Whisper of Blade | ✓ (Crimson #1)

Chapter 36: Not Going Under

"Isn't it a little early to be drinking?" Kodak plucked the filled glass from Minerva's hand. The Silver Coin's other patrons almost drowned out his voice with their shouts.

Minerva's brain stalled, trying to decide between "Is it early if I haven't slept?" and "I've only had a few".

What came out of her mouth ended up being "I've only early slept a few." She reached for her drink, but Kodak stopped her hand with his.

"You look terrible," he said, taking a sip of the wine. Unlike her, Kodak looked to have slumbered like the dead, eaten a hearty breakfast, and spent an hour in front of the mirror. "How long have you been here? Where'd you take Kaji to?"

Groaning, she rested her forehead on the edge of the table. "He's at school. Where's Azuki?" After Matsudo's confession yesterday, lying in bed thinking until sleep dragged her into nightmares was the last thing she'd wanted to do. Though now she regretted not choosing a different location to stick her head in the barrel, even if that meant standing up Kodak.

Before she could react, he'd set the glass down and picked her up off the bench. "Couldn't find the kat this morning. At any rate, let's get you sober. You're probably dehydrated."

"You should go meet the person without me," Minerva slurred, eyes squeezed shut. She heard the bouncer—likely the same one as the day before—accost Kodak at the door.

"We're together," Kodak said. "You wouldn't happen to have a bucket of water handy, would you? Or even just a bucket."

"Don't you dare," Minerva mumbled into his shirt. If she weren't so uncoordinated, she would have wrenched free and walked on her own. But she could feel the hard muscles of Kodak's arms and chest and that his grip had no give to it, as if he expected her to try and break away.

They stopped moving. "We're outside," Kodak said. "Now stop faking. I know you can boil your blood to get rid of the worst of the hangover. Unless you'd prefer that I dunk your head in water?"

Minerva cracked her eyelids open and winced at the sun. When had it gotten so bright? "Burn you, Kodak," she croaked. Her fire responded at a sluggish pace, spreading with her blood through her veins.

He laughed and shaded her eyes with his hand. "I'll take that to mean 'Thank you, Kodak. Why yes, I'll tell you about why I had such a rough night and showed up to work in such a miserable state'."

Boiling alcohol out of the blood was never as effective as people liked to believe. The pain behind her eyes still promised a splitting headache even if she was on her feet now. "Some guy lied to me and now I'm heartbroken," Minerva said with sarcasm. At least she tried to.

Kodak gave a low whistle. "Serious stuff. But I know just the thing for it—guaranteed to cure any broken heart."

They headed in the same direction as yesterday, but with Kodak taking the lead today. Minerva gulped down water from Kodak's bottle, wondering once again how they were crafted. She handed it back to him.

"What's that?" Kodak nodded at the bulge near her sash.

She pulled out the scroll partway to show him. "Lieutenant's commission. I don't know if I'll take it though."

It had been easy last night to tell Matsudo she didn't want to be a soldier, as if it had only been a game of pretend and she could stop at any time. But if she didn't go join the border guard, where else could she go? What else could she be?

"Why not take it? If it's not what you decide you want to do long-term, you can move on to something else. But at least then you could say you tried." He made it sound so straightforward, so simple.