Leah brings her supper up to Jeno’s room, and they sit talking for a long while, well past sunset. The sky opens up into a brisk rainstorm, with drops pattering against the glass and chilling the room. Jeno at first is quiet and reserved, asking questions about the war and about Valerin, but Leah manages to distract her with discussions of the area, and of food.

“You said once I used to cook Cheden dishes for you, when you were homesick. I could probably do that here, too,” Leah offers, and Jeno’s eyes light up a bit.

“It’s been so long since I had properly cooked bread,” she says, obviously reminiscing. “Everything here is dense and plain.”

“Walk me through the recipe and I’ll try my best,” Leah says. “Or better yet, join me in the making. Is there anything you used to cook on your own, or were you too noble to touch raw food?”

Jeno giggles a bit. “I can prepare one thing well, and that was something Leah and I invented.”

“Oh? Well then I have to hear it.”

“She used to steal bits of honey from the cellar, for her coffee, and one time we had the idea to spread it on bread slices with soft goat cheese and olives, then toast them.” Jeno smiles very fondly at the memory. “It was so messy, and so sticky, but it was the perfect comfort food, with a bit of home in it for each of us…”

The softness of the Cheden woman’s face, and the flicker of melancholy that passes over her eyes briefly, makes Leah’s heart stumble. She reaches out and takes Jeno’s hand, pulling her in for a kiss.

Only briefly surprised, Jeno gets up and moves over to Leah’s chair, sitting in her lap, cradling her face in both hands, tangling her fingers in her hair. Leah passes her tongue tip just gently over Jeno’s lips, and they part so easily, so eagerly.

With her arms wrapped loosely around Jeno’s waist, Leah lingers in the kiss, stretching out each moment, feeling Jeno’s every little squirm, letting Jeno’s tongue play over hers before eventually taking over again and pushing the kiss a little deeper, a little more intimate – a hand between Jeno’s knees, the other moving up her spine to press her close.

Leah rubs her hand along the inside of Jeno’s thighs, over the fabric of her pants, feeling the warmth radiating from them. Jeno spreads her legs wider, while her teeth catch at Leah’s upper lip and nibble gently, with little tugs that make Leah moan involuntarily and bite her in return.

Leah shifts her grip to under Jeno’s knees and shoulders; before Jeno can react she has picked her up, making her squeal for a moment, then carries her over to the bed. Leah drops her gently, then climbs over her, trailing a hand along the crotch of Jeno’s pants, giving her quick, short kisses that leave Jeno’s head thrown back, lips parted, tongue tip just at the edge of her lower lip.

Moving her hand up to undo Jeno’s blouse, she resumes the kiss properly, letting Jeno’s tongue inside, giving her control of the pacing. She focuses her attention on getting her out of her clothes, and freeing her breasts to the chill of the room, nipples already hard and skin dimpled around them.

Leah moves down to kiss around them, fingertips lightly pinching but with less force than she knows Jeno wants. She can feel the other woman’s chest arching up to her touch, and can feel the pounding of Jeno’s heart through her lips. Leah closes her eyes and licks a slow circle around one nipple, with just the firm tip of her tongue, massaging the other in her hand, relishing the sound of Jeno’s quiet whimpers.

The wind blows a gust of rain against the window, mimicking the sound of water splashing out of the mineral pools of Valerid.

Leah sits bolt upright, head whipping around, hands shaking.

“Leah? Leah, what’s wrong?” Jeno asks, sitting up and reaching out to take Leah’s hand.

After a few seconds Leah reassures herself that it was a coincidence. I wasn’t asleep. It couldn’t have been that. I’m just jumpy.

“I thought I heard something, is all,” Leah says, leaning back down and giving Jeno a quick kiss. “I’m sorry dear, I didn’t mean to startle you.” She gives another two quick kisses, then starts trailing them down Jeno’s jaw and neck, her legs straddling Jeno’s hips and pinning her to the mattress.

Unless it was him.

She hesitates for a moment at Jeno’s collarbone, breathing gently, lips just brushing the skin.

How would I know? Seffon doesn’t even know the spell. If Eschen’s here…if he’s watching…

Leah sits up and gets off Jeno, who pulls her shirt back on and wraps an arm around Leah’s waist protectively.

“What’s really wrong?” Jeno asks, a hand stroking Leah’s side. Leah tenses, and Jeno slowly removes the hand. “Leah? Please.”

“I’ve been…” she swallows, hard. “The past few nights, I’ve been having dreams. Captain Eschen has been – ”

Jeno immediately pulls back, her eyes wide. Leah turns to her with a hand out, and Jeno flinches. The Cheden girl breathes heavily, eyes darting around the room.

“Jeno?”

“It’s just…” She seems to curl into herself. “I know what it’s like to have him in your head. What he can…make you do.”

Leah’s heart crumbles a bit. She takes off her leather vest from practice, and the dagger, and throws them across the room. “No, Jeno. Not that. He hasn’t got me like that.”

“But…”

Leah wants desperately to reach out to her, but she doesn’t. “I know. I know. I’m working on fixing it. For all I know it is fixed, but…I can’t…he was…”

With a certain anger and humiliation, Leah realises she is tearing up. She tries to hide it, but Jeno sees right away.

“What happens, in the dreams?” she asks, very gently, un-hunching her shoulders.

“They aren’t really dreams…Eschen’s been trying to contact me, to ask – to interrogate me. About Seffon, about the war, about me. He doesn’t know yet, about…” Leah gestures to her head, and Jeno nods. “Or he knows, but he doesn’t really understand; I think he thinks Leah Talesh is still in my head somewhere, just buried deep. He’s using some sort of spell, that traps us in a room together. I think he gets to choose the room, what it looks like, everything.”

“What room?” Jeno asks.

Leah picks invisible lint off her pants leg. “The sulphur baths, in Valerin.”

Jeno sits stiff with indignation, and flinches out a hand toward her, not quite reaching halfway before pulling back. “He – no, he – but – ”

“It’s just a dream, it’s not…” Words fail her, and Leah trails into silence, wiping her eyes and sniffling, clearing up all signs of fragility.

“Does he…”

“Does he what?”

Jeno looks down to her hands. “And this has happened every night since you came back?”

“Both nights so far.”

Jeno nods, then goes to fetch Leah’s things from the floor, brushing the dust off them. She hands them back and takes Leah’s hand, very gently. “It’s the same as when he was in my head,” she says.

“No, it’s a different spell, it – ”

“No,” Jeno says. “Not the spell, the repercussions. I get it. I know.”

Leah takes her things under her arm and squeezes Jeno’s hand. “Thank you.”

Jeno smiles. “But go get rid of him fast, okay?”

Leah chuckles. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”

*

Leah falls asleep uneasily, dreading what she will find on the other side. It takes a while for the darkness of closed eyes to turn into the darkness of sleep, but very shortly after it does she hears the sound of gurgling water, warm around her body.

“God damn it,” she mutters, opening her eyes.

“Hello again,” Eschen says with a warm smile. “Missed you last night.”

“Fuck off. Fuck entirely off,” Leah says, squeezing her eyes shut and focusing on waking up. Seffon’s going to be so tired…

“Who’s Kimry?” Eschen asks, casual, curious.

Leah’s eyes fly open and she stares at him.

“Nentish? Interesting…” he nods appreciatively, his eyes darting around in thought. “Makes sense, I suppose.”

Leah’s blood runs cold even in the heat of the baths. Her legs go limp and she slides off the seat a bit, scrambling to keep herself away from Eschen but still under the water.

“And something about…” Eschen frowns in thought, staring over her shoulder. “Songbirds? Gods, but you do keep things disorganised in here.”

“Get out.” It comes out frail and afraid, and Leah seethes, both at herself and at Eschen. “Get the fuck out of my head.”

“Oh? But I’ve been trying so very hard…” His eyes dart again, as though reading something invisible in the air between them. “And you refused to just tell me things…oh? What’s this about contracts?”

Leah’s fingers dig into the stone until they hurt – distantly, she wonders if it’s possible to cause a person injury in a dream world. He accuses me of always punching first? Fine, I’m okay with that, come just a little bit closer you bastard and –

Sense eventually reaches her, as she watches his eyes dart, face calm but intrigued. He mutters occasionally in Ched, too quiet to make out, but never seems to grow too invested in what he’s seeing.

And unless my mind is somehow limited to its time here…which it certainly isn’t for me, so why should it be for him…

Leah smiles, and begins snickering, relaxing back down into the water. She takes a deep breath and sighs it out, feeling the stress leave somewhat.

Eschen shoots her a hard glance. “What?”

“You’re not in my brain.” Leah says it was a bright smile. “If you were in my brain, you’d be in an existential panic at what you saw. You wouldn’t be asking me about contracts and girlfriends.”

“How can you be sure?” Eschen asks, frowning.

“Because I think the reason you assume I’ve been lying all this time, is because you’ve been lying. Lying is your main tool, I think – and you’re good at it, don’t get me wrong.” She splashes him playfully. “You really did have me going for a second there.”

He sits in silence a moment, then grins and starts laughing. Leah joins in, and Eschen lifts his arms out of the water and onto the lip, leaning his head back.

“Fine,” he says, raising a hand, “I’ll give in. I figured I might as well give it a try.”

“It does worry me a bit, though,” Leah says, curling back into her protective ball.

“What does? That I keep trying?” Eschen winks. “It’s your fault you made yourself so important to this war.”

“No, not that, though thank you. I meant the fact that you knew about Kimry.”

His smile goes cold, but does not waver. “She matters a great deal to you.”

Leah meets his eyes evenly. “You must have gotten that information from either her or Vivitha; nobody else knew about us. Would you mind telling me how you found out about her?”

Eschen shakes his head. “Always trying to lead the interrogation…” He clicks his tongue disapprovingly. “You forget who’s in control here.”

“No, you forget that I can wake up,” Leah says.

“I’m getting better at that, had you noticed?” Eschen says, even as she closes her eyes. “It takes you longer and longer each time. Or maybe you’re just less and less willing to leave my company? Oh well; until tomorrow night, I suppose – ”

*

Leah knocks on the door to Seffon’s room, a little past midnight. The moon is full and bright outside, the rainclouds having finally moved away, and the roofs of the Hold twinkle in the dark. Peaceful, if one ignores the assassins waiting in the woods, and their commander trying to infiltrate my brain.

Seffon opens the door and sighs. “Again?”

“I’m just as thrilled as you are, believe me,” Leah says, arms crossed tight around her chest.

“Well at least this time I know the spell…” Seffon says with a resigned sigh, conjuring up a small floating ball of light with a word, and leading the way to the tower.

“Wait, what? You know the spell? Since when?”

“I stopped looking at the effects, and started looking at the supplies,” he explains as they walk. “He can’t have been renewing the spell on your body, but it’s obviously body-based. Many spells can be cast either at a person directly, or through more convoluted casting using a part of their body. And what does he have?”

An ego the size of the Atlantic and a penchant for war crimes? “What?”

Seffon pokes her next to the stab wound. “A copious quantity of your blood.”

It clicks into place in her mind, and she groans. “So as long as he has a supply of blood…”

“He can keep renewing the spell. Every night.” Seffon’s voice is a little drawn at that last.

“You don’t have to keep breaking it every time, if it’s – ”

Seffon shoots her a hurt glance. “Don’t be ridiculous, Leah. Even if you don’t ever tell him anything, he’d still be an annoyance, I don’t doubt.”

“More than that,” she mutters quietly, but not quietly enough that Seffon doesn’t hear. He looks at her oddly, but does not press.

Inside the tower, Seffon lights the candles and begins setting up a spell – but not the usual one.

“Do you have a better way to break it?” Leah asks, hopefully.

“No, but I have an idea. And I’m going to need your permission for it.” He turns to her with a very hesitant face. Leah sits on the stone table and gestures for him to proceed. “I’m going to cast the same spell as he’s using.”

“What?”

“But I’ll be using your body, not your blood, so – ”

“God, don’t say it like that,” Leah says, wincing.

Seffon stops dead, looking confused. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…Gods, I would never mean…”

“It’s fine,” Leah says quickly. “Go on?”

Seffon does not continue. He looks Leah over carefully, and Leah feels suddenly aware of all her tells; her hunched shoulders, her arms around her chest, her lowered eyes, her legs tucked up towards her belly and tightly closed.

“Leah, what’s he been doing to you?”

“Nothing.”

His face falls. “Leah?”

She stares at the stone of the table. “The spell lets you choose the room you appear in with the person, right?”

“Right,” Seffon says, nodding hesitantly.

“He’s been…he chose the mineral springs. The pools, under the Valerid keep.”

Seffon’s jaw clenches. “I see.”

“Nothing has happened,” Leah says firmly. “It’s just been…frequently implied.”

Seffon’s fists are closing and opening, and his eyes stare straight ahead. “I understand entirely,” he says, coldly. “And I reiterate, that the spell I am about to try, you are welcome to forbid me from trying it.”

“What will it do?”

“In practical terms? I will be casting the stronger spell on you, with more precision and with better base ingredients. It will overwrite his spell, and destabilise his connection.”

“But then he can just re-cast it.”

Seffon shrugs. “If he wants to, considering the secondary effect.”

“Which is?”

He rolls a quill between his fingers, tilting his head casually. “He might be willing to intimidate you when he’s got you trapped and alone, but against the two of us?”

Leah smiles a tiny bit, and nods. “Okay. I think I get where you’re going. Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Let’s try it.”

*

The couch on the third floor is comfortable, and Leah falls asleep easily. The warmth of the blanket around her, and the lingering effects of Seffon’s spell, translate smoothly into the warmth of the mineral water.

She opens her eyes to see Eschen leaning back with a frown, eyes closed, steam shrouding him. She clears her throat gently, and he starts, looking up at her.

“Leah,” he says, sounding honestly surprised. He switches to a smooth smile almost instantly. “Counterspell didn’t work?”

“I don’t know, it hasn’t kicked in yet,” Leah says casually, looking around the pools.

“Well you’re always welcome here, either way.” Eschen brings his arms back under the water and settles down further, cracking his neck on each side, the long scar from Vivitha’s arrow healed and nearly invisible but for the trail of clipped beard it left. “Now then. You seem to respond better if you’re allowed to ask a question now and again, and I’m perfectly fine with that. Would you like to begin, or shall I?”

A faint ripple at the side of the pool. “I have a question, actually,” Seffon says.

Eschen yelps. An honest-to-god yelp, as he full-body flinches away from the sudden newcomer.

Seffon sits with his arms floating in the water, looking around the room with an interested air. “This is nicer than I’d expected,” he says, swishing his arms and sinking lower. “I should visit these someday. Smell’s unfortunate.” He turns to Eschen and beams. “Captain Eschen! Lovely to meet you finally.”

Eschen stares at him, uncomprehending. “How the fuck did you – ”

“Don’t be rude,” Seffon says, his smile taking on a nasty edge. “We are in the company of a lady.”

Leah bites back a snicker at Eschen’s expression: deep discomfort and sincere fear. “Who taught you this?” he asks.

“Don’t insult me captain, I’ve invented more spells in this school than you’ve ever known.” Seffon crosses his arms and sits up in the water, crossing an ankle over a knee. “Now please; I was wondering if you could tell us why you didn’t tell Devad about my declaring for Valerin. They seemed unaware of the news when I spoke with them myself – not that I don’t appreciate your discretion.”

Eschen looks between the two of them, mouth forming words but nothing coming out.

“No? Nothing?” Seffon asks, raising his eyebrows. “Oh well, it was worth a try.” He waves a dismissive hand, and Eschen pops out of existence, the water barely rippling in his absence.

Leah bursts out laughing, sinking into the water in catharsis. “Ohh that was brilliant. Wow! Oh my god your timing was – ” She does a chef’s kiss. “ – stellar.”

Seffon grins cheekily and closes his eyes for a moment. Clothing appears over them, soaked by the water but not bogged down. “A bit of showmanship never hurts; guess who taught me that?” He sighs, steam swirling to show his breath. “So that was Eschen?”

“Yep.”

“Hmm. Not bad.” Seffon tilts his head in a half-shrug.

Leah giggles a bit, taking a handful of water and splashing it over her face. She looks back to Seffon, only to find him withdrawn and pensive suddenly. “Everything still alright?”

“What? Oh, yes. Yes, I’m just having a hard time…” He trails off, eyes darting over the surface of the water. “Well, it’s a tricky spell to handle. Quite strong.”

“But Eschen’s gone, right? Nothing left behind?”

“Oh, solidly gone, and I think with his tail between his legs. Shouldn’t be back soon…and he only has a limited amount of your blood…” Seffon’s eyes are still darting, and he has gone quite motionless in the pool.

Leah does not interrupt his focus on whatever he’s doing. She looks around the room worriedly, checking for anything out of place; signs of someone else being present, signs that the room is falling apart now that its creator is gone, signs that Eschen is about to return. The water continues to trickle, and the lamps continue to burn with an even, warm light, making the steam glow golden.

She looks back to Seffon, and sees that he is frowning in concentration, his hands twitching and tracing rune patterns on the surface of the water.

“Seffon, is everything alright? Please, tell me.”

He nods absently. “It’s just a…very stubborn spell…hard to break once it’s started…”

Leah suddenly gets dizzy, more so than she’s ever felt. She slips off the stone seat of the pool and goes underwater. Images flash, distorted and random; scenes from her childhood, and from the news, and from school, and from her adult life.

She flails wildly and gets above water, grabbing Seffon’s arm and jolting him. “Hey!” she yells, angrily.

He blinks a few times, face twitching erratically between confusion and shock, then looks at her in horror. “Is that where you’re from?” His voice sounds hollow. “Was that your world?”

Leah slaps his shoulder. “The fuck was that about? That wasn’t part of the deal!”

“I said I would be casting the same spell; I just didn’t expect that once it had started it would have a will of its own, and want to finish.” Seffon shakes his head, hair scattering droplets of water. “Strong magic can be like that, sometimes, but this…”

Leah takes a few deep breaths and settles back down onto the underwater ledge. “But you’ve got it under control, now? You’re not going to go peeking again?”

“I didn’t want to see any of that,” he says, vehemently. “The way you’d described it, I thought it would be…but Gods, it’s a nightmare world. Nothing makes sense!”

She smirks a bit. “Welcome to how I felt, waking up here.”

Seffon looks at her with deep sympathy, and guilt. “I’m sorry for the slip. I can end the spell anytime now; it’s back under control, and will stay that way.”

“Yes, thank you,” Leah says, leaning back against the stone rim. “I’ve had enough of the mineral baths for a long time.”

Seffon nods, and then with a gesture the room melts away. Leah floats up and into the blackness, into a hazy, easy sleep.

*

She wakes up with the sunrise glaring through the windows of the tower’s third floor. The tips of a fern’s fronds tickle her ear, and she brushes them away, sitting up. The room is quiet and serene, books and plants on the shelves and dust motes floating in the beams of light.

On the floor next to her, Seffon lies in a slouch by her feet, head and back leaning against the couch. His eyes are closed and his face is slack, deep asleep.

Leah sits up and leans over to push his shoulder gently. “Hey,” she says, and he stirs very slightly, grimacing and grumbling incoherently. “Heyyy,” she says, leaning over to rustle his hair vigorously.

Seffon bats her hands away and opens his eyes, cross and confused. “What?” He looks around the room, taking a moment to remember where he is, and why. Leah gives him time. “Good morning. Was that payback for me accidentally looking into your memories?”

“No, it was a thank you.”

He looks over her shoulder at her, doubtful. “Was it?”

“Yeah. Means a lot to me.”

“Oh.” He nods, shifting slowly to get up from the floor. “Ohh,” he groans, standing.

“Pfft, old man,” Leah says, pulling the blanket up around her shoulders. Seffon rolls his eyes at her.

“Would the little girl like her breakfast in bed again?”

“Oh yes sir, very kind,” she beams, and Seffon picks up a pillow from a nearby chair to throw at her head.

“Next time, I take the couch and you take the floor.”

“Fair enough,” Leah says, tossing the pillow back to him. “Now; breakfast?”