16. ~Nyx~
~Nyx~
It turned out that Kai hadn’t been given much of a choice on the resting up front.
The after-effects of that brutal infection had taken its toll on him.
It had kept him down for the last couple of days in a flu-like state.
I eased onto his bed on the raised platform near mine, where he was sprawled, the black sheets pushed down to his boxers, exposing his chest that was slick with sweat, just like his forehead.
“Here,” I said, holding out the mug in my hand.
His glazed eyes met mine wearily. “Strong coffee?” he asked hopefully.
“Tea with healing herbs from the Infirmary.”
He screwed up his face. “Pass.”
“I added extra honey this time to sweeten it. It tastes much better.”
“I need spelled caffeine.”
“You don’t. Then you’ll be buzzing and restless while your body needs to take it easy—and your mind for that matter.”
He grumbled, but sat up against his pillows, then took the mug and had a couple of sips. “It does taste better than the last couple of times.”
I smiled. “There you go.”
The door to our dorm room opened, and then Vorzyr walked on in, wearing his white henley and maroon leather pants, with a messenger bag slung over his shoulder. He winked at me, then shut the door behind him and strode over to us. “How’s the patient? Still being a difficult shit?”
“Wanting coffee, but drinking his tea nonetheless.”
“Good to hear,” he said, stroking my hair, before looking Kai over in that studious way full of concern that he had been employing for the last couple of days that Kai had fallen sick. He’d come in here checking on him, and we’d even taken to alternating our care of Kai.
He reached out and pressed his hand to Kai’s forehead. I’d come to discover that one of a dragon’s lesser known abilities was to determine the temperature of a being, and being able to tell whether that temperature was in the range of good health for their specific species.
“Still sweltering,” he reported, as he drew his hand away. “His fever has calmed a little, but not yet enough.”
“The tea will help to bring it down further.”
“The rest will just be a matter of time.” He eyed Kai. “Okay?”
“Sure,” Kai murmured, and grabbed Vorzyr’s hand and pressed it to his chest.
I grinned. Kai had been like that since he’d fallen ill—very touchy-feely, needing the contact and, for once, not solely of a sexual nature.
The sickness had really brought out his softer and sweeter side.
It was a mixture of pleasant and unsettling.
Vorzyr climbed onto the bed and put his bag down on the edge, telling Kai, “I brought the work from today’s classes for you. A couple I’m not in, so Ariana lent me her tablet to make sure you didn’t miss the work from those.”
“She did?” Kai asked.
“She did,” Vorzyr confirmed.
“How’s she doing?” Kai queried.
“Keeping to herself as usual.”
“And pulling away from us entirely,” I muttered.
Vorzyr gave me a look, not wanting to upset Kai while he was ill. And because it was obviously a sore spot for him, too.
But I couldn’t hold back now that it had come up. “She could’ve come by to check on him at least once.”
“That mission fucked up everything,” Kai said, emotion welling in his eyes.
Yeah, along with touchy-feely, he’d been a lot more emotive.
“Just give her time,” Vorzyr told us.
“It’s all I’ve ever been able to do,” Kai confessed.
Vorzyr reached out and stroked the thick stubble lining Kai’s jaw now. “I think this is actually different and a good thing.”
“How?” I asked.
“She was incredibly disturbed by what happened to Kai, the position we were all put in, too. I believe all of it was a wake-up call for her, and now she’s taking some time to digest it, come to terms with it.”
“I see your point. Could be.” I eyed Kai. “Right?”
“Perhaps,” he said, lifting a shoulder, and clearly not in the frame of mind to get his hopes up about it.
Since that night, he’d been very anti-Kai, taking on a defeatist attitude when it came to that.
He shifted his weight in agitation. “I need to replicate that test and start examining it, figure all this shit out.”
“And you will,” Vorzyr assured him. “We’re working to get you better as soon as possible so you’re able to do that.”
“Just using me for my supreme magical abilities and know-how?” Kai asked.
“For your supreme sexual talents as well,” Vorzyr deadpanned.
Kai chuckled, but it turned into a coughing fit.
Vorzyr stroked his back through it.
And then Kai sank down into the bed, curling up against him. “Are you staying?” he asked tiredly.
“Nyx needs to take a breather and do his nightly walkabout, so I’ll be here, yeah.”
“Okay, good,” Kai murmured.
Vorzyr smiled out at me as he hooked his arm around Kai and stroked his nape. “We’re good here. Do your thing.”
“Anything happens, he needs anything at all that’s not already here, call me, yeah?” I said, pulling my phone from the inside pocket of my black leather moto jacket to show him that I had it on me.
“You have my word. We should work on mind-linking soon, so we don’t have to rely on cell phones.”
“Something to discuss with Kai when he’s in his right mind.”
“Right mind?” Kai mumbled against Vorzyr. “I’m fine.”
“Sure you are,” I chuckled.
“If you need to take the edge off, feel free to dreamwalk me later tonight,” Vorzyr told me.
A rush of heat betook me at his suggestion.
It had been too long where that was concerned.
With Kai, too. It hadn’t been helping that Kai had told me about the two of them sharing Ariana, and it had been on my mind since then, picturing it, being drawn in by the idea of it, and her.
I’d always kept away, considering her completely off-limits because of Kai’s weird thing with her, so I hadn’t allowed myself to acknowledge just how fucking alluring she was to me, or anything like that.
But now things were different, the way was open in a way it hadn’t been before.
Something to think about, for sure.
If I could get past her hurting Kai.
Not checking in on him, the push and pull game she had going on that was impacting him so much. That definitely complicated things for me when it came to her.
“I’ll let you know,” I told Vorzyr, not wanting to make an outright commitment to doing it, not until I saw how Kai was when I returned, whether he was sound asleep, or tossing and turning and coughing his guts up again.
“I want to watch,” Kai murmured.
“You do, huh?” Vorzyr asked him in a teasing tone.
Kai shifted against him and grasped his bicep, nuzzling against the massive thing. “Really, I want to fuck you.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Surprise lit Kai’s eyes.
And mine. While Vorzyr didn’t technically dominate in a sexual setting like Kai most definitely did, he was a proud, dominating force, so getting fucked by Kai had seemed off the table. I guess not, though. Things were shifting. In so many ways, actually.
Vorzyr pulled a couple of textbooks out of his bag with his free hand as Kai nuzzled against his other arm.
“I’m gonna read you the assigned sections for Arcane Symbology and War Strategy and Supernatural Diplomacy , before you fall asleep.
Then when you wake up, we’ll go over the stuff from Ariana. ”
“Sounds good.”
“More tea first,” I said, taking it from where Kai had placed it down on the nightstand, and handing it to Vorzyr, knowing he’d get him to drink the healing elixir.
“Get going now. I’ve got him,” Vorzyr assured me, obviously picking up on me lingering.
I nodded and headed for the door, taking a look back at Kai, before walking on out.
I moved like a phantom through the labyrinth-like arrangement of the spires on the roof of Maven Academy.
My jacket flapped with my rapid-fire, highly-coordinated and agile movements.
I sprinted up the rain-slicked shingles, my boots hardly making a sound, or even barely making contact.
With a massive leap, I vaulted over a window and snatched a railing with one hand, twisting in midair to land on the slanted rooftop.
The thrill was real.
Damn, was it.
I loved these aspects of my abilities. The fact I could parkour the shit out of anything, the insane agility that only got better and more impressive the more I practiced, the moving in the dark and shadows away from everyone else.
It was my therapy in a way. It gave me such a rush, but also a calming influence.
It was why I tried to get out here most nights and engage in this favorite hobby of mine.
No matter what was going on with me, I always felt better afterward.
I coiled the shadows around me, an impenetrable black mist in essence, as I settled myself on the Academy’s highest tower, the wind blowing through my midnight-blue hair in such a soothing way that I threw my head back to savor it on my face as well.
“Fuck. No, that’s not it. Do it. Fucking do it again, you idiot. You ill-equipped fucking fool of epic proportions.”
I jolted at those words. Damn , they were harsh, as they carried on the wind toward me.
Right off the bat, it sounded like some bullying was going down.
But then I heard further mutterings and identified the voice.
It belonged to somebody who I could never ever imagine stooping to bulling anyone.
Maintaining my shadow travel abilities, I followed the sound, easing down from the highest tower and descending to the rear of the rooftop.
And that was when I saw Ariana Martel sitting cross-legged in her jeans and brown suede jacket combo, her golden hair pulled back in a thick ponytail, as she swept her right hand at the air, destroying a shimmering silver symbol she’d just created.
I watched her pick up a glowing rectangular device that looked like a phone at first glance, and with the rain pelting down and compromising my vision. But as I strained to peer closer, I saw that it was a holoscreen.
Closer still, and I could make out Kai in his bed with Vorzyr next to him reading from a textbook.
I smiled.
She was checking on him.
Oh, thank fuck. Thinking she was that cold… it hadn’t sat well with me at all.