Consorting with Enemies

[Jay Carpenter]

Jai

Jai had to stretch their hands out to place the empty cup on a table alongside the first. He still didn’t let go, and the one power was still out of reach.

He didn’t interrupt Nythadri’s conversation, but the darkness on his brow followed the shadow of her attention toward the nobleman. A channeler? Nobleman? And half-insulting Nythadri? The hell was going on? He glanced back at her, but her face was ice. Her hand was motionless in his. If something was really wrong, she’d do something? Right?

His question pulled a fresh frown on Jai’s already red-raw face. He didn’t answer it, of course. Given that two of the three people present knew the truth of such an answer. But rather than grip the hilt of his sword, his fingers latched tighter upon those already snaked through them.

“Time to take off the shield,” Jai said instead, but for all the latching of their gazes, the nobleman only lifted a brow.

“You sure you’re ready for that?” He asked.

Jai snapped, “Yes, I’m bloody sure!”

The moments hung on the air while the nobleman studied him. It made Jai’s skin crawl, though he’d dare not show the weakness. He must be some Asha’man that he didn’t know. Someone older, maybe. From before his time in the Tower. How did Nythadri know someone like that? Aes Sedai ways, he assumed. Or the ways of nobility. It was like they all knew each other, anyway.

He relaxed a little when the shield broke, and he scrubbed a free hand through his hair afterward, realizing only that moment that the palm was still mired in Daniel’s blood. He tried not to think of how that made his stomach turn; instead choosing to focus on the strategy for scrubbing the blood out of his hair later. It was always a damn chore.

Their conversation took a different turn after that.

Light he was tired.

“Who’s Talin?” he asked the both of them, but when his gaze settled on Nythadri’s, there were about ten more questions tagged along behind it.