Chapter 495: Blake and Haley

Blake closed his eyes and opened his Dreamwalk map. His gut was gurgling, his pulse moving fast. It was ridiculous, really, to feel more anxious to talk to Mason than fighting demons. But there it was.

They hadn’t really spoken since the Neutral Zone. That is, since Blake had tried to break Mason’s mind to beat him in a duel and win favor with ‘Psion’. He’d won it anyway, as it turned out, despite having lost. But he probably wouldn’t have if he hadn’t gone all out.

Mason would understand. He was sure of it. On the other hand, he hadn’t exactly covered himself in glory throughout the entire tournament. He’d screwed with Carl’s mind despite agreeing not to, and generally made an ass of himself. But partially it had all been part of the point.

Blake was still hoping to convince Jeong and the eastern players there was a rift between the brothers. He was hoping to use that fiction to get closer to them, to get information and maybe even convince them he was on their side.

Now it kind of felt like the rift was real. At least temporarily. So Blake needed to talk to Mason and patch things up. He figured he’d start with a Dreamwalk, then invite him to the orc towers for the wedding he needed to sort out.

It would be the perfect chance to let his brother see how the orcs were doing—how things were improving and getting more useful. To talk about the fight with the demons and his new prestige class and talking to a new ‘god’.

These days, Mason did at least half his thinking with his dick, and Blake wasn’t above getting him an orc girl to smooth out cultural differences. Hell, maybe he could get a few orc women to move to Nassau and shack up with the key players. Maybe Ilya would be able to find him a few recruits…

For now, though, he cast his perception through the distance, the many minds of sleeping people he’d touched with his mental powers popping up like Christmas lights. His body held its breath as he looked for the brightest. The most familiar.

But it wasn’t there.

Blake had expected as much. Not only was Mason now literally popping in and out of other planes, he seemed not to sleep like a normal person. Blake was prepared to stop and make these attempts a nightly occurrence until it worked. But when he saw Haley’s light he paused and decided he could at least improve his chances.

No one but Mason had ever seemed to ‘resist’ his Dreamwalking. He slipped into Haley’s mind with no effort, blinking to adjust to some kind of dark club with a smoky haze in the air. He heard music, and soon found Haley on stage with an older man playing a saxophone as she sang.

Blake sat in the blurry crowd. When Haley noticed him everything stopped, froze and vanished like she was embarrassed or didn’t want him to see. The club was the same, but the people were gone. Even her clothes transformed to a familiar professional grey dress. She came forward with a neutral smile and sat at his table.

“Sorry to disturb you,” Blake said with a friendly smile. Haley’s coolness was a very bad sign. He sighed and materialized himself a drink. “I’ve seen you deal with too many annoying civilian leaders not to recognize a hostile meeting. But I come in peace.”

“I’m sorry,” Haley said. “But until I know where things stand between you and Mason, I can’t tell you anything.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Blake sipped and kept his annoyance in check. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected. But a few months ago Haley had been his ally in getting Mason to see the bigger picture, to really take part in the game. He supposed he’d expected her to keep helping.

“It means exactly what I said.”

Haley gave him nothing. Not the barest flinch of emotion. He couldn’t help but admire her. He leaned forward and smiled.

“He’s angry. I understand. But it was all nonsense, Haley.” When she made no indication whatsoever he sighed. “Tell him I’m sorry, alright? About how it all happened. But it gave me new power. I’ve made the orcs proper allies now, just like I planned. I’ll be getting married to a tower lord soon. They’ll help us fight the demons. Maybe even the east. I’m sure of it now.”

“I’ll tell him what you said.”

“But not that you believe it.”

Haley took a breath and gave him at least a

tiny

bit of warmth.

“You can tell him yourself. I’m sure he’ll listen.”

“I fucked things up, didn’t I?”

Haley wore her ‘maybe and maybe not’ tight-lipped smile, and he nodded. He knew he had.

“I do that sometimes. Mason usually tells me.” A little emotion stabbed him with the next thought. “Maybe he’s given up on me.”

“He’s very busy, Blake. You shouldn’t read too much into anything. You should wait and speak with him.”

“I think I know my brother better than you do,” he snapped, immediately regretting it. Apparently the issue was more sensitive than he wanted to believe. “I’m sorry, Haley, none of this is your fault.” He took a breath and looked at her properly. “How are you? And the baby? You’re doing alright?”

“We’re both well, thank you.” Haley gave him a very feminine, ‘this is not a social occasion’ sort of ‘fuck off’ look, and he just nodded his head. “Check back in a week,” she added.

A week? So. Mason wasn’t in Nassau. That wasn’t shocking but Blake suddenly wondered what he was doing. Exploring the continent? Traveling some foreign dimension? Locked in another dungeon?

It was hard to believe Mason had once been the subdued, introverted shut-in of the family. But then Blake had always known his brother was an adventurer at heart. He’d just not seen the ‘modern’ world as

worthy

of it. But that was all different now.

Blake had the very annoying impulse to say something nasty. To sniff out Haley’s weakness and say the very worst thing he could to wound her, to get her flustered. To bring up all the other women or the many things Mason cared about that wasn’t Blake

or

Haley, just to see what she’d do.

He’ll use you and leave you

, said the imp of the perverse in Blake’s mind,

just like that old man who I know is your father. Used you and left you alone in nightclubs just like this.

But he fought it down.

It was a side of himself he hated and rarely listened to. A spiteful, opportunistic rogue that could see the terrible side of everything.

He wondered how restful it would be to be like the people who only thought of the good. Whose minds were built more simply, with less…imagination.

Blake understood the noble, the righteous. It was just that he understood the evil and profane, too. Was that why Psion sought him out? Was that what

true

creativity required? A mind that could delve down into the filth?

“My apologies again for disturbing you,” he said as he rose.

He wanted to tell her how much he admired her, and that he truly wished her the best. But he doubted Haley believed a word he said anymore. He didn’t blame her.

Without another word he vanished from her mind, hoping his eventual meeting with Mason went better.

**

Haley opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Whenever Blake Dreamwalked into her mind it ruined her sleep. She’d never told him (or Mason), because she knew how useful it was, and she didn’t want him to avoid speaking with her.

That made it no less disruptive. And she had a busy day. But she knew she could be a useful medium between the brothers in their rough patches.

Like this one

, she thought.

She fully expected them to get over this with a bit of time, but maybe she could speed things up.

She sighed and stretched, rolling over to give a sleeping Becky a one armed hug. She really loved sharing the bed with her. When Mason was gone Rosa and Lexi usually slept in their own room. Naya had tried to join them, but pretty quickly she admitted she was a lot more comfortable on her own, too.

“I’ve been sleeping alone for 80 years,” she’d said one night after a few glasses of wine. “It’s hard to sleep with all the…rolling around.”

Haley understood and said so. Becky sometimes shifted and spun around like a dog, occasionally clobbering you if you weren’t careful. Ayet slept on her own, too, of course. She and Naya had their own rhythm in the hall.

It wasn’t that they

refused

to eat anything Haley or Rosa cooked. They usually picked away at whatever the dish was with polite smiles, no matter how Haley tried. But they seemed to want to eat things mostly…

raw

, or at least totally unseasoned.

Rosa and the elves were gastronomically incompatible. What Rosa thought was barely edible, the elves considered ruined; what they thought was reasonable, Rosa thought was tasteless goop.

“They’re like the whitest white girls ever to be white,” she’d said, with a characteristic hand toss. “They think black pepper is habanero. There is more salt in rain than in their food. They wouldn’t know taste if…”

“I get it.”

Haley had covered her mouth to hide the laugh and tried to make sure the elves were nowhere in earshot. They had

very

big ears.

“We’re all trying, yes? We have to compromise. This is hard for them, harder maybe. They’re like…grandmas in young bodies.”

Rosa had snorted at that.

“Well it’s true! So we have to help them adjust.”

“You

help them,” Rosa mumbled, then rolled her eyes. “Yes, Queen Haley, I will try.” She’d curtsied, which made Haley smile. “But they’re the ones who spend all their time in their rooms or with the other elves. I’ve asked Naya to watch with us or walk like five times.”

“I know. You’re right. And I’ll speak with them. I don’t think they get the TV…”

“That’s putting it mildly. They literally think they’re spying on someone. Or that it’s evil human magic that’ll ‘anger the gods’. I swear to God I saw Ayet make some kind of elven sign of the cross when she saw me watching a telenovella.”

Haley had desperately tried not to laugh. But living with the elves was definitely a… challenge.

It stopped them from talking freely about the game, about the old world without being careful. She knew sooner or later they had to start really

talking

if they wanted to be anything but acquaintances who were sleeping with the same man.

She didn’t think that was healthy or wise. For Mason’s sake, for the unity of his house and home, not to mention the future of their children, they needed to become friends, and hopefully family.

She pulled off her sheet with a sigh, trying not to miss Mason. She got up and opened her long list of to dos arranged neatly in her assistant profile.

Check in with Carl. Check in with Sylvia.

The beginning of every day in the apocalypse. At least they were usually in the same place. She stood still as her eyes and gut adjusted, hoping today she was over the…

Nope. Haley groaned and ran for the toilet with her usual, hated morning sickness.