Children with Stars in their Veins (Chapter 16.1)

a/n: hey, thanks for checking out Starry Veins! This is the novel I wrote for Round V of LMS, and it's still a first draft! While I don't discourage any feedback, I prefer not to receive feedback on grammar! I'm not polishing this draft up yet, so I'm not as concerned about editing. I am, of course, open to all feedback, but I ask that you keep this in consideration! Thanks <3

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[Cassius]

“What are you doing?”

Cassius froze and the motion jarred his grip on the slippery leg of meat clutched in his hand. It was slimy again his fingers and he kind of hated the texture, but over the month he’d been sneaking meat from the kitchens, he’d learned to deal with it.

One of the kitchen staff, Ann, stood in the entrance to the kitchen, scowling at him. Her cheeks were flushed, and her sleeves rolled up. She’d probably been on her way to start preparing dinner.

He tightened his grip on the leg of meat. “Um. I need it for…” What would Mishal say to make himself sound really smart and reasonable? “…science.”

“I’m sure you do. How about you come with me and you can tell Councillor Cephas about the science you plan on doing with a meaty haunch,” she said, folding her arms over her chest.

In hindsight, maybe he should have prepared a real, convincing lie. Good going, Cassius. “I was… helping. Father asked for me to grab this to bring to him. He needs it. You could ask him about it, if you don’t believe me.” What a stupid thing to say, of course she wouldn’t believe him.

Maybe he shouldn’t have played all those pranks on everyone and people might actually take him seriously.

…Nah.

“Percival needs a raw haunch of meat outside of the kitchen?” Ann pressed, raising an eyebrow. “Just come with me Cassius. This doesn’t have to be a big deal. We’ll speak to Cephas, and you can explain your no doubt very good reason for attempting to sneak off with meat the hunters gathered, won’t you? And put the haunch down, would you?”

He scowled and brashly threw it back onto the counter. He did have a good reason, but he couldn’t tell her.

Artemesa—whom Ori had helped to name several weeks ago after a sorceress queen of old—was already past his hip and her meat intake was steadily climbing with each passing day. It made sneaking meat out of the kitchens that much harder, but he’d been doing so well.

Until now, evidently.

Councillor Cephas lived in the upper eastern wing, his designated chambers a mix of office and bedroom, separated by the smoky glass divided that hid his sleeping quarters from view. He was at his desk when they entered, peering above his glasses. His dark skin was wrinkled and leathery and seemed to droop further as his eyes landed on Cassius.

“Oh, perfect,” Cephas mumbled, and shut the book in front of him. “What’s the problem this time? Did you put lizards in someone’s wine cabinet again?”

He snickered. Ann ignored him. “Councillor, he was trying to sneak a leg of meat out of the kitchens.” She eyed him. “He says he needed it for…science.”

“The science of making someone else’s life harder, I’m sure,” Cephas stretched, and his back cracked. Cassius wrinkled his nose at the sound. “What was it that you were really doing with a haunch of meat?”

“I wasn’t going to prank anyone, if that’s what you’re asking,” he said honestly. “Swear on anything. There was no fishy business afoot.”

Councillor Cephas sighed. “Cassius,” he said, tired. “Tell the truth, boy. Your elders will be very disappointed with you if you continue to walk the path of dishonesty.”

He frowned. “But I’m not being dishonest. I wasn’t going to hurt anyone or anything. I did really need the meat for scientific purposes.” The science of feeding a hungry dragonling. Results usually concluded she would be full afterwards, but one could never be too sure. It was a brilliant response and he couldn’t even use it.

“What kind of science?” Ann asked, squinting at him. “It was raw meat.”

“You can’t walk in circles about this, you’ll have to tell the truth eventually,” Cephas added.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Or what? I’ll be in trouble? Well, I’ve broken rules all the time, and the scariest thing you’ve thought to do is lock me in my room. I’m not afraid of you or the council.” His pulse fluttered, but he stood his ground. “I am telling the truth, it’s not my fault you think I’m lying.”

“It really is,” Ann said. “You do it quite a lot.”

“Well, I’m not!” He scowled towards the both of them, and before either of them could open their stupid mouths to say they’d “be disappointed in him”, he turned. He ducked out of Ann’s reach and bolted right out the door, taking off down the hall towards the stairs and away from Councillor Cephas’ quarters.

See if they could catch him. But he heard no footsteps in pursuit as he hammered down the winding staircase. Still, he didn’t stop until he reached the library, out of breath, and ducked into there and behind a shelf. He finally collapsed in a dark corner where not even Moira would hear him to complain about the ruckus he was making.

Well, perfect. Now the kitchen staff would notice “a little meat” going missing. He didn’t want to hunt. He really didn’t want to.

But he’d have to find some other way to feed Artemesa now.

* * *

“That’s your fourth serving of the pheasant,” Alanna said, frowning at him across the table.

The Dining Hall was alive with chatter and the sound of the fireplace crackling in the background. It was quieter still than he was used to, even nearly two months after the expedition’s departure.

He glanced up at her as she eyed him and nodded. “Yeah. Can I have some of yours?”

Alanna narrowed her eyes. “No.” And took a bite of her pheasant reproachfully.

“Open your bag,” Ember whispered, beside him. He complied, opening the bag he had brought with him to dinner, and she shoved some of her pheasant into the three previous servings he had already snuck in. “I thought you already fed her today.”

“Got caught,” he said. “Got lectured by Councillor Cephas that the elders would be ‘disappointed’ in me. Do they think they’re clever? They’ve supposedly been disappointed in me since I was like, five.”

“Next year, you can say you’ve been a disappointment for a decade. Pass the bag under the table, I’ll put some of mine in too,” Rowan said, leaning forward and holding out their hand beneath the table.

He hunched forward to hand the bag over. Rowan snuck some of their pheasant into the bag. Alanna eyed them for a moment, and when they offered the bag to her, she rolled her eyes and sighed. “This is gross,” she said as she gave up a small portion of her meat. “You should be glad that Stormy isn’t here, he’d kill you.”

Cassius grinned. “Are you kidding? I’m so glad he’s not here.” Then he snickered as he took the bag back from Rowan. “Except I’m kinda excited for him to come back. He’s going to lose his mind when I show him. She’ll probably be big by then too, and she’ll do whatever I ask, and that’ll show Mishal who’s who.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Alanna said. “He knows who’s who.”

“Whatever,” he said, slinging the back over his shoulder. “I’m going to go take this to her before she starts eating the iron bars downstairs.”

Ember turned to face him as he clamoured off the bench. “But you’ve hardly eaten!”

He waved her off and made his way quickly out of the Dining Hall. He hated leaving Artemesa alone in the basement, hungry, without any explanation as to why he hadn’t visited or fed her. He hoped she wasn’t too cross with him.

The trapdoor that led to the dungeons was hidden in what was now an abandoned supply closet in the south of the Citadel. He checked behind him as he approached the door, for surety, but everyone was at dinner anyway. He slipped in the closet and walked over to the hatch, pulling it open. He turned to crouch and put his foot out until it connected with one of the rungs of the sturdy metal ladder that led down to the dungeons. He shut the trapdoor behind him, just in case.

While dungeons were dusty, cold, and a little humid, it was quiet and completely empty. The path from the later split, left led towards the cells where war prisoners used to be help. Right was some old barracks that were empty now. He made his way towards the barracks, the large open space room surrounded by stone. It was the biggest and most open room, so he’d brought Artemesa in there. Plus, the sewer had connected nearby, and it was how he’d smuggled her in, so it had also been the closest.

He pushed open the open wooden door and was greeted by an immediate, bright chirping. Artemesa sprung out of the makeshift nest of clothes and pillows and fluffy thing he had brought for her and half stumbled half flapping across the room. Her feathers were all ruffled and she looked a little silly, but he grinned and held out his palm for her to dive into. She rubbed her snout into his hand like a cat and a low rumble emanated from her chest. It wasn’t a purr, but it was the best way to describe the noise.

“Sorry I’m so late,” he said, scratching behind the buds of her developing horns. “I got absconded. But I’m here now, and I’ve got some roast pheasant! It’s really good.” He pulled the bag off his shoulder and she chirped at him again, trying to stick her nose into the bag. “Wait, Artemesa! I’m getting there.”

She spat at him but pulled her snout out of the bag and bounced around him instead, chirping wildly.

He pulled a chunk of pheasant from the bag and held it out to her. She stared at him. HE sighed. “You won’t hurt me, honest. Just be gentle.”

Artemesa was not swayed, and simply glowered at him with bright amber and blue eyes.

“Fine,” he said, and tossed the meat to the floor. She pounced upon it and swallowed it back in one bite. “You have teeth, Mesa. You can chew.” She ignored him as he tossed her another piece and wolfed it down.

As he threw the last scrap of pheasant to her, the door creaked open behind them. Cassius whirled around as Artemesa’s ears shot forward and she raised her head. His heart thudded in his chest.

Standing in the entrance with mouth agape with Councillor Cephas.

word count:

1,768