Chapter 31 Asher
Asher
“What do you want?” I barked, slamming my dad’s office door. I didn’t see my mother anywhere when I came inside, telling me he must have sent her out. He treated her to nice things like spa days to keep her occupied, which from the outside looked sweet, but I always knew better.
“A hello is the polite way to greet anyone.” He shook his head as if he was upset by my lack of respect.
Chancellor Fowler sat in my father’s office chair, his hands folded together and planted on the desk. “Lucky for you, my daughter has been compliant enough where I haven’t needed to force your hand.”
I ignored him to focus on my father. “Did you bring me here to gloat about what you’ve been doing?
” I walked up to the desk, slamming my hands down on it and staring at Chancellor Fowler.
“She is joining Celica, she is inching closer and closer and you still let him fuck with my brother’s head and meddle in Riley’s dreams?
She said you claimed you would ease up and yet, it seems you can’t keep your fucking word. ”
Chancellor Fowler reared his head back, giving my father a menacing look. He pushed back the chair, moving his hand in front of him. My dad was thrown back against the wall while he clawed at his throat. “Oliver, what the fuck is he talking about?”
Gasps of air were coming from my father’s lips, so the chancellor loosened his hold. “It was nothing. I wasn’t harming her. I wasn’t doing anything.”
“River was right. It wasn’t you. You tasked others to do it for you,” I stated.
Chancellor Fowler walked up to my father, pressing his finger into his chest. My dad winced at the pain, knowing the pressure was digging further into his skin than he would have liked.
“I offered you power and what? I’m not moving fast enough for you?
My daughter is off limits and I will remind the people working for me that they do not work for you.
” He moved his hand back, my father’s back arching off the wall and then threw his hand to the side.
My father’s body was flung to the right, hitting the other wall.
“You do whatever you will to your own son, but my daughter, my rules. You infiltrate her mind, you mess with her everyday life without my consent, and I will kill you. I will break every bone in your body without even touching you and I will do it in front of your precious wife and then guess what? I’ll kill her too. ”
His words came out casually, but I could hear the venom at the end of every sentence. He sat back down in the office chair as if nothing happened while my father tried to clutch the wall to stand back up. Chancellor Fowler gave him a bright smile. “Are we understood?”
My father glanced at me, his eyes filled with malice, but he nodded.
“Perfect.” Chancellor Fowler placed his attention back on me. “Now, Asher, is there anything else you’d like to inform me of?”
I opened my mouth to speak but clamped it shut. I didn’t actually come here to assist him in anything. “No, not at all.”
“Hmm. You do bring up an interesting concept though.”
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Let me ask you a question, Professor. Did my daughter immediately think you caused her nightmare?”
I looked down at the floor, not answering him.
He clucked his tongue. “Interesting indeed. Trust is a funny thing. It’s always spoken about and having someone say they trust you is very different then actually believing it.
Maybe your magic isn’t truly needed at all.
The idea that you could do those things and that your brother’s own mental state is at risk is enough for her to always be on the fence. ”
“She doesn’t…”
He kept going. “One foot always out the door, even though on the outside she’ll dote on you and have this supposed connection, but she’ll blame you instantly for things you didn’t do all because she’ll never really trust you…not completely anyway. Not like she does your brother.”
My chest rose and fell, but I tried to control the beat of my heart. The look in her eyes when I’d shaken her out of that nightmare and the way she wanted to get away from me had the things he said hitting me all at once.
“You’re wrong.” I tried to say it with conviction, but the tone of my voice betrayed me.
“I almost think she trusts the shadow wielder more than she trusts you,” my dad’s voice chimed in.
“You shut up!” I yelled.
Chancellor Fowler tsked. “Don’t blame yourself.
Riley’s eventual tumble into my arms will be of her own volition.
I will always protect my daughter, Asher.
Unfortunately, what happens to your brother is not my responsibility as long as Riley keeps moving in the direction she’s headed.
A little mental tussle won’t kill the little telepath, so while I don’t completely condone what your father did, I can’t very well tell him how to discipline his children.
” His shoulders moved as he chuckled at my brother’s expense.
“Discipline? River hasn’t done anything to you!”
“Ah, but it just shows what can happen to him. Which has always been my point.” My father got up behind me, knocking his shoulder against mine as he walked past. “You should be happy I had someone else do it. You would hate for me to take over.”
“I actually just hate you, plain and simple,” I spat back.
“Oliver, were you doing those things to your son for Riley’s sake or your own personal vendetta?” Chancellor Fowler asked, looking bored.
My father shrugged. “It was for me. It has been a minute since I gave that boy a little nudge, but this time it didn’t come from me.
Not directly anyway. If things happen with Riley that end up in Erik’s favor then it’s a win, but I always seem to have to pull your brother down from his I can do whatever I want attitude.
That is your fault. You coddled your own brother and now anyone can mess with him. You made him weak.”
“I protected him!” I shouted. “I protected him from you! You tried to make us fucking entertainers for your friends, feed us magic enhancers before fucking puberty. I didn’t coddle him!”
“Protect?” My father let out a loud laugh. “Your brother is right here and so are you. You both have never left me, son. And soon, you’ll be just as powerful as I’ve always planned for you to be.” He glanced over at Chancellor Fowler who nodded at him.
“He is at this school because you and mom wouldn’t leave him alone about it. I’m here because of River. I needed to be a fucking buffer…” I let the words fall away because it didn’t matter.
Our dad getting someone to break into River’s mind was one of the first times I couldn’t help him myself. I had always been there to make his pain go away or even just ease it, even if he’d suppressed so much of it.
My magic was startled awake by my brother’s cries.
It was like a rumbling in my head and the immense sadness that entered my mind had my heart breaking.
I woke myself up, but my mind was still attached to his dream.
I stepped into the darkened area he found himself in.
It was cold wherever he was and I couldn’t see a fucking thing.
I heard his crying and everything around me vibrated. I couldn’t see him yet, but I felt his presence, so I kept walking. The cries got louder and louder, eventually I called out his name. I heard a hiccup. I called out again.
“Asher?”
I felt relief wash over me. “It’s me, just keep talking.”
“I can’t see anything. I’m scared.” His voice was trembling and shaky.
“I’m coming, okay?” I got up from my bed, throwing open my door while my dream self searched for him. I’d gotten much better with staying in reality while also being in the dreamscape.
I opened River’s bedroom door slowly. He’d kicked off his covers and was huddled in the fetal position, tears staining his cheeks. In his dream, I saw movement. I ran over to it, nearly throwing myself at my brother. He was cold and I couldn’t see him all that well, but I knew it was him.
“Hey, hey, it’s me. I’m here.” I brought him closer to me.
“A-are we in my head?” he asked, his teeth chattering.
“Yes. It’s going to be okay. Is this about dad?”
River didn’t respond but I knew the answer was yes. He was always the problem.
I got on River’s bed, pulling his sleeping body in my arms. I pulled the covers over us and combed my fingers through his hair. In his dream, I did the same.
“I’m going to make it better. Like I always do.
” I filled the room with a warmth that could banish any kind of cold and created a brightness that I knew would put a smile on his face.
When the room was filled with light, I looked down at him, watching him take in the change.
I let calming smells enter the space and he inhaled.
“Now you can go to sleep. Forget what made you upset and rest.”
River’s head felt heavy against my chest. “Will you stay with me?”
“I always do.”
His dream self started snoring softly and in reality, his tears had stopped and his body settled. I didn’t leave until much later, but like all the other times, he wouldn’t remember this. I never wanted him to.
“My daughter’s on a little trip, hm?” Chancellor Fowler inquired, pulling me from my thoughts.
“What?” I asked, looking between both of them. “How do you…”
Chancellor Fowler waved his hand dismissively.
“I don’t mind where she’s going. I’m hoping she gets all the answers she wants, actually.
It will all work out in my favor, don’t you worry.
Things have to get worse before they get better, right?
” He sighed, smiling up at me. “You should be happy you won’t need to meddle in her mind; I apologize for even putting that kind of stress on you.
I should have known how my own daughter would react, how her mind would work.
That one is on me. You can sit back, keep that brother of yours and his friend in line.
That is something you are willing to do, yes? ”
“How do you know where she’s going?” I asked, actually getting to finish my question.
He pressed his lips together and smirked at me. “It is amazing the information people are willing to give up, what they are willing to do for the people they care about. Believe me Asher, you aren’t the only one with a family of sorts to protect.”