Chapter Seventeen #3
“Shedim don’t have the precise control humans have.
If I’d told the water to calm, I have no idea what would have happened—like I didn’t know what form your cushions would take when I encouraged them to be their best selves.
The river could have iced over or drowned the people who jumped in.
The wind could have been calmed by being depleted of oxygen.
I can be specific on a small scale—like drying clothes—but not on a large one. ”
I shuddered. No wonder shedim had a reputation for thriving on pandemonium—not being able to predict their magic’s behavior probably bred comfort with chaos. “But I wasn’t precise, either.”
“You didn’t need to be. In a binding, the force of shedim magic can be funneled into human precision and cast using more words than shedim but fewer than humans would. It’s why bindings are so powerful.”
“And you bound me,” I said slowly. “I didn’t know it could go in either direction. Though I guess there’s not much motivation for shedim to bind humans, unless they could control what humans said.”
Daziel held himself very still.
Realization seeped through me. I recalled all the people happy to let Daziel have pastries for free or attend the opera or have a new outfit. When he suggested things, humans listened. “Can shedim control what humans say?”
He lifted his shoulders in the smallest shrug. “We can sometimes…influence humans.” He seemed to debate whether or not to say the next part. “In a binding—control can be wrested by the more powerful of the pair.”
So binding could go either way. I hadn’t been taught that in school, and I wondered if it was because humans didn’t want to look weak or because shedim didn’t want to reveal their ability.
His gaze finally fell. “I’m sorry I didn’t discuss it with you first.”
“I’m not.” My voice became a bare whisper, mixing with the moonlight and the breeze. I stepped toward him. He’d done something illegal and dangerous, and he’d done it because I begged him to save the students on the platform. “You did it because I asked you to.”
His gaze flickered back up. We stood very close, a scant foot apart, and his intense expression sparked an answering fire in me. “I would do anything you asked.”
I bit my lip, a frisson of anticipation dancing through me. “Anything?”
His eyes, always so dark, sparked with iridescent light. He knew what I was asking, or what I would ask. He gave a minuscule tilt of his head. “Anything.”
My whole body had been taken over by the beating of my heart. My pulse pounded in my neck, and each separate breath felt heavy. Heat coursed beneath my skin. “You asked if I wanted you to kiss me.” My tongue darted out to lick my dry lips, and I swallowed, hard. “Yes. I do.”
“Is that so,” he said softly. He brushed his fingertips against my cheek, curved them over the shell of my ear. “Why?”
A burst of heat and shivers and something I didn’t recognize radiated from his touch. Like I’d had a taste of a new flavor I’d never tried, and I wanted more of it almost desperately.
I shrugged. My throat had closed up; I couldn’t get a single word out.
“You like me.” A smile broke the intensity of his expression, teasing the corners of his lips.
I made a face. “You’re all right.”
His grin widened, and he stroked his hand down my neck, sending bolts of sensation through my entire body. “You’re madly in love with me.”
I hadn’t had much romantic experience. At home, I’d been too focused on my schoolwork to start anything, so I’d only shared a few kisses at festivals in Port Naborre—where if anything went sideways, I wouldn’t have to see them again. But I knew enough to raise my face and lean forward.
Daziel hesitated.
I felt like he’d plunged his hand into my chest and twisted. But I made myself speak, even though my voice came out small. “You don’t actually have to kiss me if you don’t want to.”
He groaned. “I want to. I really do. I’m trying to restrain myself.”
“Why?”
He closed his eyes briefly, black lashes sweeping across his cheeks. He looked strangely pained, but when he reopened them, his eyes were clear. “Good question.”
He lowered his head, and his lips met mine.
Heat and delight sparked through me, so powerful I thought I might gasp and lose my balance. Instead, I leaned into the kiss, clinging to Daziel’s shoulders, pulling my body flush to his.
For a heartbeat, he went still. Then he pushed against me, all heat and desire, every hard line of his body pressing against the soft curves of mine.
I felt like if he wasn’t holding me up, I would collapse, like my bones had turned to rivers of flame.
I held on to him, not entirely sure how to do this, determined to try.
His mouth angled against mine, opening it, and I did gasp now and lost track of everything but feeling.
He drew back, breathing hard.
I gazed up at him. It was astonishing how beautiful I found his face, how familiar and perfect it was to me, how I knew each line of it so deeply and thought they met in perfect harmony. “I do,” I said. “In case it wasn’t clear. Like you.”
He kissed me again, kissed me until we were both breathless and weak and on fire. Kissed until his hand slid under the hem of my shirt and I was the one to pull back, my face red.
Daziel’s hand stilled. He looked a little red too, embarrassed and pleased and happy. “Right,” he said. “It’s late. Should we go to bed?”
I raised my brows. I could tease this boy, I realized. He was mine to tease and kiss and laugh with. “Together?” I asked archly.
He looked startled, as I’d hoped. Then we were both laughing, so hard I had to sit down, and he did too. Nothing was funny, really, but I was so absolutely happy, joy spilled out of me. Maybe we were relieved, too, to be home and safe after the long night.
And that happiness and my security in it gave me the courage to say what I did want. “I, um…I’d like to sleep out here tonight,” I said. “On the couch. It was a long day, and…I think I’d feel better.” Being near him.
He squeezed my hand. “I’d feel better too.”
I brought out a blanket and a pillow for the couch, and Daziel curled up in his nest, and we talked of nothing in the darkness until we fell asleep.
~ ~ ~
I woke to the stringent tones of the dorm’s guardienne, Madame Hadar. “Miss Bat Yardena! Naomi, open up!”
Confused and half-asleep, I sat up, my blanket falling away.
I was on the couch, where I’d slept as soundly as I did in bed.
Someone banged on my door. I glanced at Daziel—who stretched and blinked with the confusion of someone who never woke abruptly—then wrapped my blanket around my shoulders and headed to the door.
I opened it to find Madame Hadar and a man in the silver uniform of a civil servant, backed by several members of the gendarme.
The civil servant wore amulets around his wrists and neck, and metal toggles closed his blazer.
The gendarmes had modified their uniforms the same way—all protective measures against shedim.
“What’s going on?” I instinctively used my body to block the doorway.
“These people would like to speak to your guest.” Madame Hadar’s eyes were a little wild, and her nerves woke my own.
“Lord Daziel.” The civil servant looked past me. “The Sanhedrin would like to speak with you. If you would come with us, please.”
“What?” The Sanhedrin? The governing council? I looked back and forth between the guardienne and civil servant. “Why do they want to talk to Daziel?” I frowned. My aunt’s friends had always referred to Daziel as “honored guest.” “Why are you calling him ‘Lord’?”
Daziel came to stand behind me. “I expect the invitation is not optional?”
The man smiled thinly, the kind of smile bureaucrats everywhere seemed to have perfected, where it never reached the eyes. “They await your earliest convenience.”
“You can’t bang on our door at—” I glanced at the clock and realized it was past eleven. “You can’t just whisk him away,” I finished angrily. “On what grounds?”
No one answered me. I tried to slam my door, but one of the gendarme said something, and I realized they’d written a spell on my door to keep it open.
My heart rate increased as helplessness slid through me. “This has to be illegal. Don’t you need a warrant to mess with private property?”
“This is Lyceum property,” the civil servant said smoothly, glancing at Madame Hadar. “The Lyceum is kindly cooperating.”
Scowling, I turned to Daziel. “You don’t have to go with them. We’ll refuse to leave. Go to my aunt.” I lowered my voice. “Or can’t you—?” Vanish.
Daziel placed a hand on my arm. He was so much calmer than I was, his gaze steady, his shoulders back. I could see Paz, though, tucked under Daziel’s collar, his little face tight. “It will be fine.”
It would not be fine. If they were here for Daziel, it was because of last night. In which case, they should also take me. I’d also been involved in the binding. I grabbed my coat and stuffed my feet into my shoes, laces undone. “I’m coming with you.”
“I’m sorry, miss,” the civil servant said. “They would like to speak with him alone.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “Are you arresting him? He’s a minor.”
“I’m sorry,” the man said again.
“It’s all right.” Daziel squeezed my hand, letting go as he stepped out of the room. His nightclothes had shifted into formal black, the lines severe and crisp. “I’ll see you soon.”
My breath came hard and fast, and panic welled in my throat. “I’m coming with you!”
Two of the gendarme stepped in my path, blocking the door of my apartment.
I gaped at them, gaped at Daziel on the other side, who simply gave me an inscrutable nod before turning to go.
“Daziel!” I cried. I turned to the two men before me, who stared above me as though I was invisible.
“Are you trapping me in here? Madame Hadar!”
“It’s just for a moment, so there won’t be any trouble,” she said, her voice quivering. “Everything will be fine.”
I glared at her and at the others. Then I slammed my door as fiercely as possible and collapsed on my couch, shaking.
I pulled my knees to my chest, resting my chin upon them and trying not to cry.
Outside, the sky was a flat, cool gray, only a few plumes of smoke in the distance adding any texture.
It was Sunday morning. Last night had been so wonderful and terrible—the realization of the word “Ziz,” the party and disaster at the Rocks, kissing Daziel. Today, my cohort would be at the Keep. We had a potential key now. We might be able to decipher everything. They’d probably be expecting me.
Instead, trembling, I packed an overnight bag. And as soon as the gendarme were gone, I set out for my aunt’s.