games.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s part of your craggy charm.”
“I don’t have time for charm.”
“Back in the day, apparently. Or so you’ve said before.”
His eyebrows twitched again. “Back in my day, we didn’t have need for charm. We were blunt and honest, and it still got me what I needed. They were the Epperson Twins, and I had just turned ninety-seven. I was young and able to achieve erections at the drop of a hat—”
“Oh no,” I whispered in abject horror. “What have I done?”
Because he was old as fuck, I stood there, in the entrance hall of Castle Freeze Your Ass Off, listening in mounting disdain as he recounted yet another story of his youth that was disgustingly and brutally descriptive, and yet again, I found myself knowing more than I ever wanted to about the great wizard Randall.
Not for the first time, I wondered what had happened after all that. When he’d met the man who would become the love of his life for the first time. The man who would become his cornerstone, and whose cornerstone he had become in return. The man who would end up falling into the dark.
That was the first moment I began to see Randall for something more than an antagonistic elderly person who held the keys to my future in his hand and a noose around my throat.
I didn’t like it one bit.
I DIDN’T see Randall for the rest of the day.
I put my pack in my room, hearing it thunk weirdly on the ice as I set it on the floor near the large sleigh bed against the wall. I opened it, not knowing what could have made that sound, and saw a square wooden contraption set near the top. Ruv’s sand sailboard. In all the commotion, I’d forgotten that he’d somehow put it in the pack before we left Mashallaha. I didn’t know why he’d given it to me, and wondered what possible use I could have for it.
But it was soon forgotten when I saw a folded sheet of parchment tied onto the cloth sail with a piece of string. That hadn’t been there before. I would have seen it.
I plucked it from my pack and unrolled it. A little folded sheet of paper fell from it, but I ignored it as my heart stuttered in my chest at the sight of the familiar tight scrawl that lined the parchment. I didn’t know when he’d had time to write this or hide it in my pack. That devious bastard.
Sam,
You probably are wondering when I could have been such a devious bastard to be able to write this or hide this in your pack.
“Dude,” I said fondly. “You are so awesome.”
You’re sleeping now, and the light is barely coming above the horizon. I’m sitting at the desk in a gay brothel about to write you a love letter, which is something I never thought I’d ever put down on parchment, but then a majority of the things that happen with you are things I never thought would happen to me.
“That’s because I make your life amazing,” I chided him softly. “And you watched me sleep? Man, that is so creepy.”
And no, I’m not watching you sleep, so you can get that out of your head right now.
“Well played, Knight Delicious Face.” I wiped my eyes before continuing.
You’re leaving my side in a few hours, and even though I know in my heart it’s the right thing to do, it scares me more than it did when I awoke to the sound of lightning in Mashallaha to find your side of the bed empty. In case you hadn’t noticed, when we’re apart, you tend to get yourself into trouble.
“That… is sort of true.”
I need you to listen to me now, okay? Just in case I didn’t say it enough last night or if I don’t say it enough later this morning. Sam, I need you to take care of yourself. I need you to be okay. I need you to stay alive, and healthy, and whole. I cannot lose you. After everything we’ve been through, I cannot lose you. So even though there may be part of you that is reckless, that thinks to yourself that you can do this all on your own, please don’t. Wait for us. Wait for me.
I know you’ve kept things from me. I know there are things about this whole… destiny thing that you haven’t told me. You’re not as good at keeping secrets as you think you are. I may not know exactly what you’ve hidden from me, but I know it’s there.