Chapter 35 Myelas
MYELAS
After I’d left Izzy, I’d slipped across campus unseen, returning to my home — such that it was — in the shifter residence. The tiny cell with a cot and a sink might feel like a prison to some, but it had been all I’d known since I was a boy.
I’d gathered my few belongings in one satchel, then I’d headed for Safir’s room, walking these halls for perhaps the last time.
I was prepared to leave, if I had to. Izzy would have to come with me, of course, but the two of us on the run would be better than being betrayed and caught here on campus.
I knocked on Safir’s door. He hated when I barged in.
“Who is it?” he asked.
“Myel.”
“Come.”
I slipped inside quickly.
Zora was here. Good, they should both know what had happened.
“You’re packed. Why?” Zora was quick, she didn’t miss much.
I liked the hobgoblin woman. She was kind to me.
She was also far more cunning than she looked.
Zora had been spying for Safir for years, working in the nobles’ residence, gleaning what she could, trying to work her way up to a royal residence some day.
Then Izzy had come along and Safir had changed his tactics altogether.
To anyone else, it would look as if Zora had been demoted, but Safir had used his contacts to place her where she was needed, where she could keep an eye on our princess.
Sometimes I marvelled at the vast web of connections Safir had built over the years.
From pixies to trolls, even a dwarf, who admittedly didn’t know he was working with beastfolk.
He had so many people hidden amongst the lower-level administrators of the academy that it had been easy for him to set up the scholarship for Izzy — using some of Izzy’s Grandmother’s fortune — and move Zora’s posting.
He’d even adjusted my patrol schedule and training times to allow for the time I’d need with Izzy. The man was a miracle worker.
And now all his plans might crumble, because Izzy had made friends with Saldrea’s pet seraph.
“Things are falling apart,” I said, getting to the heart of the matter. “One of Saldrea’s guards — the seraph — saw Izzy and I together. Izzy thinks he’s a friend, but I don’t trust him. Izzy and I will have to leave campus tonight.”
“Curious,” Safir said, raising his brows.
That was it?
“Not curious. Bad, really bad!” I hissed.
“Not from what I’ve heard,” Safir said casually. “Every indication is that the seraph has fallen for Izzy and won’t betray her.”
I gaped at my mentor. “He’d betray Saldrea instead? That’s a death sentence!”
“Maybe,” Safir said with his usual measured indifference. He turned to Zora. “What do you think?”
Zora eyed me, and in that look, I saw her apology.
“Myel, sit, please. This isn’t the dire situation you think it is.”
I sat heavily on Safir’s bed. “How could it not be?”
Zora was smart. Smarter than Safir by a good margin and that was saying a lot. Safir was no slouch, even if his expertise lay more in persuasion, getting people to help him. Since he’d brought Zora into his confidence their plans had become more complex and long term.
I wasn’t so smart. I was a tool, a weapon, and not even a great one of those. So, I listened when Zora spoke.
“Fini is certain that Vynsiel is loyal to Izzy, not Saldrea. She’s also certain that Saldrea doesn’t know it yet.
” She gave me that disarming smile of hers, so kind and gentle, completely belying the deviousness of the woman.
A woman who’d managed to talk Saldrea’s own maid — the mouse-shifter Fini — into helping us, spying for us, even though, if caught, she’d be killed.
“You are right to be concerned. We all need to be careful, and I have no doubts that it won’t be long until Saldrea suspects something, but for now, we are safe,” Zora said evenly.
“How long do you think we have?” I asked, still concerned. I didn’t like how precarious this all was, balanced on a razor’s edge.
“A few weeks at most, several days at least.”
Several days? That was it?
“Then we need to tell Izzy the truth, tell her who she is!” I insisted. “This is getting out of hand. Who knows what will happen next? We can’t keep this secret from her.” I can’t keep this secret from her.
“No,” Safir came down hard, voice quiet but absolute. “She can’t know. Not yet.”
Zora bit her lip.
She wanted to protest.
I wanted her to protest, but she knew as well as I did that despite her intelligence and her say, Safir was in charge and there was no going against him when he got like this.
“If she knows who she is, she can start training in her other abilities,” I countered. “She’s going to need her elven side to stay alive!”
“Myel,” Safir growled. A haze shimmered over him, his tiger straining to get out. “No! And keep your voice down!”
Never before had I pushed my luck with Safir, but never before had I cared for anyone as much as I cared for Izzy.
“Why not!” I hissed.
Safir was up in an instant, standing over me. “Because you’re thinking about this all wrong and being completely selfish.”
I was?
“Isolde’s identity and your triste with her are two different issues.”
Triste? Really? I was bonded to her. I couldn’t believe he saw it as so little.
Safir raged on. “If your little fling comes out, so what? You die? You are not consequential in the grand scheme.”
Ouch.
But this at least I had a come back for. “Izzy would die too!” I hissed.
Safir scoffed. “Even with no clue what she was doing Isolde has begun to break the binding concealing her appearance. A binding given to her by her mother, one of the strongest earth magic users in centuries. Your bond with her will be nothing for her to overcome if she wishes it, and something tells me her impending death will be enough motivation for her to break your bond once you’re gone. ”
I had no retort for that.
Because… he was right.
I liked to think Izzy cared for me enough not to break our bond… but if she had to, if she was dying… she probably could. She probably would. I’d be dead and Izzy would hopefully feel something for me, but I’d been forced on her, unwanted from the start. She’d probably recover soon enough.
I was crushed by the weight of my own insignificance.
Safir must have seen my reaction. His tone softened, even if his words didn’t. “At worst, Isolde feels bad for a while, oh well, but have you stopped to consider what would happen if Saldrea found out Isolde was the true princess?”
Saldrea would simply kill Izzy, like her mother was rumored to have done with Izzy’s grandparents, her whole family.
Safir felt the need to elaborate. “Right now, the worst that Isolde faces is a few pranks, cruel as they may be, but as soon as anyone else — outside of this room, including Isolde herself — knows the truth, that all changes.”
He glanced back at Zora, then at me. “We three can keep a secret. But already, three is too many. One slip to the wrong person and Saldrea won’t just be tormenting Isolde. She’ll outright kill her. Isolde is a threat to her and her mother’s power.”
He was right.
Safir was always right.
Spirits! I hated it.
“Also,” he added with a shrewd look. “Are you so sure you want Isolde to know who she is and come into her power? What if she realizes she can break your bond? If I were you, I may not be so quick to tell her the truth.”
She wouldn’t…
Would she?
I hated that I wasn’t fully confident in the answer.
Safir returned to his chair and sat, calm and composed.
“The seraph won’t say anything,” he said. Then he grimaced and glanced at Zora. “But… his proximity to Saldrea and her mind-reading-sylph minion is a problem. You said he has several days, how long exactly do we have? What’s your best guess?”
She sighed and went to her own special place, gazing up, lost in thought. Her head cocked a few times before her eyes focused back on us again.
“Twelve to fourteen days. If Vynsiel is sent away from Saldrea, we might have longer. As long as he’s near her, her sylph companion will eventually glean something, enough to know he’s not loyal. After that, it will be a matter of hours as they torture him.”
Safir sighed heavily.
“We need more time! We’re not ready!” he hissed, up again, pacing. “I’d hoped we’d have a couple months at least!”
“I can start coming up with an alternate plan, adjust our timetable,” Zora said, trying to be helpful.
Safir nodded, still lost in thought, plotting.
Finally, he stopped. The fight seemed to have gone out of him. “I’d hoped to be able to get Isolde to safety before we told her and trained her.”
“There is no safe place in this world,” Zora said.
We all knew it.
Safir growled, fists clenching and unclenching. “She should have remained in the human realm,” Safir muttered. “That damned incubus ruined everything!”
“At least here, Izzy can get to know her realm, understand it, see how broken it is and hopefully want to change all of that,” I said.
Safir nodded. “That’s true.”
I’d said something of value. That was rare.
Safir sighed and sat again. “Still, time runs short. We’ll need to find some place for Isolde to train, once she’s ready… and someone to train her, not like that will be easy.”
He glanced my way. “But that’s for the future. Go, protect Isolde, stay close to her. She’ll know the truth in due time. Do not tell her yourself.”
Izzy would know the truth soon enough. That would have to do.
Hopefully soon enough wouldn’t be too late.
I nodded, albeit reluctantly and shadow-stepped out of his room to a grove outside the shifter residence. I wouldn’t return to my room. I had everything I needed with me. I’d keep my satchel close from now on, just in case.
But as I crossed campus unseen, shadow-stepping from one dark corner to another, Safir’s words haunted me. Are you so sure you want Isolde to know who she is…? What if she realizes she can break your bond?
I didn’t doubt Izzy was strong enough to break our bond. She was amazing. No one should have been able to break the binding which made her look human, but she’d found a way, worn it down over time and without even knowing who or what she was. Once she was trained… she’d be unstoppable.
And I’d only be an anchor weighing her down.
She didn’t need me.
She might say she wanted me now, but later…?
I couldn’t imagine she’d see any value in keeping me around.
Which meant I should treasure the time I had with her.
When I shadow-stepped up to Izzy’s room, she wasn’t there… and the room was blasted to hell.
For an instant I thought she might have been killed… till I felt her through our bond.
My shock and horror at seeing her room destroyed was tempered, knowing she was okay. She didn’t seem upset.
In fact… she seemed aroused.
And she was close.
I stepped into the adjoining bathroom, which was untouched, then into the next room, not even bothering to wonder who might live there. Izzy was there. That’s all I cared about. Her heady arousal drew me to her.
But I stopped one step into the room, stunned.
Izzy was wrapped in the arms of an incubus, their lips fused in lust, her scent of arousal billowed around them. She moaned as his hand massaged her chest over her dress.
My dick went rock hard even as my fury rose.
“Izzy!” I hissed. “What the hell are you doing?”