A chill went up Robin’s back and he turned his head, fully expecting the shapes and hints of shadows of long-dead Blessings and Redfernes, honorary or otherwise, to be by the door, trying to call him back from the reckless display of temper. But the flare of skirts and the vague line of a shoulder, a curl like smoke and the shuffling of feet made him pause.
Lisbeth, undoubtedly stronger than Robin and able to see more, had wide, wide eyes.
Blessings and Redfernes did not defy anyone anymore. But they used to. And it seemed they would again.
Of course, it was easy for them, being already dead this time. But they’d done it the first time too, for love or honor or a quick fuck in a haystack. His familydidtake stands. Often doomed ones, but they took them.
Robin worried over it, then put his shoulders back and faced Lisbeth anyway. “Actually, if you have a problem with Lucas, you can go ahead and bring it to my door.”
“Powerful things,” Flax remarked.
“And the same for Josiah and the kings as well,” Robin rolled on with storms of his own. “Why not? I have care for them if you don’t.”
Lisbeth took another look around the porch before refocusing on Robin. “I don’t think you should interfere,” she insisted again, quieter.
“And I think that people who don’t love their own or want the best for them are not worth saving.” Robin gestured furiously at the house. “I was raised by the old and the ancient and their ghosts, and I was still loved, and I am still… I am still loved.” He had a struggling business, poor health, weak magic, an underused gift, and was gay as Sir Gawain, but Robin was loved without restraint. Maybe she couldn’t imagine that.
“Lisbeth,” Robin finally sighed, “I have felt miserable and alone, thinking I was the weakest one in my family, even though my family didn’twantme to feel that way. I couldn’t leave Josiah to that same feeling. Not bell, not book, not candle could’ve have made me do it. I am not even sure I could leaveyouto that feeling without trying to speak. If I have this gift, shouldn’t I use it now and then to make things better? Must it only be suffering? I don’t like it. I might not ever like it, butI’m here, aren’t I? We all are.” He waved to his family, but he supposed his wish could apply to everyone in Ravenscroft, or elsewhere. Lucas would say it did.
Lisbeth’s attention sharpened. “But…”
“Pass that message along if you like.” It would get around soon enough anyway. Robin might as well pretend he had a choice about it. He looked to the yard, but Lucas had disappeared. Robin frowned and looked in the other direction. “Be careful on the road.”
“What?” Lisbeth gave a start. “Did you have a vision?”
That briefly called Robin’s attention away from hunting for Lucas. “Huh?” He really did need coffee and also to poke a finger in Lucas’ well-shaped face and demand answers. “No. The roads are wet. Be careful. Oh. Can Josiah use a sewing machine? Wait, probably not, with schools abandoning Home Ec and gender expectations being what they are. Hmm.”
Robin turned around and went back in the house, then spent half a minute shivering as his body readjusted to being inside. He ought to find some pants, but he had more concerning things on his mind at present.
“Thank you,” he told his passel of relatives and Flax, and continued down the hall, his fingers twitching.
Lucas did not know everything. His power did not work like that. But he knew some things. Because he didn’t think like other people, and because helookedat the world, at people, as they were. Only sometimes because he was shown what would happen.
But hehadbeen shown something. His own destiny, certainly. Mallory didn’t know for sure what Lucas was meant for, but Lucas must. He would still be out there searching for it if hedidn’t. Lucas chased knowledge because he liked to learn, but also generally for a purpose. And he had not acted as if sweeping floors or fixing dripping faucets were a waste of his time.
Robinwas impatient. Lucas acted as if… as if he was meant to be precisely where he was.
For a moment, then another moment, Robin hovered by the last door to the workroom, where he could see his loom if he turned his head.
Robin could find out what Lucas had been shown.
But it wasn’thisdestiny, was it? Looking felt like prying and also… also terrifying. He didn’t want to know Lucas’ future if it meant Lucas leaving, as it would, sooner or later. Meant to be there now was not meant to be there always.
“Oh.” Robin clenched his fists. “Merlin’s swinging tits. Lucas Greysmith, if you are here to inspire me to use my gift and then are meant to leave me, I’ll… I don’t know!” Cry, probably. Wander the house like the rest of heartbroken shades of his family line.
But it was easier to be furious, so he stomped to the kitchen and then to the side door, which he tore open, ready to show Lucas whatbossyandcombativeactually meant.
Lucas was in front of the first step as if about to come inside. His black clothing was stark against the gray skies. He didn’t have a coat, and his gaze dropped almost immediately to the coat Robin had on, and then to Robin’s open cardigan, and bare chest and legs, and flimsy boxers.
Robin tried to remember his point, but Flax launched himself off Robin’s shoulder and Lucas moved up a step to catch Robin when this knocked him off balance again.
Robin didn’t quite bat Lucas’ hands away, but Lucas dropped them, leaving Robin to sway forward and notice that they were almost the same height as long as Lucas stayed on the lower step.
“Ow,” Robin said belatedly, directing it toward the bird now on the fence behind Lucas. Which reminded him of why he was annoyed in the first place. He turned to Lucas. “Flax is mine.”
He wasn’t asking.
At least Lucas didn’t pretend this information was new to him. “Yes.”
