White Road

Seregil. “Maybe these white ones only work on the dead?”
    “I hope we don’t need to test that anytime soon.”
    “What in Bilairy’s name are you up to?” Micum demanded, rattling the door handle. “Everybody’s at the dance.”
    Seregil let him in and closed the door again. Micum took in the situation at a glance. “Everyone’s asking for you.”
    “Did you see anyone else on your way here?” asked Seregil.
    “No, I think the whole household is at the dance.”
    “Come on, Micum. We’ll check all the unlocked rooms within earshot,” said Seregil.
    “You think he’s killed someone?”
    “I hope he hasn’t.”
    But they returned with good news. “I couldn’t find a soul,alive or otherwise. And if anyone at the dance had heard, they’d have come running,” Seregil told him.
    “The music must have drowned it out,” Alec said, relieved.
    Seregil sat down on the bed. “That doesn’t change what happened, though. We were just lucky. You know what this means?”
    Just then they heard someone coming.
    Seregil pulled out a handkerchief and quickly wiped the blood from Alec’s face, finishing up with a spit-slicked thumb. “That will have to do. Try not to bleed for a minute.”
    “What do we do with all these?” The flowers were still there, scattered around Alec. Together they scooped them up and threw them under the bed.
    “What’s keeping you, brothers?” Adzriel called.
    “Nothing. Just a little—upset.” Seregil gave Alec a worried look, then let her in. Mydri was with her.
    “It turns out that Sebrahn is frightened of being left alone,” Seregil explained.
    “He’s not used to it, that’s all.” Alec pulled Sebrahn close to his side, hoping they didn’t notice that he was still shaking. “This is the first time we ever tried to leave him on his own. He’s fine now—” He stopped, tasting blood and feeling it trickling down his lip.
    Mydri pulled out a lacy handkerchief and gave it to him to stanch the flow. “Press under your nose. What happened?”
    “Sebrahn was struggling.”
    “He does still look frightened, poor thing.” Adzriel paused and looked at Alec and the others. “You three look rather shaken, yourselves.”
    “We were just surprised,” Alec said quickly.
    “Ah, well. Do come along as soon as you can!”
    Mydri gave them a look over her shoulder as she followed her sister out.
    When she was gone, Micum sat down in her place and held out his hands to Sebrahn. “Well now, little sprout, you’ve caused some trouble tonight.” He looked up at the others, face grave. “You were both white as milk when I came in. So Sebrahn sang again, did he?”
    “Well, it was actually more of a screech,” Seregil pointedout, attempting to make light of it. “Just one that made my head feel like it was going to burst.”
    “Don’t forget that I’ve seen the results of the power of his voice,” Micum replied, not amused.
    “He couldn’t have meant to hurt us, though,” Seregil said, studying Sebrahn, who was still clinging to Alec, looking very much like a scared little boy. “At least not Alec. I think he lost control of himself. And that’s a frightening prospect.”
    Alec looked down at the rhekaro. “Sebrahn, you won’t make that hurting noise again, right?”
    “Baaad.”
    “That’s right, bad. So, now what do we do?”
    Seregil rested his head in his hands. “Either we don’t go to the dance, which will break Adzriel’s heart and raise questions, or we take him with us and risk him finding another reason to sing.”
    “That wasn’t a killing song,” Alec pointed out.
    “We don’t know that. He doesn’t hurt those he trusts—luckily he trusts Micum! Maybe no one else was close enough to be affected. And you
were
hurt, all the same.”
    “Why not you?” wondered Micum.
    “You know me and magic,” replied Seregil. “But I do have a nasty headache.”
    “I’ll go tell them you’re both indisposed,” said Micum.
    “Tell Adzriel not to spoil her own fun on our account, and that I’ll talk to her later, when I’m feeling better. Try to keep her from coming back, if you can.”
    Micum grinned. “You know how persuasive I am with the ladies. But what if Mydri wants to come heal you?”
    “Damn. Tell her we’re napping.”
    “I’ll do my best and come back when I won’t be missed.”
    “Thank you.”
    When he was gone, Alec flopped down on the bed beside Seregil. “So, we start packing?”
    Seregil closed his eyes and