Page 31 of Snake Eyes & Bad Luck

Chapter Sixteen:

Avelina

The stunt in the storm brought her down with the sniffles. Avelina woke the next morning, drenched in sweat and shivering down to the bone. Her eyes creaked open like rusty hinges as something adjacent to sunshine broke through the shutters of Callum’s abode. It wasn’t the golden rays of the SunBringer’s blessing, but it was light. She coughed. The sound rattled her lungs and shook loose the cobwebs that started to form. Unfortunately, the room around her spun and she grumbled as she sank further down into the sheets. This was not a part of the plan.

To be fair…the plan had been rather loose to begin with…but she needed to level the metaphorical playing field. Callum needed to understand she was valuable and not a burden. Because the more favor of his she built, the better chances that when their big heist happened, he’d let her go unattended. Or even better, he’d slip up and lose sight of her, then she could get away.

Tala would have punched her way out of Callum’s crew, but Avelina had to play to her strengths. Callum liked her, she needed to manipulate that to her advantage. Of course, once I’m back up on my feet. She coughed again and the sound echoed in the room.

“Mmm, a real shame somebody done murdered the best cook in Gloomsdale,” Callum teased as the delicious, divine scent of herbs and broth reached her in the bed. She tried to get up to see over the mountain of pillows and blankets that didn’t exist last night but slumped over exhausted.

“What a bastard,” she sighed, lamenting her existence. “Whoever it was is probably feeling preeeeetty sorry for themselves.”

“Yeah, well,” Callum chuckled as he slid up beside the bed. She lay cheek to pillow, staring out at him with dry eyes and a runny nose. He put a gravy boat in front of her, and she would have normally laughed. But he tipped the elongated spout to her lips, and she was able to slurp a whole mouthful without moving her head. Genius…he’s a bastard, but he’s a fucking genius. “They probably got what they deserved.”

“Fuck! You!” she wheezed between gulps of soup. It was mostly broth with clumps of something she didn’t even taste. It was all hot and mush and it went down without a fight.

“I would, darlin’, truly ye’ve never looked so pretty,” he winked at her, stirring up butterflies in her tormented belly. She was too sick to feel things and yet there she was, fawning over him. He’s even nursing me back to health. Callum’s eyes roamed her pale visage. She could have sworn she’d caught concern in them before he glanced away. His tail worked the blankets up higher onto her shoulders, burying her again. “But I’m not lookin’ to catch yer cooties.”

“Ha-ha.” She rolled her hot, dry eyes. Her whole body trembled, partially burning up, partially frigid. Callum pressed the back of his knuckles to her forehead and tsked. She moaned at the touch, like she was some undead thing wandering the swamp. Pressure built at the center of her face and her eyes fell closed.

“Big talk from a sickly baby.”

Avelina tried to push her arm out of the blankets to swat at him. He merely swaddled her tighter. Tucking her into several layers, then ensuring all her soup was downed, he left a jug of cool water by the bed. If it weren’t so heavy, she could have used it as a teddy bear. There was nothing she wanted more than to hug the cold iron to her embroiled chest.

“Get some sleep. Holler if ya start dyin’, but don’t die on me, little viper. I’ve not had my fill of you yet.”

Cold lips pressed to her sweaty temple. She couldn’t even open her eyes to catch him in the act of being nice. Callum pulled away and she fell into another endless oblivion. There were no dreams, not while she was sick. Avelina existed in the dark, lying at the bottom of the ocean. She could hear the roar of the storm from last night raging over her head, the sloshing of the river water. But she tangled herself up in a bed of seaweed and stared up at the dark.

Then the creak of a door followed by a slam broke her concentration. She awoke slowly, blinking away the crust of sleep on her eyeballs. It took all her willpower to reach out of the warm blankets and grab the jug. There was more strength in her to drag it onto the bed and prop it against the pillows to sip from it. Once she drained it, however, she was bereft. Her throat desired more. Avelia craned her head in a meager attempt to call for Callum.

But then something shattered and slammed against the other side of the bedroom wall. People shouted. The bedroom door rattled with force. Finally, Callum’s booming voice quieted everything. “Outside! The both of ya! Fuck outta here with yer bullshit.”

Silence followed, ringing in her ears. The world warbled, growing larger then suddenly shrinking around her. Avelina experienced ‘drunk’ before at the hands of Tala. One too many sparkling drinks and Tala wanted to show her she was even more formidable when intoxicated. Avelina didn’t hold her liquor well. Her legs became noodles and she was offensively giggly. She ended up drawing the eye of a strange man. Avelina never saw his face; Tala pounced on him and turned him into a bloody pulp. She dragged her best friend and the two tumbled into her mother’s house at who-knows-what hour.

Mother was livid.

Avelina blinked in attempt to push away the memory. Her mother stood in the doorway of her room, yelling at her while she was barely able to keep her head up and off her pillow. The world spun much like a dance that was way too fast and one of her heels was an inch shorter than the other.

It wasn’t her mother that nursed her back to health. It was Tala. Still hungover herself, but experienced, her friend made them both pots full of chicken broth and swiped a loaf of bread from the kitchen. They spent the day soaking the sourdough and chewing it slowly. Tala even helped her take a bath and get back into bed that night. Her mother didn’t talk to her for five days.

When her mother finally did, it was only because her father was on his way. Their stalemate, which felt like her mother laced a corset around her throat and slowly choked her till she was complacent, was over. Only because her mother needed an ally against her father. They both suffered his presence for two weeks that time.

Avelina remembered the welts on the backs of her hands, mostly around her knuckles. Every time she stumbled over a word, every time she forgot a line of prayer—whack! His belt was as lethal as his broadsword.

The door to the bedroom cracked open and she locked eyes with Callum. He furrowed his brows. “Sorry, darlin’, the boys got to wrestlin’ over something.”

A breathy wheeze escaped her. “You’re apologizing?”

“I don’t have to,” he snorted.

“But you thought to,” she exhaled, sinking back in the bed. Her face returned to the nest, still perfectly sculpted for her cheek. Its cotton cover was drenched in sweat. Normally that would bother her, but she couldn’t be fucked to move it. Every shift out of the blankets was a risk. It invited the shivers back and she was finally starting to feel warm. “It’s okay.”

“Not really,” Callum grumbled as he slithered inside. He took up her jug and gave an approving hum. “Good. I’ll be right back.”

Avelina simply stared at the blankets wrapped around her. Tucked in, as snug as a bug in a rug, with water and soup. He even made his rowdy crew leave so she could rest. Avelina hated that an ugly bubble of emotions welled up in her chest. There were no tears; they’d turn to steam immediately. But she wanted to cry. She wanted to sob. As she pulled her hand out from under the cover, propping her feverish flesh on the pillow in front of her face, she imagined those welts.

Remembered the way her mother held her tight to her chest after he left to join some Paladins for prayer. She wasn’t nursing the wounds, didn’t even so much as get her ice. What a horrid thing he’s become. You’re not a cleric. You’ve got no magic. Why does he demand this of you? I don’t get what he wants from us. Like she didn’t stomp her heels and throw a fit when Avelina wore something less than fashionable outside the house? Like she didn’t give her only daughter the cold shoulder when Avelina had other hobbies other than praising her mother? Like she didn’t make a mouse of her child…Avelina curled her fist up against the pillow.