Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Thorne
“I’m assuming it isn’t safe for us to go strolling straight into the academy?” I ask the others.
“Nope,” Beaufort answers. “Sterling is an avid supporter of my mother’s, always has been. He’ll arrest us as soon as we set foot in the academy. And the place was teeming with soldiers when we left. There may be even more there now.”
Dray snorts. “You’re worried about Sterling and a couple of soldiers?”
“No,” Beaufort says. “But I don’t want the Empress and her allies to know where we are. And a great big fucking battle in the middle of the academy is going to be just a teensy bit of a giveaway.”
“She’ll probably guess that’s where we’ll go,” I say.
Beaufort shakes his head. “I don’t know if she will. She doesn’t know me as well as she thinks she does.” He straightens his shoulders. “But that doesn’t solve our problem.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Dray snaps, “because we need to get to Little Kitten before she sets off on a crusade to free us.”
“Your wolf,” I say after a few moments. “Do you think you could creep into the academy undetected in your wolf form?”
An array of emotions passes over my bond brother’s face. I get the impression he wants to say yes – that he’d give anything to go charging into the academy to find Nini. But instead he says, “My wolf’s well known. It doesn’t exactly blend in.”
I look around at the three of us. None of us exactly blend in. It’s going to be a problem.
“A crow,” I suggest next.
Beaufort shakes his head a second time. “They’ll be watching the skies. They’ll be looking for something like that.”
We’re silent, all thinking of a solution as we trudge on through the mist, hoping that the magic hooked inside Briony’s heart is the thing pulling us in the direction we’re walking.
I’d bet my life we’re out in the landscape near the academy – that this must be where we’re being pulled.
I don’t know for certain, but it makes sense.
Briony has always been loyal to her friends; their welfare has always been in the front of her mind, and she will have wanted to check that they’re okay.
Finally the thick fog begins to clear, and although it’s a relief to be able to see and breathe finally, it leaves us a lot more exposed – especially crossing this flat, featureless, boggy landscape.
It reminds me once again of arriving at the academy for the first time.
Of waiting all lined up on the train station platform for the kids from the other Quarters to arrive.
I’d barely paid them any attention. But Beaufort had.
He spotted Nini and he chased her through that mist. It almost leaves me expecting to see her now, walking toward us.
I hope she’s okay. I hope she’s safe.
As if thinking these thoughts pulls the place from the earth, we spy something in the distance, and soon it’s clear: the train station. That isolated platform in the middle of nowhere.
We pick up our pace. We’re close. We know the route now. We just have to hope we reach her before she goes.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Beaufort says, marching with steely determination ahead of me and Dray. I don’t rush to catch up with him though, I linger back with Dray who seems to sense I want to talk to him.
That green goo still covers his skin, leaving him glowing a strange color under the cloudy light. He picks at the dried slime on his wrists, unable to stop examining the new marks on his wrists.
“I told you they’d come,” I tell him. “You just had to be patient.”
“Easy for you to say,” he mutters, glancing toward my wrists.
For once, they’re exposed. I’m not wearing my gloves – I discarded them somewhere back in that room in the Black Tower.
It feels strange for my hands to be free, no longer encased.
And though my shadows are desperate to find Briony, they’re so much calmer and more controlled than they once were.
I give my shifter bond brother a hard stare.
“I know all about patience, Dray,” I remind him.
He grimaces, realizing his mistake. “Sorry, man. But hey,” he says, smirking at me, “that’s all changed, right? You and Briony, you know.” He waggles his eyebrows.
“Not yet,” I say.
“What the fuck, Thorne? What does that mean – not yet? ‘Not yet’ I haven’t fucked her every way it’s possible for a man to fuck a woman, not yet? Or ‘not yet’ I haven’t fucked her with you and Beaufort together, not yet?”
“Not yet,” I stress. “Not yet. We haven’t gone all the way.”
“All the way.” Dray cackles, obviously finding that turn of phrase amusing. But when he realizes I don’t share his amusement, the laughter dies on his lips. “Why not?” he says. “You’re not worried about your shadows, are you? Or is it her? Is she worried about the size of your humongous dick?”
“I’m not worried about my shadows anymore. I don’t think they’d ever do anything to hurt her.” I glance towards him. “Do you think that’s foolish? Am I kidding myself?”
Dray shakes his head, serious for once. “Nah, I’ve seen your shadows when you’re with her, man. They’re captivated by her, mesmerized. They wouldn’t hurt her.” He sniffs. “So it is your cock then?” he says, grinning again.
“No,” I say. “It’s just…” I hesitate. “I want it to be special.”
I expect him to laugh at me. Dray may be a big softie underneath, buried somewhere among all that psychopathic stuff, but he’s never been big into romance. I’m not sure he’d understand. So I’m surprised when he replies:
“It’s Briony, Thorne. Of course it will be special.”
“Are you sure? I don’t think it would have been that special if we were doing it out there in the demon wastelands …” I trail off.
“You have a point.”
We keep walking. There’s more I want to say, but it takes me a few minutes to pluck up the courage.
Seems ridiculous. I’ve fought demons, monsters, have escaped the Black Tower and the demon wastelands (twice), yet talking about this stuff with one of my closest friends – with my bond brother – seems infinitely more difficult.
“What if I’m no good at it?” I ask my friend.
Dray looks me up and down.
“Thorne, you may not have my good looks, my charisma, or my sex appeal, but you’re a decent-enough-looking dude. A lot of girls want to fuck you. Little Kitten will be orgasming just thinking about fucking you.”
“Maybe,” I say, not believing a word of that, “but I still want it to be good for her. And…” I hesitate once more. “What if I don’t know what to do?”
“Ah,” Dray says, glancing ahead of us towards where Beaufort is marching several feet in the distance, focused and determined to reach the academy. “You don’t need to worry about that, man. It’s instinctual. In the moment, you’ll know what to do.”
“Will I, though?” I say. “I’m not like you, Dray. I’m not a wolf. And I’ve been suppressing my instincts for nearly a decade. My instincts have been volatile and dangerous. They’re probably messed up.”
“Sure, I’m a wolf, and my instincts are probably more refined and better conditioned than yours,” Dray says without a hint of irony or modesty. “But you’re a man. You know what I mean – you still have those instincts. You thrust your cock in her soaking wet pussy, you’ll know exactly what to do.”
I feel a little bit more reassured. But there’s another worry on my mind.
“But what if I shoot my load too early?”
“I’m going to be honest with you, Thorne,” he says, picking at more goo on his skin.
“There’s a good chance that could happen.
Especially your first time. Especially with a fucking siren like Little Kitten.
” He groans. “But Briony’s not a bitch. She cares about you.
And that means she’s not going to be concerned about that. ”
“If I come too quickly, it won’t be good for her and I want it to be good.”
“Of course you do. But the other thing you have to understand about Little Kitten is she’s fucking sensitive.
” He grins. “One little flick of her bean and she’s coming all over your tongue and your fingers and your cock.
” He licks his lips as if he’s imagining it.
“So even if you do come a little on the speedy side, there’s a good chance she’ll have already had her satisfaction.
In fact, you should make sure she comes before you get started. ”
I go to argue with him.
“But,” he says, raising a hand to stop me from interrupting, “if you’re really finding you need help, there’s two things you can try, okay?
One: think fucking unsexy thoughts. Like the most asexual images you can imagine.
Me personally, I think about the annual flea inspection.
” He visibly shudders. “Then two,” he says, smiling wickedly at me, “if things are really desperate? Just give your balls a good old yank.”
“Really?” I say. “That works?”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures, my man,” he says.
“Do you think I’m an asshole thinking about stuff like this at a time like now?”
“No, I think that’s what being in love does to you. Especially being in love with a woman like Briony Storm.”
Beaufort halts in front of us. “Can you two stop gossiping like a pair of old grandmothers and hurry the fuck up?” he calls out to us, interrupting our discussion.
We both jump, and pick up our pace, coming to join our bond brother.
More time passes, more distance traveled, and then I say, “I have an idea.”
“You do?” Beaufort says, clearly surprised. I’ve always been reluctant to offer up my ideas. What happened to me has made me cautious. I don’t always trust myself. I’d rather go with other people’s plans and other people’s ideas.
“I think it’s the only way,” I say. “We conceal ourselves with our shadows.”
It’s simple, effective, but there’s also a lot that could go wrong.
There could be spells set in the academy looking for people using their magic to hide.
And the magic itself might falter. And then there are those with the power of scent, like Dray and Tudor, who aren’t fooled by a magic that tampers with vision.
I don’t see there’s any other way, though.
And so when we reach the edge of the forest that borders the academy grounds, we wind our shadows around our bodies and disappear into the murky darkness.