Chapter 17 #2
“Yeah. I’m always okay. I have to be. Now shadow off to wherever it is that you came from.”
“It’s okay to not be okay, Savaé. You’re not alone. You have me and the rest of Zenith to support you. We’re stronger together than alone.”
No. No more tugging the vulnerable bits of me to the surface. No more making me feel like I’m not alone. He doesn't get to have these broken pieces of me. No one does.
I snap around at him, shoving him a step back. “Are you saying I’m not strong?” I grit out with a deathly cold stare, my steely calm slipping once more.
“No, no. Of course not. I would never say something like that, unless I had a death wish. It’s been clear since the moment I first met you that you can take care of yourself.
But being a part of a team requires more than just brute strength.
It requires trust. Being able to lean on each other. Knowing when to ask for help.”
“I don’t need your help,” I hiss.
“That outburst would suggest otherwise.”
“I will show you an out—”
“Savaé, let me finish. Please.” He pauses, running his inked fingers through midnight hair.
“I know how strong you are. I’ve seen you defeat monsters.
Cool, calm, and collected. Something is clearly up with you if you’re willing to lose control for the likes of Lorgan.
None of us know how you did that, either. Your hands didn’t even move.”
The way he says my name causes calm to cascade over me. Another beam of light, zipping through my darkness, swirling around my heart, holding it together.
Tightly.
I gaze up at his stormy eyes, snowflakes glinting across his thick black lashes.
The contrast of his chilling arctic eyes, so blue they’re almost white, against his umber bronze skin, stirring something deep in me.
It’s as if I can see into his soul of shadowy storms swirling between the shimmering crimson flecks.
Before I know it, my hand’s in his wavy raven locks, dusting frozen crystals away. He tilts his head into my palm, his eyes fluttering shut.
I recoil slightly at the warmth of his skin, suddenly realizing what I’ve done.
Yet I can’t pull away. I find myself memorizing the features of his perfectly handsome face.
The way the warm tones shift along his high, chiseled cheekbones, like a moving oil painting.
His nose is straight, leading down to full plum-colored lips that make my toes curl.
He nuzzles his jaw deeper into my palm, like he’s nuzzling his way right in between my ribs, curling up around my heart.
A dragon protecting his precious treasure.
A peacefulness falls over his face, as if he’s always imagined this is how my touch would feel, as if it’s all he’s ever been searching for, all he will ever need.
What a foolish thought. Still, I can’t ignore the fact that I have touched him without thinking—as if there’s an invisible thread intertwining us together. Twice now, I’ve touched him, instinctively, without thought. As if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
I’ve never, in my life, touched someone without a serious amount of consideration on my part.
The thought severs me from my daze, and with it, my hand from his face.
A longing sadness flashes in his eyes as they open with my movement.
That fleeting look is like an icepick, nailed right into my limping heart.
I clench my fist, catapulting that raw, bloody feeling right through the mosaic window before locking it shut.
I recover the steely mask I wear as I continue our conversation, trying to distract us both from the unusual moment we just shared.
“That makes two of us. I don’t know how I did that. I’ve never cast magic like that. It was… like it happened without even thinking it into being. But I also haven’t come into my Celestial Gift yet.”
I pause, turning around to narrow my eyes on him, realizing what I’ve accidentally exposed. “If you tell anyone that, I’ll slit your throat while you sleep and feed your corpse to the Blackwood.” He’s silent, but a flicker of surprise toys in his eyes as he nods, agreeing to keep my secret.
A deep breath fills my chest, thankful the prick so easily agreed. Doesn’t change my murderous plans though. This only adds one more reason to kill him, on top of all these vulnerable moments he keeps plucking from me like petals from a flower.
I sigh. “Even if that was my Celestial Gift finally manifesting, I've never heard of a power that can be cast without you listening to your energy, moving your hands along the current, manifesting it into reality. Unless, of course, you’re a master wielder, which only requires thoughts. But I’m nowhere near that level in anything other than elemental magic. ”
The thought that I can magically hurt someone without so much as thinking terrifies me.
It means I’ll have no control over my Celestial Gift and could be a liability.
How can you control something that happens without thought, that happens by chaos of an emotion unchecked?
How can a magic like that ever be mastered?
I look over to S?las, who’s pacing with his hands in the pockets of his leather pants, framing the carved muscles of his ass in a far too distracting way, causing my gaze to linger.
“I mean, I have heard… never mind.” His words trail off quietly as his thick, flat brows meet in a furrow, contemplating far too many secrets for my amusement.
“If you have something to say, spit it out, shadow prick.”
He arches a brow at my nickname for him. “It’s a folk fable my mother told me, when I was young. Just fairytales, there’s no truth to it.”
“Then why are you wasting my time?” I scowl, wishing he’d tell me anyway, but I’m not willing to look weak and appear too interested.
I’ve already exposed too many vulnerable areas for him to pierce.
Exactly why his death is a necessary evil, even if a small part of me is screaming at the thought of taking his life for some reason unbeknownst to me.
I squash that voice in my head like an errant ember on the hearth.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.” His voice seems genuine, but I can’t help but notice something deeper lingering between his words, unspoken.
“Well, you have your answer then,” I snap, freezing a layer of ice over my limping heart, layering up along the ribs of my chest, restoring my glacial palace.
I gaze over his face, expecting a snarky rebuttal, but all I find is a cursed sadness. I’m not sure why. And I sure as Emberhell am not going to let myself explore it. I don’t need anything causing my hesitation when it comes to eliminating the clear threat in front of me.
The sound of snow crunching under fast-paced footsteps coming our way snags my attention. Seraphina is trotting our way, and I’m grateful for this moment with him to end.
“C’mon, lovebirds, you’re gonna be late to your magical creatures class, and I have my own training to get to.” A confident grin on her face.
“Lovebirds?” I roll my eyes, “Celestials, one of these days, I’m going to smack that smug grin off your face, Seraph.” I lift my upper lip into a snarl, shoving my shoulder into her, walking back towards the school.
“It wouldn’t make you bristle if you didn’t feel something for him, too,” she teases, lowering her voice for the second half of her sentence, as if she knows her words are jabbing me like a dagger.
Well played.
I huff loudly, refusing to let her statement gash me open into a festering wound.
She’s really getting on my nerves, mostly because she’s right.
It wouldn’t have bothered me if there wasn’t some strange thing between us.
Luckily, once he’s inconspicuously disposed of, it will no longer be a problem.
Maybe I should have started stabbing away my problems sooner in life…
S?las and I are breathing hard as we enter class right before the doors magically shut. We’re here to train, and being late is unacceptable. I caught a glimpse of Seraph making it to her classroom door as we made it to the fifth floor, where the Ellian Knights’ classes are held.
This classroom is much smaller, only meant for seventy-two of us.
I take my seat next to S?las with the rest of our Chivalry.
Due to our almost-tardiness, I don’t have another option.
The heat between our bodies is unbearable.
I can’t tell if it’s the eldritch energy pulling us together or the growing anger at Seraph’s words.
Pip wriggles, trying to move, and I gently stroke him, looking down and ever so slightly shaking my head ‘no,’ so he knows it’s not safe to move. I don’t want 'harboring a magical creature' added to my tally of fuck-ups for punishment.
“Welcome to Magical Creatures of the Realm. My name is Professor Yuri Smeltfire. In this class, you’ll learn of all the spectacular magical creatures you can bond with, as well as what takes place on the day of Celestial Bonding.”
He’s a fit-appearing male, with deep brown hair waving over his shoulders.
He wears black-framed spectacles, and his high-collared blazer is the color of deep magenta; a mirrored pair of golden phoenixes are embroidered on each shoulder.
His maroon eyes flare deep red, letting the class know he’s a Pyro Lilliac.
I wonder if a phoenix is his bonded? The professor has a shapely beard, peppering to grey along his chin.
He starts by recounting the various breeds of gryphons, which come in numerous colors, from pink and violet to bluejay and cardinal.
They can be more feathered or have a more scaled appearance.
They all boast sharp beaks of various lengths and deadly claws.
Some even have vibrant plumage, like the peacocks said to frequent the queen’s royal gardens.
“Just this month, we discovered a new breed of hybrid gryphon, with scales that transitioned to feathers on the wings and large armor-plated scales along the neck,” Professor Yuri regales us before jumping to describe the next beast.
“Another unique breed is the snow leopard owl. It has the head of a leopard but with a beak-like mouth, which molds into fangs on either side. It has giant, paw-like wings that stretch out to claws at the end and two enormous legs that look like they belong to a snow owl. Oh, and a long tail that flares out at the end.” He seems tickled pink by the description, despite having taught this lecture hundreds of times.
He has a metal object over his finger that appears to have similar runes to the metal object in the middle of the room. When he presses the metal on his finger, moving images of the beasts are projected in front of us. The runic engineers never cease to amaze me with their creativity.
He ends the class reviewing the types of dragons. Dracos are a more common creature, a distant descendant of the much larger four-legged dragon. They are big enough to support the weight of a large warrior but no more. They come in all sorts of varieties.
I enjoy seeing the unique mycelium breeds that mimic the large mushrooms of the Mysticwoods, like the Chantrelli, whose head is adorned with a Chanterelle mushroom that flares like a frill around its neck. Its mushroom-shaped wings make it easy to hide in the forest.
“Here is a Blightedbrew. It’s a long-snouted Draco with wings speckled in burgundy spots.
That right there,” he points with his golden rod at the mouth of the illusion in front of us, “is its poisonous saliva, dripping from a mouth of overlapping, jagged teeth. It’s native to the toxic swamps west of Cascara along the Blackwood.
This is the same Draco bonded to Commander Bragen, as it’s immune to the noxious vapors of her Celestial Gift.
On Celestial Bonding Day, when you listen for a bond, make sure not to approach any creatures that do not match your Celestial Gift.
Or you may end up losing more than a limb. ” Professor Yuri laughs.
Then he mentions the Wyverns, a type of fur-covered dragon with just two legs, resting their front weight on the knuckles of their wings.
They’re much bigger than Dracos but pale in comparison to the four-legged, traditional dragons.
A smaller breed of dragon, known as Coata, having a body and wings coated completely in feathers.
The chimes sing from the Grand Conservatory, queuing us to break from class.
Next, it’s time to hit the combat arena, and I can’t get there fast enough.