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“I’m back!”
Shallan pushed open the door to her and Adolin’s bedroom with one arm, juggling sweet treats and a Cryptic in the other. Inside, Kaladin was curled up in Adolin’s arms, sleeping soundly. Good, that had been the whole point of today. However, Adolin was also fast asleep, and didn’t wake up until she jabbed him in the ribs, pointedly.
“Wha?” he said, blinking. “‘m not gonna be late, Zahel…”
“Honestly!” Shallan said, dumping assorted jams and pastries into his arms. “I leave you alone for two hours—”
“What?” he said. “Oh, that. Yeah, I figured Kal needed some quality rest, and—”
“And the best way to do that was fall asleep as well?”
He smirked. “Hush, dear, you’ll wake him.”
“You may as well,” Shallan said. “I got some Shin jams, assorted Thaylen pastries, some Shin bread to go with the jams, some shiki to drink, some spiced nuts for you boys, and some boiled sweets. Veil even got the price down to something half-decent.”
There are certain advantages to lightweaving, Veil grinned. Oh, and knowing anything about money.
Oh, shut up. I’ve grown since then.
So she says, Veil shot back.
“Excellent,” Adolin said. “Reckon it’ll be enough for Stormface over here?”
“I think the first challenge will be getting him to eat,” Shallan sighed.
“Mmmm,” Pattern buzzed, “this is true!”
Adolin tried and failed to extract his left arm from Kaladin, who was clinging to him for dear life. The jostling must have woken Kaladin up, because he stirred, looking utterly lost.
“Where…” he said. “Fell … rooms?”
“Yeah, you fell asleep pretty much the moment we got to our rooms,” Adolin said. “I had to carry you in here myself. You’re storming heavy for someone so skinny, you know.”
“Lashings would make that easier.” He rubbed his eyes, sitting up and attempting to untangle himself from Adolin. He failed, and Adolin put an arm back around him. “Gerroff me. Got … Bridge Four…”
“Not storming likely,” Adolin said. “The Blackthorn himself said you needed to take a break, and you don’t say no to him. Besides, it’s the end of the week.”
“And we’re here to spoil you rotten,” Shallan said. “Whilst you two were snoring, I went to buy food.”
“I do not snore,” Adolin said. “You snore.”
“No, Radiant snores.”
I do not, Radiant said. Kaladin snores.
Yeah, you’re wrong there, Veil said. Shallan’s right … this time.
“No emerald broams this time?” Kaladin said.
“Nope,” Shallan said, “I paid everyone in normal amounts. Ever had strawberry jam?”
“I grew up on the Herdazian border, what do you think? There’s nothing there but rocks and crem and Lopen.”
“Well, then it’s our moral duty as upstanding citizens of Urithiru to introduce you to sweets,” Shallan said. “And we’re in private, so don’t give me any of that nonsense about women’s food.”
“Even I can enjoy a pastry,” Kaladin muttered. “What is there?”
“I think we should start with the strawberry jam,” she said. “It’s from Shinovar, it was by far the most expensive bit. I nearly tried some in Kharbranth, but I was poisoned, and—”
“Sorry, did you just say poisoned?” Kaladin said.
“Yeah, by an ardent who tried to marry me. Anyway, that’s not the point—”
“Marry?” Kaladin said. “Someone who’d only just met you? You’ve never mentioned this!”
“You killed my brother,” Shallan said. It was her way of getting Kaladin to shut up. “I’ll explain later.”
“On that note,” Adolin said, “let’s dig in!”
The strawberry jam, it turned out, was delicious, not to mention completely unpoisoned and unsoulcast. Amazing how good food tasted when neither Kabsal nor Jasnah had a hand in it. The bread, too, was remarkable—soft, and fluffy, a word she didn’t usually associate with bread. The shiki she left alone—it was far too spicy—but she did try one of the sweets, which was sticky and tasted of simberry. It took forever to finish, too. As for the Thaylen pastries, they were the same as they always were. You could never go wrong with a good pastry.
“That was … pretty good, actually,” Kaladin said, when he was done scarfing down the bread. At first he’d just gone for the bread with nothing on; it had taken a while to convince him to touch the jams. But once he had, he’d enjoyed himself plenty. “The raspberry jam is really good. I can’t believe the Shin have been keeping it from us all this time.”
“They’re just too awed by Kaladin Stormface himself to sell anything to you,” Adolin said. Kaladin glared at him. “Where’s Syl? Napping at the other end of the tower?”
“I sent her to chat to your brother,” Kaladin said. “Something about wanting to get accounts from different spren or something. I don’t know, I just needed a break.”
“Fair play,” Adolin said, kissing him on the forehead. Kaladin grimaced. “Too sweet for you?”
“It’s all so…” He shuddered. “You, the two of you, you’re so … right for each other. So sickeningly in love. And I’m just—”
“Don’t you dare,” Shallan said, sitting down so that he was stuck between her and Adolin, “don’t even say it. You’re wrong. Whatever your mind’s telling you, it’s not true. We’re all in this together.”
She threaded her fingers through his hair, drawing the dark strands into little plaits like she knew he liked. It relaxed him a little bit, and he exhaled, the stress bleeding from his body.
“I know,” Kaladin said, “it’s stupid. But it’s … you’re you, and I’m me, and you two are married…”
“If we could marry you, we would,” Adolin said. “In ten heartbeats.”
“Or less,” Shallan added. “Wit says there’s worlds out there where it’s normal. Where three people can get married, officially, legally, all of that. And no one cares. And maybe you can’t get married like that in Rira or Iri, but it’s pretty normal there to love more than one person at the same time.”
“I know,” he said. “I know…” He yawned. “Stormfather, I’m still so tired…”
“Then sleep,” Shallan said. “I’ve done all my murdering for today”—Kaladin didn’t even bother to do a double take this time—“we can all take a nap.”
“I’m always up for going back to sleep,” Adolin said. “What say you, brave Brightlord Stormface?”
“Sounds … good…”
Kaladin rested his head against Shallan’s shoulder, his legs thrown over Adolin’s lap. There was just so much of him, they’d had to order a bigger bed so they could properly sleep together. But now that they had the bed, and they had each other, she was happy. And sleeping better than she had in a long time. Kaladin was already drifting off, and he was notorious for sleeping badly. Turned out that he slept much better when he felt safe.
“Well then,” Adolin said, “that turned out well. Now I just have to figure out how to legalise polyamory.”
“Ask Jasnah,” Shallan said. “She says polyamory is the most sensible form of romantic relationship, because it eschews a lot of the potential for abuse and control by one person that monogamy has. Or something. I didn’t read the treatise.”
“Great,” Adolin said. “I’ll be sure to tell Kaladin that my cousin approves of his love life when he wakes up.”
“Just saying.”
He smiled, and leant across to hold her hand. “No matter what else happens, at least I’ve got Kal.”
“Rude.”
“Just kidding. I love you both equally.”
“Good,” Shallan said. “Now, go back to sleep.”
“As you wish, Brightness.”
She sighed, cuddling up closer to them. Kaladin was out like a dun sphere, and like this she wasn’t so awake herself. Even Pattern was humming contentedly.
No matter what happened next, at least the three of them had each other.