A Trickle of Soulfyre

Chapter 6 - Caresses

Agent Phen elbowed her way out of the room ahead of everyone else and disappeared outside. Nash wouldn't be surprised if she was already commandeering a carriage to get to Yidelhorn station. She had been wriggling in her seat ever since she arrived at Vlitavia Palace. Her agitation had only worsened when Lyrani arrived.

They reminded Nash of Trelle and Lyrani when he first met them, a more experienced senior agent supervising a headstrong junior agent who was sure she knew better.

Lyrani had known better then, and Nash had to trust that she would now. He couldn't bear to think of her making the wrong decisions and falling into the hands of the halflings who wanted to destroy him. If they hurt her, they needn't bother about hunting him down to finish him off. Their job was already done.

Lord Dundor rose behind Nash's desk, as quick and silent as any of the agents he commanded. Nash, Anesse and Lyrani all stood at attention as he crossed the office, Camlir trailing after him. He commanded the room even better than Nash did as a born royal.

Dundor had only acquired his noble title by working himself up to the position of director of ECISI and earning the land that hosted the organisation's headquarters as part of the deal, but when Nash looked at him now, he couldn't believe his grandmother had refused to allow him to marry her daughter because she considered him unworthy of Livh. Perhaps he had been timider before, a commoner with a noble title like a cloak he hadn't quite grown into, but now he stood straight, tall, and imperious, the type of man nobody would argue with or disobey. Nobody except for Lyrani, that was.

Nash couldn't help the little smirk that crept onto his face when Lord Dundor stopped in front of Lyrani.

Her back straightened even more, a subtle reminder to anyone who knew her story that she was a lady in a secret agent's clothing.

"Be safe and return soon, will you? Your father will never forgive me if something happens to you."

"Yes, Lord Dundor." Lyrani's mouth quirked. "Solely for the sake of your friendship with my father, I will return."

"Always so cheeky." The director chuckled as he kissed her forehead. "I do wonder why I haven't fired you yet."

"It's because ECISI needs me, Lord Dundor." Lyrani smiled up at him innocently because she knew she was right, and so did Nash.

"I wish I had never told you that." Lord Dundor gave a mock sigh.

Lyrani merely laughed.

Nash closed his eyes to savour the sound. He had nearly lost her before. He would never forget the terror that had taken hold of him when he thought he'd never see her again, never speak to her, never kiss her. That was why he held onto every part of her, no matter how simple.

The truth was, the realm was cruel, and in Lyrani's line of work, any time Nash saw her could be the last, and neither of them would know it. That was why he treated it like it was, even though he looked at the stars shining through the glass ceiling in his bedroom every night and asked them for a lifetime more with Lyrani Esch.

It was easy to forget, with the way Lyrani and Dundor argued, that Lyrani had been like a child to Lord Dundor before he knew Nash existed, even before Nash and Lyrani were officially in a relationship. Or perhaps it was the effortless banter that told the story of how close they were.

A small, shameful part of Nash couldn't help but envy the relationship his girlfriend had with his father, but they'd had decades to reach this point. Nash and Dundor had only had just over a year, but they'd made a lot of progress in that time, and they grew closer every time they met.

Lyrani smiled at Camlir as she knelt to buckle her backpack closed. Lord Dundor turned away from her and stopped in front of Nash and Anesse, the gadget master still behind him, wringing his hands as if just to give them something to do.