Archive of Our Own

The problem was her back.

Shooting, fiery pain laced down her spine. Down her thighs and into her calves on bad days. Good days were when she was able to roll out of bed without crying out in pain. Bad days were when she could barely stand, her commissions put on hold.

Paimon was loud on those days. The little fairy spewed hatred and anger at “that Fatui skumbag!” And Lumine understood why; it was, after all, linked back to her fight with Childe at the Golden House.

Really, she should’ve seen it coming. And in a way, she had. That didn’t negate the sting of betrayal when she’d laid eyes on Childe prancing up the stairs, chuckling and commenting on how things would be so different if only she was Fatui.

If only Lumine hadn’t started to like Childe. If only she’d been able to hold on to the image of La Signora viciously ripping Venti’s gnosis out of his chest, of backhanding him and freezing Lumine to the ground, powerless to help him. Of the reminder of what a Fatui Harbinger was capable of.

She’d smelt a mole when Childe had oh-so helpfully saved her from the Millelith. It had been strategic—she’d known that then. Finding out he was head of the bank in Liyue had only cemented her growing concern of the Fatui’s hold on the city. After all, the one who holds the currency holds the power. It had always been that way, especially in a bustling city like Liyue, where it’s growth and prosperity depended on it’s shipping port and foreign goods.

And then Childe had kept popping up in her life. She’d thought he just wanted to get a glimpse of the strange woman La Signora had likely reported about. Maybe have a henchman spy on her to see what she was up to.

What she hadn’t expected was for Childe to keep showing up.

Honestly, Lumine put a good amount of blame on Zhongli for that. She’d been unknowingly sucked into their little schemes, her none the wiser. At most, she’d just wanted to help; she hadn’t wanted to get pulled into a crisis like she had with the damn dragon.

Achingly, Lumine wished Aether were there. With her, helping her out of bed on her bad days. Helping her breathe through the pain.

If Aether were there, Lumine knew none of this would’ve ever happened in the first place.

She still woke up from nightmares of that day in the Golden House. She’d expected to fight Childe at some point, but what she hadn’t seen coming was how he would shatter the ground below her, making her fall down, down, down with giant pieces of the floor falling after her. Of the way she heard something in her crack! at the impact.

In the moment, Lumine hadn’t allowed herself to think about what that crack meant. Hadn’t had time to. Childe was using his Foul Legacy transformation and she most certainly had not had the luxury of time to take stock of her injuries . . . of which there were many.

He’d said that he wouldn’t kill her at the beginning of their fight. Lumine had understood that promise went out the window the moment he believed she’d gotten to the gnosis before him.

And then he’d summoned a freaking Sea God just to top it all off. And Lumine had to fight numerous Fatui agents—no doubt sent by Childe—and had to fight off the Sea God from destroying Liyue. During all that, with no time to heal, Lumine had been embedded with extra power from the adepti. It was a wonder she wasn’t dead.

Had she been at her full strength, had her original powers back . . . Well. She certainly wouldn’t be in the kind of pain she was in now.

(She would never have fallen and hit the ground so hard something snapped in her back. Her wings alone would’ve ensured that.)

It had been months since then. Months of trying and failing to find a way into Inazuma. Months of going to Qiqi and trying to find a remedy for her pain. Nothing had worked. Qiqi had been overly apologetic and promised to look for more herbs. Lumine had given up on the hope that she would wake up one day without some level of pain. Now, she only prayed for it to be bearable.

When Lumine had stumbled into the Northland Bank after defeating not only a Fatui Harbinger, an age old Sea God, and was still experiencing aftershocks of the adepti power, only to see Childe, La Signora, and fucking Zhongli . . .

If she’d had her full power at that moment, Lumine knew she would’ve killed them all right then.

Oh, it all made a perfect kind of sense. She’d had her suspicions. But she’d at least thought Zhongli above using bystanders as tools in his games.

Gods, how wrong she’d been.

Aether would’ve told her not to help these people. Aether would’ve told her these affairs were none of her concern. Aether would find a way to take some of her pain away. Aether would—

But this was all because Aether wasn’t there, right? That was always the crux of the matter.

Lumine had since avoided Zhongli. He was trying, in his own way, to make up for his part in using her, she knew. Lumine didn’t care. She would be one more insignificant person he used for his own ends in his long, immortal life.

Childe was the real problem.

Like before the betrayals, he kept showing up. On her commissions, in the harbor, even once near Mondstadt.

The worst part was how he acted like nothing even happened. Like his betrayal was nothing. He’d even asked her to partner with him to take over the goddamn world. The nerve of the man was absolutely insane.

He didn’t know about the injury he’d caused. Not the broken ribs, the fractured wrist, and most certainly not the back pain that seemed to be permanent. Lumine intended to keep it that way.

She just had to make sure Paimon kept it a secret.

“Paimon doesn’t know why you don’t tell Ningguang,” Paimon said. Lumine was currently hunched over in pain, but what else was new? She desperately tried to reach the middle of her back with the cold pack Qiqi had given her, cleverly embedded with Cryo to keep it cold. “If Ningguang knew, she’d definitely kick Childe and his Fatui agents to the curb!”

Childe’s continued stay in Liyue was a source of contention. But that was what happened when his organization owned their currency. There wasn’t a whole lot Ningguang or anyone could do without jeopardizing Liyue as a whole. Childe got away with barely a slap on the wrist. One more thing for Lumine to be angry about. She should keep a list.

“No point,” Lumine gritted out between clenched teeth. This was a reoccurring fight between her and the fairy. “You know this.”

Paimon huffed loudly. “Still. It wouldn’t kill you to be selfish.”

That got a chuckle out of Lumine. Actually, she thought, it very well might.

#

Teucer changed everything.

Lumine couldn’t believe it. She literally could not wrap her brain around the knowledge that Childe was her soulmate.

It infuriated her how Childe basically dropped his little brother off at her feet and unanimously gave her babysitting duty. But what could she do? Leave the kid alone, when he’d already proven to have no sense of self-preservation when it came to traveling to unknown lands and playing with a literal war machine?

So she played tour guide. She even let Teucer follow Childe to watch him give some speech to the new Fatui recruits, selfishly hoping he outed himself as definitely not a toy seller.

And then he had to go and be a—questionably, but authentically—good big brother. Even Lumine could admit that.

And it was when Teucer was gone, on his way to a ship that would take him back to Snezhnaya, that Childe touched her hand with his—for the first time—ungloved hand that the soulmate bond clicked into place.

Lumine had heard the stories. Tyvat was unique in that there were actual soulmates. She’d never seen or heard of that phenomenon before, not on any of the previous worlds she and Aether had been to.

Jean and Lisa. Kaeya and Rosaria. Venti and the boy his appearance was molded after.

It had been explained to Lumine by Amber that the soulmate bond only would click into place once the soulmate pair touched skin-to-skin.

He never touched me before, Lumine now thought a little hysterically. He hurt me so badly without even really touching me.

And then: I hate him.

Chide was looking at her with something like surprise, hurt, and—finally—possession in his eyes. Lumine didn’t care for it.

“No,” she whispered, more to herself than to him. “No,” she repeated, louder, glaring into Childe’s too-blue eyes.

Eyes like the sky she and Aether had once flown in. Eyes the color of the ocean he’d released the Sea God out of.

Childe had tightened his grip on Lumine’s hand without her noticing. She yanked it out of his hold, felt a twinge in her wrist from the effort that vaguely reminded her of when he’d sprained her wrist in the Golden House.

She viciously hoped she’d left him with scars, too.

“Hello, soulmate,” Childe purred.

“Fuck off,” she spat. And then she punched him in the face.

She’d wanted to do that for some time now. She figured now was as good a time as ever, and she really, really needed that look to leave his eyes.

Childe chuckled, wiping the smear of blood on his cracked lip. She wasn’t sure if that was from her punch or from using his Foul Legacy transformation on the Ruin Guards. She found she didn’t care, only that the sight of his blood brought forth a sense of victory. Even if it was a small, petty one.

Thank the gods Teucer wasn’t still there to witness this.

If Aether were there, he would kill Childe. Lumine knew this. She couldn’t tell if she wanted that to happen or not. Mostly because her own homicidal rage was stroked.

“Well, if I’d known that would be your reaction after touching you, I would’ve done it back at the Golden House.”

Lumine snarled. “If I remember correctly, I beat you in the Golden House.”

His eyes flashed and his lips curled. “So you did. I’d love to repeat the experience with you . . . though I can’t promise the outcome will be the same.”

“Well, it would be difficult for you to summon a Sea God twice. The Qixing would have your head.”

“I’m always up for a challenge,” Childe teased. His grin was feral.

It was at that moment a spasm of pain raced down her lower back. Lumine gritted her teeth. She needed to leave the bank. For so many reasons.

“Challenge yourself,” Lumine gritted out. “I’m leaving.”

Childe’s hand shot out and caught her elbow when she tried to brush by him. Lumine turned, a snide remark already on the tip of her tongue, but before she could say anything, Childe looked at her with serious eyes and said, “We need to talk about this.”

“If by ‘this,’ you mean your utter lack of adhering to social norms for personal space, then I am not nearly qualified or patient enough for it.”

One side of his mouth twitched. “We’re soulmates,” he simply said.

“And you’re a Fatui Harbinger. And I’m the Honorary Knight of Mondstadt and the woman who defeated you and a freaking Sea God. You and I both know nothing good could ever come of this. So why don’t you and I just pretend this” —she gestured with her free hand to the space between them— “never happened. You can try to kill me again another day, but right now, I’m leaving.”

Lumine yanked her arm out of his hold and quickly walked out of the bank, making a point to not look back.

Paimon was going to have a field day with this.

#

Lumine made the executive decision that she would die before she admitted she still wasn’t over Childe’s (and Zhongli’s, though for different reasons) betrayal to the involved parties.

Chalk it up to pride, but there were some things Lumine wasn’t interested in putting herself through. One of which included seeing Childe’s demeaning expression if he were to ever find out. She could practically hear him saying, “I told you I was kind of a bad guy. It’s your own fault for trusting me, girlie.”

Yeah, no thanks.

If Zhongli ever found out, Lumine knew he would simply give her a lecture on how his priorities were first and foremost to Liyue, and how could she ever compete?

He wouldn’t say it so callously, of course. But the gist would be the same.

And now she and Childe were apparently soulmates. Lovely. Just to add the icing on the cake of her unpleasant stay in this world.

(Not really. There was still Venti and Amber and Kaeya, even though he was an unapologetic flirt. And Jean and Lisa and pretty much everyone else in Mondstadt. Why oh why couldn’t Aether have been there? Then she never would’ve needed to travel to Liyue and could’ve saved herself the heartbreak.

When she did find Aether, Lumine was going to have some choice words for him.)

Paimon did, of course, have a field day with this new information. Her little face had gotten so red Lumine was a tad worried the fairy was going to implode. That would’ve been messy.

“Paimon told you that Fatui Harbinger was no good!”

“Yes, yes,” Lumine mumbled, her face buried in her hands. “You were right. You were right from the beginning. Happy now?”

Paimon paused from her frantic flying around the tiny room Lumine was renting. “Paimon isn’t happy! You’re sad and Childe took advantage of you! Paimon is going to beat him up the next time Paimon sees him!”

Lumine was touched.

#

Lumine made the decision to go back to Mondstadt as soon as possible. There were clearly no leads on Aether here, and she hadn’t made any progress on finding a way into Inazuma. Maybe Jean would know a way?

Besides that, Lumine wanted to put as much distance between her and Childe as possible. Liyue was crawling with Fatui, and while they were still in Mondstadt, the important part was that her apparent soulmate—she shuddered at the word—was not there.

Lumine visited Qiqi one last time to see if the little zombie girl had found something else for her back during her research, but there hadn’t been any luck there. So Lumine packed her scarce belongings and started on her trek to Mondstadt.

She wasn’t even to Wangshu Inn when a large group of Fatui agents jumped her.

The first three went down easily enough, but then her back seized up. She’d been studiously ignoring the way it seemed to get worse the longer the distance she had to walk, and now it was biting her in the ass.

Lumine gasped for air as the other four agents surrounded her. It was taking all her strength not to kneel over. Sensing weakness, the four Fatui agents pounced.

And were promptly cut down.

Hydro blades took up her vision, and Lumine knew instantly who it was. Childe didn’t even bother to address his fellow Fatui members. It was over in seconds.

When he turned around, slightly spattered with blood, Lumine’s breath caught in her throat.

Childe’s eyes were wide in excitement and bloodthirstiness. It reminded her too intensely of the Golden House.

Her pulse pounded in her throat as her mind screamed at her to run away, fly away, get away get away get away—

But waves of pain mapped across her back, and Lumine was a ball of nothing but fear and agony and rage.

She chose to focus on the rage.

“What,” she gritted out between clenched teeth, “the fuck.”

Even Lumine didn’t know what in particular she was asking. It hadn’t sounded like a question when it came out of her mouth. Why was he there? How had he known she needed help? Had he sent these Fatui agents after her just so he could play hero?

Endless possibilities. Endless manipulations.

Childe grinned at her, all his teeth on display. It was so different from the closed lipped mask he typically wore.

“The proper thing to say is ‘Thank you, Childe, for saving my ass.’”

“Go to hell.”

“That is literally the opposite of what I just said, girlie. Your listening skills need some work.”

It was at that moment Paimon chose to make her entrance, popping out of thin air. “You piece of Fatui scum! This is all your fault!”

Childe raised one eyebrow. “Many things are my fault, but not this one. I had no part in these agents’ actions.” He paused, tilting his head and thinking. “Well, at least not this time.” He held up his hands in a what-can-you-do? gesture.

Paimon put her hands on her hips and glared at the Harbinger. “Paimon finds it hard to believe you just so happened to stumble upon the Traveler as these Fatui agents were about to strike her down!”

Lumine knew that if she didn’t start walking now, she wouldn’t make it to Wangshu Inn by nightfall. And she really didn’t feel up to sleeping outside, where any hilichurl could sneak up on her.

Slowly, Lumine started walking in the direction of the Inn, knowing Paimon could catch up to her later.

A body blocked her path. Bile rose in Lumine’s throat at how her body had to come to a sudden stop so as not to run into his chest. The pain traveled up her neck, and she could feel a migraine coming on.

“Get out of my way,” she said to Childe, who was now looking down at her with a frown.

“Where are you injured?” he asked.

Lumine wanted to laugh, but it would hurt too much. “You want a list?” she mumbled. Her energy was waning. Fast. “Move.”

To her surprise, he did. Lumine got ten more steps in before she saw the ground rising up to meet her, and everything went dark.

#

Lumine awoke with a gasp lodged in her throat.

She bolted upright in a way that sent white hot pain down her back. No surprise there.

She was in a surprisingly soft bed. And she was alone in the room. If she had to guess, Lumine was pretty sure she was at Wangshu Inn. The decorations at least looked to have the same theme as the Inn.

She took inventory. Her back throbbed in pain, but it was bearable now that she wasn’t moving. She no longer felt dizzy or nauseous. In fact, if she didn’t know any better, Lumine would say this was the best she’d felt in months.

She remembered falling, and Childe being there, covered in the blood of his fellow Fatui agents, one gloved hand reaching out towards her.

Dammit. That most likely meant he caught her and took her here. If she was very, very lucky, he would have already left. Lumine didn’t hold onto that hope, however, when the door to her room swung open.

“Good morning, soulmate,” Childe greeted, far too happily. He was carrying a tray with food on it. “Or should I say, good evening.”

Lumine frowned and glanced out the window. There was no light coming in through the closed blinds.

“How long was I out?” she asked.

“Almost a full day. I’d say you needed it.”

Yes, she had. Lumine was surprised her mind allowed her to sleep for that long. Typically she was only able to get a few hours of sleep each night. Camping outside required her to be a light sleeper, so as not to get jumped by hilichurls or Fatui agents.

Not to mention the very soft bed she was currently sitting on.

“Where’s Paimon?”

Childe shrugged after he put the tray down in her lap, handing her a pair of chopsticks. “No idea. She popped away to another dimension, I’d assume.”

And leave her to deal with Childe. Great.

Lumine picked up what looked to be a piece of chicken with her chopsticks, plopping it in her mouth.

Childe watched her. “How do you even do that?”

“What?”

“Eat with those . . .” He made a motion with his hands that Lumine assumed was meant to mimic using chopsticks. “Sticks.”

She clicked her chopsticks at him. “Talent.”

He scrunched his face up. “Sorcery,” he countered.

She shrugged. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

He laughed then, and Lumine’s stomach did a little flip. She could tell that laugh had been genuine, and a part of her hated how she could tell the difference between the mask he wore and real emotion.

She hated him. (She didn’t.) She wanted him to leave her alone. (That was partially true.)

“So . . . ,” he started, and Lumine tensed. “You going to tell me why you almost face planted in the dirt, girlie?”

“Nope.”

“It wasn’t really a question.”

“Too bad.”

“The healer said you were so exhausted that it was a wonder you’d been standing at all, let alone able to fight,” he hissed out between clenched teeth. His eyes took on a new look in them, one Lumine had never seen directed at her before. “I had you fall into my arms. You weren’t even so exhausted after our fight. Or even when you stumbled into the Northland Bank when Signora was there with me and Zhongli.”

“How would you know,” she said slowly, “when you’re the last person I would show weakness to.”

Childe reared back. Just a little. His eyes were challenging. “I would’ve noticed if you were that weak.”

Lumine bared her teeth. “No,” she whispered, “you wouldn’t.”

“Tell me what’s wrong with you,” he demanded. “Tell me where you’re hurt.”

“Didn’t the healer tell you?”

Childe let out a frustrated sound. “She couldn’t find any physical wounds.”

Qiqi had been the only one to locate her pain. Apparently it was just a slight off balance of her vertebrae, barely noticeable unless you were looking for it. Lumine was thankful this healer hadn’t found it as well.

“Well, there’s your answer,” Lumine said nonchalantly.

“Why are you being so stubborn about this?” Childe growled. “I’m trying to help you.”

Maybe it was because she had had a decent night’s sleep and a warm meal, but Lumine found herself unafraid. She knew, looking at him, that she could walk away from him and still be whole.

“Why?” she parroted. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I know you’ll use any weakness against me. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but at some point down the line your Tsarista will order you to kill me or betray me again, and I don’t want to give you one more thing to use against me.”

He stared at her. “That’s what you think?”

She gave a harsh laugh. “I know that’s what will happen. You’ve already done it once.” Fool me once, shame on you, Lumine thought to herself. Fool me twice . . .

“I don’t trust you,” she said flatly. “You made sure of that.”

“I didn’t know,” Childe gritted out, hurt. “I didn’t know Signora had her own plans, or that you would find the gnosis before me, or that Zhongli was using both of us. I certainly never planned to hurt you.”

Lumine stared at him, agape. He could not possibly think she was that stupid. “‘I’m kind of a bad guy,’ ‘Don’t disappoint me,’ ‘But now, you’re nothing but dross—and you’re in my way,’ ‘I won’t kill you, Traveler. I’ll just play along—to feel the thrill of battle.’”

He stared at her, wide-eyed. It was an expression she had never seen on him before. “What—”

“Those are all the things you said to me,” she continued. “I understood your position as a Harbinger. I understood that your moral code was . . . skewed. But that doesn’t negate the fact that when you thought I had stolen the gnosis before you could get it, that promise to not kill me went out the window. And then, after I bested you in battle, you released a Sea God, sent more Fatui agents . . . All knowing that I would ensure Liyue was safe, no matter the cost.

“And then,” Lumine went on, unnaturally calm, “I walk into the bank to see you, Zhongli, and . . . that . . . that woman,” she hissed out, fists clenched, “looking just fine. And I had the wonderful realization that it wasn’t just you I should have expected to use me for their own gain.

“You have absolutely no idea what I sacrificed to ensure a foreign city was safe, all because I somehow got sucked into a world of manipulations and schemes while I tried to help strangers.” Lumine locked eyes with him. “I won’t be forgetting that.”

Childe blinked at her. “Fatui agents?”

Lumine frowned. “What?”

“You said Fatui agents were sent to you after our battle at the Golden House,” he said. “I didn’t send any agents to find you, girlie.”

Lumine shook her head. “So Signora did. Great. Don’t particularly care. You’re all Fatui.”

“You don’t understand,” Childe said, more emotion in his voice this time.

“Of course not,” she scoffed. “No one in this world is capable of being truthful, so clearly I don’t understand. And I don’t particularly care to. I only want to find my brother.”

She was done with helping strangers. Stormterror had been fine; she’d never felt manipulated into helping Mondstadt. Liyue had been different.

“I didn’t know,” Childe said vehemently. “I didn’t know about Zhongli’s deal with Signora, or how he was using you. I didn’t know about the Fatui agents or that you were going to go battle a fucking Sea God right after our fight.”

She stared at him for a moment, then laughed. She didn’t think he was understanding exactly how powerful Osial had been. “What did you expect me to do? Fight you—unnecessarily, I might add—and then see you release a monster to crush Liyue and just leave? Like, ‘oh, guess it’s time for me to bow out now’?”

Lumine gave him a look that perfectly portrayed what-the-fuck?

Childe made a frustrated noise and ran a hand through his hair. “What does this have to do with the reason you fainted yesterday?”

“Because you dropped me several stories and then used your Foul Legacy transformation, you idiot. Not to mention that I then had adepti energy put into me to make sure I could still fight a God. That tends to leave a mark.”

Childe went very, very still. “That was all months ago,” he said flatly.

Lumine just stared at him. She was just so done.

“Get out,” she said flatly. “We’re done.”

“Lumine—”

“Now.”

And he left.

She didn’t hear from him for five months after that.

#

The day she did see Childe for the first time since he’d carried her to Wangshu Inn was after Lumine had finally made her way into Inazuma.

It was also the day she met the Electro Archon.

It went poorly, to say the least. Thoma had been kidnapped, his Vision almost taken, and Lumine realized too late that she was ill-prepared to take on the Archon.

To be fair, this wasn’t how Lumine had wanted the meeting to go. But she’d had to improvise.

Thoma had cut his bindings and carried her away. She was still in his arms when they ran into Childe.

Literally ran into him. If it hadn’t been for Childe’s hands shooting out to steady them, both she and Thoma would have toppled back and fallen. Guards were following them still; Lumine could distantly hear orders being barked out behind them.

Childe’s mouth opened when he saw who it was he was holding onto. His eyes darted to Thoma behind her, then over their shoulders, and then back to her. Assessing her. Her injuries, her panting breath.

His grip went tight. Without a word, Childe had scooped her up and was racing back from where he’d come, a distant yell from Thoma behind them. Over Childe’s shoulder, Lumine could see a head of blonde hair trailing after them.

They twisted left and right, Childe never breaking his pace. They ended up outside the city, feet on a grassy plain, when Childe gently—so gently—set her down. Lumine wobbled on her feet, and Childe’s hands were steady on her arms, keeping her upright.

“How is it,” Childe began, “that you find trouble in any city you visit, girlie?”

Lumine gave a wet cough. “Not on purpose.”

Childe looked at her with blatant concern in his eyes. It terrified her.

Thoma caught up to them, panting and out of breath. Childe barely glanced his way.

“Lumine,” Thoma panted. “Are you okay?”

“Does she look okay to you?” Childe growled out.

Lumine gave Thoma a faint smile. “Looks worse than it is,” she reassured him.

That was a lie. Every part of her ached. She didn’t want to think about what she’d feel like tomorrow morning.

Childe saw through her words. “I’m taking you to a healer.”

“No!” Thoma shouted, glaring at Childe. “Those guards are looking for us; they’ll be watching any healer in the city just for that reason.”

Childe didn’t look at him. “I never said they’ll be an Inazuma healer.”

Lumine narrowed her eyes. “I’m not going to a Fatui healer.”

“And why not?”

“I know better than to be indebted to the Fatui.”

Childe rolled his eyes. “Don’t be stubborn. There won’t be any debt between us.”

“Sounds like a lie.”

Childe huffed out a breath. “I swear that seeing a Fatui healer will be free of charge and that there will be no expectation that you will ever be required to pay us back in any currency. Good enough?”

That was . . . pretty airtight. And her side was beginning to throb in a disconcerting way, intensifying by the second.

“Fine,” she said softly. “If you promise—”

“I do.”

“—then I’ll have to believe you.”

Childe’s eyes gleamed in a way that made her stomach drop, a grin stretching his lips out. Thoma was watching them avidly. She wondered what he was thinking. She wondered if he knew what kind of man was in front of him: a Fatui Harbinger. Lumine should warn him at the first opportunity, just in case.

“For now,” Lumine added, looking back at Childe.

He understood what she meant.

#

The Fatui presence in Inazuma was much more incognito than it had been in Mondstadt or Liyue. They weren’t staying in a hotel or running a bank. Instead, Childe took her to a little shop outside of the city, meeting a nondescript girl inside. She was cooking something when they walked in, and the moment she noticed Childe, she jumped to her feet.

“Sir—” she began, her eyes widening at the sight of Lumine.

“Heal her,” Childe ordered, his tone icy.

The girl jumped to obey.

The girl—Lumine really needed to ask for her name—was bandaging the wound on her side, having applied a salve that was burning so badly Lumine was wondering if her skin was melting, though the girl had assured her differently. The boys were in a different room at Lumine’s insistence. She’s had to undress so the girl could gain access to her side, and Lumine had promised death unto either man who tried to watch her struggle out of her dress. Childe had grinned in challenge—“But how will I know you’re getting good treatment, girlie?”—before Thoma had nearly dragged him out. Lumine was surprised he’d allowed that.

It was after Lumine let out a particularly creative expletive that the girl spoke. “You’re not Fatui,” she said. It was a statement, not a question.

Even so, Lumine nodded.

The girl swallowed thickly. “You must be pretty important.”

Lumine huffed, then winced when the girl pulled the wrapping a little too hard. The girl gave a quiet apology in response.

“Childe,” Lumine sighed, “is an idiot.”

A thud was heard from the other room, followed by a harsh sound from Thoma.

“They better not be fighting,” Lumine said idly. “I’ll kick their asses if they are.”

The girl had gone still after hearing Lumine call a Harbinger an idiot. Shock painted her face, and Lumine forced a smile. “I say that with the utmost respect, of course.”

A louder thud from the other room. Thoma gave what sounded like a high pitched scream.

“Childe is . . . ,” the girl started, thinking hard. “Interesting. An exceptional Harbinger for the Tsarista, of course.”

“And an asshole,” Lumine added helpfully. “With respect.”

The girl laughed, then covered her mouth in shock and fear at her own response. “We should not speak this way when he could overhear us.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Lumine said. “I say it to his face, too.”

#

Childe was hovering.

It was getting more than a little annoying, and Lumine was starting to think that the only way she was going to get him to leave her alone for more than five minutes at a time was to knock him unconscious. Which posed a problem since his head was made of steel and he saw fighting as foreplay.

Thoma had left at her behest. He needed to check in with Ayaka and start planning on what they were all going to do moving forward. Lumine had fought the Raiden Shogun. She had stolen Thoma’s Vision back. If Lumine already hadn’t had a giant bullseye painted on her back in Inazuma, she did now.

Posters had already been pasted on every available surface of her face and Thoma’s. It was a sorry caricature of the posters all over Mondstadt and Liyue, asking for information on her brother. Only this time they were wanted posters for a criminal.

Childe found all this highly amusing. “You should really just join the Fatui,” he’d said, grinning. “You’ve already garnered the same reputation as us in Inazuma, after all.”

Lumine had only sneered in response. Childe had laughed.

She wondered if she should find Kazuha. Go back and find Beidou’s ship and glide along with the Inazuma criminal. There clearly wasn’t anything for her here. Perhaps it was time to move on, just as she always did.

But then she thought of Ayaka and Thoma, and how they were still stuck here. Their homeland that they would not abandon, where they were criminals for having Visions. How they had begged her to help them with the Sokoku Decree. Not even Kazuha could return until such a thing was done.

But there was still so much land in Inazuma yet to be explored. And it wouldn’t hurt to make more friends here. That had gone a long way in both Mondstadt and Liyue.

“I mean, fighting the Shogun is pretty badass,” Childe now went on. Lumine had only partially been paying attention to what he was saying. “But not if you end up like this, girlie.”

“I hadn’t exactly been expecting to fight her.” Lumine had thought she’d have to smuggle Thoma out from under the Raiden Shogun’s nose, not fight the Archon.

“You held your own against me,” Childe pointed out. “And you weren’t expecting to fight me in the Golden House.”

Lumine didn’t flinch at the reminder. She counted it as a success. “For all your bolstering, you’re not a god, Childe.”

“Well, not yet.”

She ignored that.

“So when are you going to let me help you, girlie?”

The question shocked her. Not so much because of the question itself, but because of how he asked it.

Lumine had learned that while Childe was almost always smiling, his eyes were dead. Fish eyes, she’d first thought in Liyue. Dead eyes.

He was remarkably good at convincing people to trust him. To believe that he would help them for no benefit of his own. But that was a lie. His Tsarista was his priority. The Fatui. He breathed loyalty. He’d released a Sea God in the name of his loyalty.

Lumine knew better. So she was able to pick out his truths from his lies a little easier than she’d once been able to. His words sounded better when he was lying—more palatable. His truths were rough, angry things. And that was how she knew he was asking an authentic question and was looking for an authentic answer.

It scared her.

“Help with what?” she asked tentatively.

He scoffed. “As if you don’t know.”

Ah, yes. There was her anger. “Oh, fuck off,” she snapped.

Childe looked so taken aback that Lumine couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“I can count on one hand the number of people who’ve spoken to me like that,” he hissed after getting his bearings. Then he paused. “Maybe two hands. My family is large.”

“I wouldn’t want to inflate your ego any more than it already is. Your head is already in danger of exploding.”

Childe put a dramatic hand over his heart. “Cruel, cruel woman. But no—I’m being serious.”

“So am I.”

He let out a put-upon sigh, looking heavenwards. “I’m talking about your chronic pain.”

She froze. “You can’t help me with that.”

He looked at her intently. “The soulmate bond can heal you.”

Her heart stopped for one, two, three moments. “No.”

“No?”

“No.”

“And why not?”

“Do you want the list in alphabetical order or by importance?” she asked seriously.

He just stared at her.

“You’re the one who gave me this pain.”

“In my defense—”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I was going to say it wasn’t on purpose. But thanks for that.” He waved an idle hand in a continue motion. It set her teeth on edge.

“You’re a Harbinger of the Fatui.”

“And?”

She stared at him in astonishment. “You’re kidding.”

“No,” he said seriously, “I’m not. Tell me your reasons for hating my status so much.”

She held her fist up, still closed. She extended one finger as she ticked off each new reason. “One, all my friends hate the Fatui.” Pointer finger extended. “Two, I’ve been attacked by many, many Fatui agents even though I have done nothing to warrant it.” Middle finger extended. “Three, you purposefully manipulated me for your Tsarista’s goals.” Ring finger extended. “Four, you threw me through a fucking floor.” Pinky extended. “And five, you will most definitely use and betray me again.” She held out her open hand for him to see.

Childe watched her for a long moment. “Is that it?”

“You—!”

He held up a hand, a mirror of what she had just done. “I understand your concerns, but I’m not asking you to trust me. The soulmate bond can be completed by you simply accepting me as your soulmate and poof!—no more pain.”

“Sounds like a trap to me.”

Childe rolled his eyes. “Paranoid much?”

Lumine silently counted to ten in her head. “I hate you,” she said.

He smiled. “I know. That’s what makes this so interesting.”

She scowled. “Why do you even care?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re the one who hurt me—”

“By accident!” he interjected.

“—in the first place. Then we find out we’re ‘soulmates.’” She used air quotations around the word. “And now you want to complete the bond so I’m healed. What’s in it for you?”

“Does there have to be something in it for me?”

She deadpanned. “Yes.”

He sighed in a you-caught-me way. “Fine, fine. You caught me. I have discovered that I do not want to live without you and wish to elope to Snezhnaya on the back of a white horse.”

She stared.

“Aaannndddd . . . I may feel the tiniest bit guilty for being the reason you’re in pain.”

She stared.

“And that you can’t fight as well anymore.”

“There it is,” she mumbled.

“Look at how sensitive I am!” he exclaimed. “You got a pretty good soulmate, huh?”

Despite herself, Lumine found herself unable to hold back a smile. A small one. And she hadn’t been as aware of her debilitating pain since they’d started bantering.

Fuck.

#

They completed the soulmate bond.

It wasn’t a grand affair, despite the way Childe had carried on about throwing a bonding party—because apparently that was a thing—to mark the occasion.

“We’re probably going to end up killing each other at some point,” Lumine pointed out when he brought it up, “so that’s probably not the best idea.”

He pouted, but didn’t dispute that.

It was all rather simple. Lumine just took some time to herself, thought long and hard about the benefits and consequences of it all, and when she’d made the decision, the bond had snapped into place.

She was surprised at how easy it was. How little effort she’d had to exert. But there was a noticeable difference . . .

She could feel Childe.

She knew instinctively where he was in the house. She just had to reach for him in her mind. She would bet what little Mora she had left that it went both ways.

It meant they’d never be able to sneak up on each other again.

Lumine took a few deep breaths before going out and seeing Childe again. She had to calm down. She had to withhold the urge to punch him in his smug face when she saw him for the first time after completing the soulmate bond.

Her pain was gone.

Completely gone. Not so much as a twinge of discomfort. For the first time since the Golden House, Lumine felt like she could breathe.

She thought about Childe and his dead eyes. She thought about Signora and her plans. She thought about the Tsarista and Childe’s loyalty. She thought about what this all meant going forward.

Lumine found she could live with the burden of this bond. Aether was who mattered. He’d left her once; she didn’t intend to give him the chance to do it again. And if this was a price she needed to pay to do that . . .

Well. She’d done worse things.

Idly, Lumine wondered how many people Childe had hurt—even killed. How many people he’d deceived. She wondered what she was willing to accept.

Suddenly, Childe barged into the room. He looked a little more frantic. A little more unhinged. His eyes weren’t dead.

“Ajax,” he said.

Lumine frowned. “What?”

“My name. It’s Ajax.”

“Just how many names do you have?” Lumime griped.

He laughed lowly. “Just call me Ajax in private. Childe or Tartaglia are fine with other people around.”

She watched him—really watched him. Something was different—more intense about him since she’d last seen him.

“What is it?” she asked seriously.

“This bond is . . .” He clenched his jaw. “More intense than I was expecting.”

More . . . intense. That didn’t sound good. “How so?”

“I can feel you,” he said.

She shrugged. “I can feel you, too.”

“No.” He shook his ginger head. “I feel you in a way that means it will be almost impossible for us to separate for any length of time.”

There was more than that to it, though. Lumine could see it in his eyes. “And?” she choked out.

He met her eyes. “Frankly, I want to drag you somewhere safe and protected and never let you out of my sight again. But I also want you to be happy and in my bed.”

Lumine was struck silent. “I just feel like I want to punch you,” she said blandly.

Childe—Ajax—threw his head back and laughed. She looked at the long line of his throat. “I’m relieved. At least one of us is thinking with a clear head.”

But she wasn’t. Not really. Upon his sudden entrance to her room—which was damn rude—Lumine had felt a teeth grinding compulsion to lunge at him and either punch him or kiss him or bite that long throat. Maybe all three.

But she wasn’t going to tell him that. “So where does that leave us?” she asked.

Ajax sighed, his body still coiled tight. So unlike the casual posture she almost always saw him with. “I know you’ve said you won’t join the Fatui—”

She glared.

He held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Fine, fine. But I truly don’t think the side effects of the bond will allow us to be separated from each other,” he said, then swallowed hard. “And I don’t think I would be able to stop myself from finding you.”

“Stalker,” she said dryly. There was no heat behind it.

A twist of his lips was all she got in response to her quip. It might have been amusement. “So it’s up to you on how you want to navigate this. Think about it here, rest, and then we can get moving.”

Lumine nodded. It was a solid plan.

“How’s the pain?” Ajax asked.

She didn’t look at him as she said, “Completely gone.”

His grin could have nourished her for days. And despite herself, Lumine almost felt . . fond.

Dammit.

This changed things. This changed everything.