Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“What are you talking about?” Isaac asked, backtracking into the room. Maverick followed him, shutting the door behind them for some semblance of privacy.
Elijah wasn’t sure how much Alistair was aware of what he’d seen that morning, nor did he know how much he’d told his little brother. He didn’t want to share things Alistair didn’t want shared. But he couldn’t explain himself without sharing at least part of it.
“It’s okay, Eli,” Alistair encouraged, a deep frown on his face. “Tell us what you saw.”
Blowing out a breath, Elijah nodded. “Okay. This morning, I accidentally slipped into one of Alistair’s nightmares. In it, he was kneeling on the ground and bleeding while a dark elf stood over him.”
Isaac sucked in a sharp breath, eyes wide, so obviously Alistair had never chosen to share that particular piece of information with his brother. Elijah looked at him to make sure he could continue. Alistair nodded once, reassuring him again that it was alright.
“The elf was reaching for him with some kind of spell. To me, it looked like a psychic spell.”
It wasn’t easy to tell the difference, and anyone who hadn’t been trained to cast mind spells might not have recognized it.
But to Elijah, he noticed it because he’d seen his own magic act like that when he was still learning to control it.
His father explained to him the danger of that kind of magic and what could potentially happen if he didn’t learn to control himself.
It was one of the few things he’d taken the time to explain himself.
Most of Elijah’s lessons came from schooling and self study.
“What kind of psychic spell?” Isaac asked. Maverick stood behind him, putting a supportive hand on his mate’s shoulder, like he could tell whatever answer Elijah gave, it wasn’t going to be easy to swallow.
Elijah shook his head. “I can’t answer that without taking a deeper look. It was only a few seconds. It could be anything from memory manipulation to…”
Isaac straightened, his worried frown deepening. “To what?”
Elijah turned to look at Alistair, his lips pressed together in a thin line. “It could explain why you couldn’t keep track of reality. If the spell was intricate enough, it could mess with your perception of what’s real and what’s not.”
Alistair leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands covering his mouth as he considered that.
Elijah felt the emotions roiling through him; the pain of the memory and the fury that the person who did this to him was still screwing with him after this long.
Years had passed and he still couldn’t function on his own.
He’d had to cut himself off from everything and everyone he loved to stay sane.
Kneeling in front of him, Elijah took his hands, squeezing them gently.
“If it is what I think it is, I believe I can help you.” He didn’t want to promise too much before he’d even taken a good look, but with their anchor bond, there should be little that he’d be unable to do for his anchor’s sake.
Elijah’s magic literally flowed through Alistair now.
He could feel the difference between Alistair’s mind and any foreign magic that didn’t belong there.
He was mostly confident he could remove anything that didn’t belong.
Alistair’s eyes misted over, squeezing Elijah’s hands tightly. “You really think you can fix me?”
“I’m willing to try. In order to do it, though, I’ll need full access to your mind. Every memory, every secret. I’ll need to see it all to make sure I remove everything that doesn’t belong there. We’re connected now but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve your privacy.”
“I trust you, Eli,” Alistair assured him.
Needing to do something to ease the pain in his boyfriend’s chest, Elijah leaned in to press a soft kiss to his lips, leaning their foreheads together and sending as much love and comfort he could through their bond.
“When?” Isaac asked after a moment. “Can we do it here? Now? Will he be able to remove the bands right away?”
“Slow down, my heart,” Maverick said. “This is complicated magic. Doing anything here wouldn’t be safe.”
Letting out a breath, Elijah pulled far enough away from Alistair to look at Isaac over his shoulder.
“He’s right. While my magic doesn’t have a physical manifestation, it’s possible with something this intricate that people might feel it.
I’m not sure how it would affect them. I’ve never done something like this before.
Some place private is best.” He thought about the years of studying he’d done on his powers.
In order to figure out how to suppress it, he’d learned everything he could about telepathy and what he could do with the power given to him.
“Somewhere he feels safe might be best.”
“Home?” Isaac offered. “We grew up in the silver realm. I know it’s where I felt the most safe, at least until I mated.”
Alistair nodded, then frowned, glancing at Elijah. “You have loyalty interviews this afternoon.”
Elijah shook his head. “I’ll cancel. You’re my priority, Alistair.”
“Agatha will want to know about this,” Maverick pointed out. “And she’ll need time to prepare. If the bands are removed, Alistair’s magic will be volatile. I’ve heard of mages leveling forests when their magic had been suppressed for too long. We need to make sure we’re ready.”
From the looks on everyone’s faces, no one had thought about that.
Elijah had never been around another supe who suppressed their magic, other than himself.
He hadn’t even considered it when he stopped the first time.
He was grateful that releasing his magic hadn’t had that kind of affect. He’d been at Isaac’s at the time.
“This weekend?” Alistair asked.
Elijah could feel his anchor’s apprehension; he was afraid to hope.
He didn’t take offense. This was a big deal, and Elijah had never done this kind of magic before.
But he didn’t care how difficult it was.
If he could use his magic to help the most important person in his life, he’d use all of it to pull it off.
Let’s not go that far.
Elijah just stuck his tongue out at him. Nothing Alistair could say or do would change how he felt about it. He’d give up every ounce of magic to make Alistair happy.
With a plan in place and Isaac in charge of informing their clan leader and setting things up, there was nothing more they could do for now.
Isaac suggested getting the loyalty interviews over with so there would be less for Elijah to worry about when the weekend rolled around.
Elijah agreed. He wanted to do more research, see if anyone else had done anything similar in response to this kind of spell.
Any information he could find might be helpful.
Brennus was waiting for them when they entered the smaller conference room where the interviews were held. His eyes were bright and happy, and he made a clicking sound with his beak that griffins only made when they were in a good mood.
“I spoke to Phoebe. She’s ecstatic for you. She wants you to come over for dinner so we can celebrate properly. Perhaps Wednesday night? She wanted to do it tonight, but I don’t want her running around like a headless chicken trying to pull it all together in only a few hours.”
Warmth spread through him and Elijah beamed at his friend. “Wednesday sounds good. Can I bring anything?”
“Just your new anchor.”
Alistair dipped his chin in agreement. “We’ll be there. How many interviews do we have today?”
“Two,” Elijah answered. “We were supposed to have more, but a few asked to reschedule. They mentioned deadlines they needed to meet, and given how short staffed we are, I figured a day or two wouldn’t hurt.”
Both Brennus and Alistair gave him a flat look, clearly they didn’t agree, but Elijah ignored them both.
He was in a good mood, and he didn’t want to ruin it, chasing down people who were afraid to meet with him.
If he was lucky, a day or two of interviews that went normally would make them comfortable meeting with him.
Alistair leaned in, smacking a kiss on his cheek. “One day you’re going to tell me how you managed to become such an optimist.”
“Fate brought me you. I’m inclined to trust her,” Elijah quipped as he sat at the conference table.
Brennus chuckled, shaking his head. “Newly bonded mates are so cute. I assume I won’t have to speak with you about appropriate workplace behavior with your mate? I’ve had the conversation three times now with Taron.”
Elijah felt his cheeks flushed, and he shook his head, but Alistair’s thoughts on the matter made him think there was potential they’d face that lecture at one point.
Alistair!
What? You’re cute, and there’s a couch in your office.
Images of what they could get up to flashed through his head, though he wasn’t sure if they came from him or from Alistair. His face burned hotter, and he nearly swallowed his tongue when Brennus cocked his head in question.
“Elijah? Are you feeling unwell?”
“Nope!” he squeaked, then cleared his throat and tried again. “I’m fine, thank you. Just… a little hot. Is it warm in here?”
Alistair seemed to turn himself in just the right way to hide his expression from Brennus, a shit eating grin overtaking his gorgeous evil face. His shoulders shook in a poor attempt at hiding his laughter, though he tried his best to cover his mouth with his hand.
Thankfully, a knock on the door interrupted the conversation before Brennus could ask any more questions.
Elijah drew in a steadying breath, pushing any thoughts of Alistair and his office couch out of his head when a selkie with a scowl on her face came into the room.
She narrowed her eyes on him, lifting her chin defiantly.
Elijah bit back a sigh. So much for maintaining his good mood.
Alistair straightened, his mood shifting as his protectiveness flared. With their new bond in place, Alistiar would be able to tell if anyone was causing Elijah any grief. He felt the need to warn his boyfriend against doing anything drastic.
I don’t want you kicked out of the office. If I can’t handle things on my own, I’ll let you know, but for now, the best thing you can do for me is be here. Let me handle the rest.
Alistair didn't look happy about it, but he gave a small nod of agreement. Of course, promising to behave didn’t extend to the look on his face.
His darkly stoic expression just barely avoided being considered a glower.
He was supposed to be Elijah’s assistant, but he felt more like a bodyguard looking like that.
Good. Maybe she’ll think twice about doing something stupid then, Alistair grumbled along the bond.