The Stars Over Bittergate Bay

Chapter 27

27

C hopping wood was an exhausting task, and Sidney had gone back to the house and immediately drawn himself a hot bath. Perhaps it had been a bit presumptuous to use Jonas’s bathroom but the tub was bigger, and if Sidney was going to be able to use his arms at all he needed to soak his throbbing shoulders as quickly as possible.

And maybe it was also presumptuous to leave both the bathroom and the bedroom doors ajar. But it didn’t matter. Sidney stayed in the tub until his fingers were wrinkled, and Jonas never came in. Sidney got out, dried off, went back to his room and dressed, discovering that he was on his last clean outfit. He hadn’t planned on staying so long.

But now, he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to go. It was silly. He hadn’t been invited to stay. And there was work to consider. But the world Jonas had shown him was so compelling, so endlessly, infinitely study-able, that he couldn’t imagine pretending it didn’t exist. All his months of charts had brought him here, and it seemed only natural to keep going. The thought of it energized him like no other proposed dissertation topic had, and he didn’t really know what that meant, except that he wasn’t willing to give it up just yet.

And of course, that didn’t even begin to broach the question of Jonas himself. Sidney wasn’t much for big words like ‘love.’ It just never seemed important to him before. Or maybe he’d just told himself it wasn’t important because it always felt so far out of reach. Nothing to do with him in any conceivable sense. But now he couldn’t help but think that he didn’t want to leave Jonas. The way he wanted to talk about everything with Jonas meant something.And Sidney knew he should pay attention to it.

He tried not to, of course. He wasn’t crazy. Could you fall in love with someone in a week? He genuinely had no idea, and thinking about it made his stomach hurt. Sidney gathered up his notebook off the desk in the guest room and went back into Jonas’s room. A half a step out onto the balcony told him it was too cold to go without his jacket, but he did anyway.

Sidney set his notebook down and put a small, potted plant on top to keep it from blowing away. The gust died down and in the quiet that followed, Sidney heard a grunt and the distinct sound of a shovel biting into cold, wet ground.

Below the balcony, in the garden, Jonas was hunched over a half-empty flower bed. Beside him was a stack of goldenrod, roots and all, as high as Sidney’s knees.

Sidney watched in silence for a minute or two, as Jonas dug out the roots like a man possessed. Sidney tried to decide if he should be able to parse out whatever was happening down there on his own. It simply didn’t seem possible.

“What are you doing?” he called down. Jonas twisted his torso, his dirt covered hand and the handle of the trowel braced against his knees as he looked up.

“Digging them out from the roots,” Jonas said. He paused and then looked at the goldenrod and then back up at Sidney. “Like you told me to.”

“Shit weather for it,” Sidney said lightly. Jonas snorted. His head dropped down and his shoulders began to shake, as laughter caught on the wind and lifted to Sidney.

“Gods, Sidney,” Jonas ran a hand beneath his eyes as he looked back up at him.

“I mean, you could have waited for a warmer day, at least.”

“I’ve let them go for far too long.”

“Do you want help?” Sidney asked. Jonas looked around him and at the bed out in front of him and shook his head.

“I’ll be alright. I probably won’t finish it all today.” He looked back up at Sidney. “What are you doing?”

“Getting the telescope into proper alignment. Should be a decent night for stars, if the weather holds.”

“You ought to put on a coat.”

“Yes, thank you.” Sidney rolled his eyes and Jonas scoffed.

“If you’re sick you can’t stargaze.”

“You actually aren’t my mother, you know,” Sidney said. He ought to start doing things with the telescope, but Jonas was still looking up at him and Sidney couldn’t bring himself to pull away.

“I don’t think your mother has the monopoly on caring about your health, Quince.”

“I’m not sure anyone else has ever bothered.”

“Well, then let me take some of the burden off your poor mother by telling you to go put on a fucking coat!” Sidney snorted derisively, but he was beaming as he straightened up and went back inside. At the front door, he pulled his peacoat off the hook, and then hesitated at the foot of the stairs. The telescope was fine. No one had touched it since he last used it. There were hours before the stars yet. He pulled his arms into his coat and went out through the front door, around the side of the house and into the garden. Jonas glanced over at the sound of his footsteps and then turned back to the stalks, shaking his head.

“Oh no, Quince. You’ve forgotten how stairs work?”

“Shut up.” Sidney got down onto his knees beside Jonas.

“I don’t need help, Sidney.”

“You were really enjoying our little Romeo and Juliet routine?” Sidney said before he could think better of it. Jonas glanced at Sidney out of the corner of his eye.

“I’m not quite sure we’re what Shakespeare had in mind.”

“Star-crossed lovers,” Sidney joked, waggling his eyebrows. Jonas huffed and went back to digging. Sidney leaned forward, pushing his hands into the dirt. He tugged at the nearest stalk of goldenrod and let himself talk, because he knew Jonas wouldn’t mind it. “Do you think Shakespeare ever visited the other realms? He wrote quite a bit about magic.”

“It’s possible. Edmund Spenser certainly did.”

“Is there really a faerie queen?”

“There are several,” Jonas said in a tone that indicated this was obvious. Sidney chuckled.

“How does anyone get a decent grasp on this stuff? I feel like every time I ask a question, I get a fully new piece of information, entirely unrelated to anything else you’ve told me.”

“Well, to be fair, you ask a lot of questions.”

“What did you make of that tree, earlier?” Sidney asked. He’d been thinking about it in the tub.

“The one we cut up?”

“The one in the graveyard.”

“Strange,” Jonas said. Obviously. Sidney rolled his eyes.

“Not any stranger than the mushroom cave. Or everything else about this place.”

“I suppose not,” Jonas chuckled. Sidney pressed on.

“If the birds aren’t from here. If they’re not some new species of starling with different markings or something, I mean… you said this place is a thin space between the realms. Portals open up, right? Maybe the birds came through with the tree?”

“The tree came through a portal?” Jonas asked. Sidney shrugged.

“I don’t know. I don’t know how portals work.”

“They require sacrifice and magic, both. Unless you’ve got a strong enough caster, I suppose. But that’s rare.”

“What do you mean by sacrifice?” Sidney asked. Jonas heaved a fistful of goldenrod out of the earth and tossed it on the pile before he turned to Sidney.

“Blood is easiest. But it can be anything. Usually, for humans, the creature providing the magic also sets the terms of the sacrifice. So, if you were making a deal with a demon to open a portal, they’d probably want some part of your soul.”

“Right, I remember you said. What use do demons have for human souls?”

“Interacting with humans nets more magic for creatures. Taking a soul is nice because souls are self-regenerative. Not forever, of course, but a little. And a human willing to give up part of their soul once is often an easy target for more deals later.”

“Hence the marking.”

“Exactly,” Jonas nodded. Sidney wrinkled his nose. The thought of this power exchange made him uneasy. Reminded him too much of his father, again.

“Sounds sinister.”

“It is a bit,” Jonas agreed. “But, if you do your research beforehand, you can get a sense of what to expect. Still doesn’t tell us why anyone would make a sacrifice to put a tree through a portal with a bunch of birds in it.”

“The portals opening at the Ascension, do those require sacrifice?” The pieces of the puzzle that was the Ascension were beginning to float nearer to each other in his mind. Not that he had a whole picture, but there was a picture there, if he could get the right angle on it.

“Ascension portals open because of the magic generated by the alignment of the celestial bodies. Humans still have to be marked to use them. But no one has to give anything to make them appear.”

“And why don’t you go to the Ascension party?” Sidney asked. It wasn’t tactful, but it felt like a natural progression of the conversation. Jonas bit his lip. His gaze dropped to his knees. Sidney backpedaled. “Sorry. We don’t?—”

“I’m not really a part of that world anymore,” Jonas said. He ran a dirt covered hand over the roots of the goldenrod. “I don’t have much to offer them.”

“That can’t be true,” Sidney said, sure of this even if he was sure of nothing else. “You’re brilliant.”

“Not always.”

“Well, you could have fooled me,” Sidney said. “I think you have plenty to offer.” Jonas looked at him then. The ghost of a smile crossed his face. Then he cleared his throat.

“What should we have for dinner?” Jonas asked. Sidney pursed his lips, trying to decide if he was going to let that incredibly ungraceful maneuver stand. He should have. Jonas had been more than forthcoming, but then Jonas laughed and shook his head. “Go ahead. Ask.”

“I don’t think I have to ask. I think I can guess,” Sidney tried to sound casual, but he could tell by Jonas’s smirk that he sounded as smug as he felt.

“Can you now?”

“You told me you got disinherited. You’re not titled anymore. And you used to be friends with a prince and a sorcerer, I’ve seen the pictures. And I don’t know about sorcerers, but I don’t know how often princes and commoners get together for tea.” Jonas laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Alright, Detective Quince.”

“Maybe you feel like you don’t have anything to offer them without your title and your money, but I think you do. You’re incredibly intelligent?—”

“Alright.”

“Funny.”

“A court jester, then?” Jonas smirked.

“And handsome.”

“Sidney, you’re going to make me blush,” Jonas deadpanned, but he was blushing. Sidney smiled.

“How’d I do?”

“Aside from your questionable list of my positive qualities? About halfway right. Fifty-fifty.”

“I can take that.”

Jonas opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, the roar of a car engine broke the silence. Sidney jerked around as a cavalcade of long, sleek luxury cars, followed by horse drawn carriages began to file in around the loop of Elmmond House’s driveway.

There was a cacophony of sounds as revelers began to spill from the vehicles. Each carriage was spangled with crystal lanterns that swung with the stamping of the white and black horses that pulled them, forced to halt by footmen in metallic livery. The passengers disembarking were similarly marvelous, luminous skin and shining hair in a rainbow of colors that seemed both natural and unnatural to Sidney. Bodies were swathed in fabrics that could have been made from starlight or stiff silk depending on the angle and tailoring. Some had wings that emitted showers of sparkles as they unfolded, others were bedecked with crowns that wrapped around horns, or jewels that were so large that they were visible even from Sidney’s distance. With each new arrival, there were cheers and laughter, the sound of a stringed instrument and the soft smell of magnolias drifting through the gardens on a gentle and strangely warm western breeze that hadn’t been there even three minutes before.

“Good Lord.” Sidney was in awe.

“Yes, they do put on quite a show, don’t they?” Jonas’s voice was arid.

“They’re beautiful.” A woman with blue black skin as radiant as the midnight sky was being twirled by a man who was almost silver in his iridescence. Among them, humans, looking more as Sidney expected them to look, stood out as plain, homogenous. “Who are they? What are they?” Sidney was so enraptured, it took him a long moment to realize that Jonas hadn’t responded. “Jonas?”

“They’re creatures. Fae, mostly. But there’ll be demigods, demons, lycanthropes. The Ascension brings all kinds.”

“Are they all so…?” Sidney trailed off. Beautiful didn’t really seem to be a strong enough word. Ethereal?

“Strange?” Jonas incorrectly substituted. Before Sidney could disagree, Jonas shrugged. “The other realms are very different from this one. Appearance is a sort of game to them. Most of them can change it at will.”

Jonas’s attention was back on the goldenrod, as he yanked stalks out of the ground with vigor. Sidney winced. Another painful memory, clearly. There was no reason to press Jonas’s bruises any further. Sidney put his hand on Jonas’s shoulder.

“We should go in and start dinner.” Jonas glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and Sidney smiled. “Seriously. I can’t possibly be expected to peel carrots with my shoulders as sore as they are. That’s your job.”

“Would you like me to introduce you to them?” Jonas asked. Sidney rolled his eyes.

“Yes, cavorting with werewolves is very high on my list of things to do this evening.” Jonas gave him a small smile, and Sidney shook his head. “No. I don’t really enjoy parties at the best of times. And I’m starving and my back hurts.” Jonas’s expression softened.

“Thank you, Sidney.” Sidney leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. For a moment, Jonas stiffened. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do. But he didn’t pull away.

Sidney let his hand slide over the back of Jonas’s neck, stroking the top of his spine, and slowly, Jonas relaxed into the touch. The breeze picked up again, and for a moment, the world faded away in the rush of wind and waves. Their bodies, warm and pressed together, felt more real than anything Sidney had ever experienced before.