Chapter 4 The Storm
The Storm
It was far stranger describing to Alaric what had happened that morning while sitting mere feet from Bones’s bed, and a half-dozen yards from the closet where I’d been hiding when Malefic jerked open the door.
Being Alaric, he didn’t just want highlights.
He wanted a blow by blow accounting of every second, from the instant I opened my eyes to when I lost consciousness, and while I ended up telling him roughly the same story I told everyone else, omissions and slight fudges included, I could tell immediately he wasn’t satisfied by that version in any way.
I also knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t let it go, or even pretend to let it go the way Draken, Luc, and even Miranda had done.
For the same reason, I wasn’t at all surprised at the first thing out of his mouth.
“Well, that was obviously all very well-rehearsed and recited,” Alaric said after I finished speaking, his hazel eyes boring into mine reproachfully. “I would like the real story now, please.”
“That’s enough of it for now,” I said with an exasperated sigh.
“It absolutely is not.”
“It’ll have to be,” I warned. “For now.”
“And why is that?”
I thought about that. I really thought about it, given how much we’d shared not that long ago. In the end, I could only exhale, and tell him the truth.
“Because you’ll need to ask Caelum about the other parts,” I said.
“Caelum?” Alaric’s eyebrows rose all the way to his hairline. “Is that who I’ll have to ask? Caelum? And when did the two of you get on such intimate terms?”
I snorted, but didn’t rise to that particular bait.
Alaric was my friend. Sitting with him now, I realized he might be my very best friend, despite the fact that I normally thought of Jolie and Miranda in that light.
I loved him, trusted him, and even wanted to tell him the truth, unlike just about everyone else.
But there was a lot of stuff I absolutely couldn’t tell him for one reason or another.
And I wasn’t sure I was ready to go into the rest of it, not without talking to Bones first.
Of course, there were other things we could talk about, meaning the parts that had nothing to do with how I came to be in Bones’s bed that morning.
Like the Golden Sun meeting I’d been invited to by Forsooth, the Second Years’ party that threw me and Bones back together, or Bones becoming my teacher in Offensive and Defensive Magic.
Alaric likely didn’t know about Strangemore being expelled, nor about Miranda being trashed through the grapevine by Marcus Ribaldi.
In the end, though, for tonight, I decided most of those things could wait.
Being Alaric, he still connected the dots a lot faster than anyone else likely would have, particularly given my rather extensive omissions.
“What in the gods were you and Cal up to?” he asked after my silence, swirling the amber-colored liquid in his glass as he gauged my face.
I watched the firelight catch the gold liquid and his hazel irises as he continued to visibly think about everything I’d told him.
“You must know what the royals are saying? About you and Cal?”
I shrugged. “Some of it, sure. Certainly not all of it. But I’ve never exactly been privy to their secret conversations. I only get the parts they decide to shout at me out loud. Usually followed by curses meant to hex off some part of my face.”
Alaric grunted.
He aimed a shrewd look at me, still swirling his glass.
“Of course,” he conceded. “I’m hardly in the loop these days, myself.
” Pausing, he added, “I’ve heard a few things, though, Leda, even from the Praecuri agents who picked me up.
And, well… let’s just say, I’m glad it was me up here when you decided to come snooping in Cal’s room.
Particularly since you chose to do it alone. ”
His mouth quirked in a smile, but the smile didn’t last.
His eyes changed first, right before the rest of his face grew serious.
“You really should be more careful, Leda,” he said. “I could have been anyone tonight. In fact, statistically speaking, it’s much more probable I would’ve been someone unfriendly. You must know they’re looking at Cal now, too.”
I thought about that, and bit my lip.
Turning, I gazed into the fire, which blazed hotly from the black marble hearth.
“I do know that,” I admitted.
Thinking about his words, I glanced towards Bones’s door.
I hadn’t checked the chimaeras when I came inside.
I’d been too distracted by who might be in there, and honestly, I’d never needed to before; Bones maintained his personal space like a bloody fortress.
Now I wondered what the Praecuri had dismantled or messed with during their investigation.
Obviously, at least some of Bones’s chimaeras remained in place, or the door wouldn’t have opened for me downstairs.
As one of Bones’s closest friends, if not his closest, I assumed Alaric had gotten in the same way.
I proceeded to do look everything over now, using my sun primal to examine all the walls and shields Bones used to hide his place from prying eyes. I didn’t know those protections as well as he did, of course, but everything looked the same as I remembered.
Alaric cleared his throat. “Are the Praecuri watching you now?” he asked, his tone audibly tenser. “Are they here in the Mansion?”
I shook my head. “They shouldn’t be.”
Seeing the alarmed look rising to Alaric’s face, I tried to reassure him.
“Honestly, it doesn’t matter,” I said. “I won’t be leaving campus anytime soon.
Even apart from everything else, I have research I need to do here, more than enough to keep me busy for the entire break.
Forsooth is here, and Luc’s here, and my cousin mentioned stopping by over Yule.
Everything will hopefully die down somewhat by the time the next term starts. ”
When I fell silent, Alaric’s lips twitched, almost like he couldn’t help it.
“Die down?” he repeated mildly. “Leda, the Cathedral holds you personally responsible for incarcerating a man they view almost as a god… a Pharaoh, at least, which is a sort of god. You really think they’ll just magically forget that in a matter of weeks?
Let bygones be bygones? Perhaps suffer some sort of rage-induced, mass amnesia? ”
I sighed, combing my fingers through my hair.
He was right of course.
Of course he was right.
I didn’t want to think about it, which is why I’d framed things the way I had. My not wanting to think about it didn’t mean I was indulging in pure delusion about the danger Bones and I were in, but it did mean I didn’t want to spiral down the rabbit hole of my imminent demise right that second.
“I know,” I said only.
One of the benefits of having Alaric as a friend, I didn’t feel I had to explain myself very much.
Unlike Miranda and Draken, Alaric didn’t need hand-holding through all of my irrational thoughts and decisions.
He could read between the lines in ways my other friends either couldn’t or wouldn’t. Maybe he just knew me better.
Still, as he watched me now, I saw a puzzled line form on his lips.
I remembered how careful we’d been over the summer, with the radio and the chimaeras and making sure we weren’t being overheard, and it struck me that Alaric was confused about why I wasn’t more afraid.
The thing is, I was afraid.
Maybe it’s just that the stupid part of me felt safe with Bones, and I’d expected Bones to be here, whether I’d fully admitted it to myself or not. My compulsion to see Bones had made me less cautious than I should have been.
I knew what Bones himself would say to that.
I could guess, anyway.
He’d likely be ranting at me, pointing out that he’d been with me when his father almost killed both of us, and his presence hadn’t done me a fat lot of good then.
“So the Priest’s missives,” I said, changing the subject. “They’ve stopped, then? Totally? You haven’t heard anything to the contrary?”
Alaric glanced towards the now-closed door to Bones’s apartment. From his expression, I could see his anxiety was back. He was worried we weren’t safe here.
“Check it,” I urged him. “I’ve made you worried.
You should check the chimaeras, and the tower itself, see if anything looks off to you.
I looked just now, but you know this place better than I do.
We can work to reinforce anything that looks weak to you when you’re done.
” Thinking aloud, I glanced up at the high ceiling.
“We should probably put some new layers in place before Bones gets back, anyway. We just need to make sure he’s still able to get in. ”
Alaric glanced at me.
I saw hesitation in his eyes for the barest instant.
Then he closed them.
I felt the exact moment he stretched his magic outwards, filtering it through the spaces of the tower. Alaric focused on the doorway, the staircase below, the doors below that, the storage areas, the corridor at the base of the tower and outside of it.
I felt a strain in him as he did it. I dismissed it as exhaustion, but slid some of my magic into his anyway, giving his a boost.
I felt his chest expand more fully when I did.
“Thank you,” he murmured, real gratitude in his voice.
His centaur primal began walking around Bones’s apartment with a serious expression on its face as Alaric looked at all of the shields.
I watched the somber-faced creature peer around the kitchen area, the toilet and shower, Caelum’s small office closer to the door.
It even walked to the door of his walk-in closet.
I watched it fold its arms, staring into the darkness.
I waited until I could feel Alaric start to relax.
“Anything?” I asked, somewhat unnecessarily.