Chapter 10
KAELION
Eleven years old means…a lot of things.
It means the development of personal interests. Sharper intellect. Emotional observation. A host of physiological changes that I am already having a lot of difficulty handling.
…it also means that she’s gaining an interest in meddling.
We wander through the stacks of the Grand Library, headed toward the section for human picture books.
Solvi is skipping, eyes darting around the stacks, a little gold charm dangling off her satchel.
When we finally reach the section she’s looking for, she leaves me in the dust, eager to look at the books.
I slump to a seat in a little reading nook and sigh, resting my head back against the couch.
It’s been…a very long three days. Solvi has been demanding—a welcome presence, but a demanding one all the same—and I’ve been watching the lab’s entry logs with rapt attention.
Lyn hasn’t tried to return to the lab alone, and she said she was feeling normal; she was even willing to share the assessment results of her brain scan and vitals at the clinic, much to my relief.
Everything is normal.
Or it should be.
Solvi skips over to me, clutching a stack of books that she immediately puts down on the table in front of me. I lean forward, sifting through them. They’re…not quite like the ones she was reading last summer; these appear to feature a couple for the most part, hearts around them.
I frown.
“Are these for children…?”
She rolls her eyes, tendrils flicking. “They’re for teenagers.”
“And you are eleven.”
“But I’m almost twelve.”
“Which is still not a teenager.”
She scowls, her eyes narrowing now.
“…Wulfric would let me.”
I smirk. “I find that very difficult to believe.”
We stare each other down for a moment.
She finally flips her tendrils, showing even more sass than her mother ever did.
“Are you accusing me of lying?”
I chuckle. “I’m saying that I’m not sure if you should be reading…what is this?”
“It’s romance,” she says. “But—don’t worry, it’s appropriate, okay? Mata says so.”
That, I do believe.
“Do you want me to learn about love or not?” she asks, appealing now to my ethics as an educator.
She doesn’t realize the answer to that question is a definitive no. “I would actually prefer we put off that conversation for at least another ten years,” I reply.
My answer, I suppose, is absurd enough that she knows I’ll let her do whatever she likes.
She saunters off again.
I close my eyes and listen to the comfortable silence of the library—hushed conversations, whispering pages, the occasional announcement over the loudspeaker. My thoughts stray to Lyn—to if she’s okay, to her awkward introduction to my family.
…to her voice when she was on the floor of the lab, begging me…begging…
I open my eyes and lean forward in a hurry, snatching one of the books off the table.
It’s a human text, filled with images in greyscale. Solvi wasn’t lying; as far as I can tell, there is nothing explicit here, nothing I wouldn’t want her seeing. Just…lots of hand-holding and kissing and feelings.
Lyn on the train, telling me I’m catastrophizing.
I don’t…
“Baba,” Solvi’s voice comes. I look at her to find her holding another stack of books, and my eyes dart from her face to the stack and back again.
“Yes?”
“Are you really going to stop me from getting these?”
I snort. “No, blossom. You can get whatever you want.”
“What were you thinking about?”
I gesture at the book in my hand. “I was just reading.”
“No you weren’t,” she shoots back. “You were just staring and pretending to read. Trust me, I know when people are doing that.”
I cock my head at her.
A smile creeps over her face.
“You were thinking about Lyn, weren’t you?”
I roll my eyes, shaking my head vigorously. “No.”
“You like her.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
“I absolutely do not.”
Solvi beams, triumphant. “That’s what people say right before they admit they do.”
I hold up the book in my hand. “Did you learn that in your little romances?”
“Don’t call them that,” she says.
“Then what should I call them?”
“It’s very serious literature. Art.”
I give her an entirely serious nod, well aware of how she’ll take it if she believes I’m disrespecting her.
“Is this all you need?” I ask.
It better be. This is probably more than a summer’s worth of reading material.
“I guess,” she says. “Noodles?”
“Mmhm. Noodles.”
We gather the books into neat stacks, and together we load them into a library cart to take them to the checkout desk. From there, they’ll be delivered to my apartment, while we take the afternoon to wander around in Mythara Village.
Unfortunately, Solvi doesn’t let things go that easily.
“How long have you and Lyn known each other?” she asks as we walk through the vast library entrance and out into the streets.
I narrow my eyes and look down at her. “She’s been my student for about three years.”
“And you’ve never mentioned her.”
“No,” I say. “Because she is my student. And you don’t ask about my lab.”
“Because your lab is boring.”
“Exactly…as is my relationship with Lyn.”
“So you’re saying you have a relationship.”
We head toward the village, through a bustling marketplace full of street vendors and food stalls. I wasn’t exactly prepared to lecture my child about romance and professional ethics, but it seems now is the day I must do it. “We work together,” I murmur. “It wouldn’t be appropriate.”
“So did Mata and Wulfric.”
“That’s different.”
“How is it different?”
“Because Mata and Wulfric were equals,” I explain. “I am Lyn’s supervisor.”
“I don’t get it.”
“I’m her superior, which means there’s an imbalance of power,” I say, hoping she’s not going to go back to Shahar with even more questions at the end of the summer. “I am responsible for making decisions regarding approval for her projects, funding…I have to be entirely impartial.”
“But what if you fall in love with her?” Solvi asks, eyes glittering.
“I am not going to fall in love with her.”
“But—”
“Oh shit—”
I’m so distracted arguing with my daughter that I’m taken entirely by surprise when I collide with someone on the market street. I reach out to steady them, my fingers curling around a shoulder, then I look up.
“Gods, I’m sorry,” I mutter. “Are you alright—”
I stop dead.
Because it’s Lyn.
And I’m touching her.
And she is…
Her lips part, her face flushes, her eyes going wide. She looks at me helplessly, unleashes a shuddering breath—
She is not fine. Whatever was wrong with her after that night…it’s still happening.
She collects herself quickly enough though, the moment ending at a speed that spares my daughter from seeing something far worse than anything in her books. Even so, she’s thrilled to see Lyn, who she has convinced herself is my very own Wulfric.
…and from the look on her face, Solvi is sure this is all happening by divine intervention.
“Hi Lyn!” she chirps, side-eyeing me as if she’s won something.
Lyn’s cheeks tinge deep red, eyes still wide. “Hi Solvi—and Kae—Dr. Rhyss.”
“Lyn,” I nod. I want to ask her what in the hells is going on and why she didn’t tell me she was still experiencing neurological symptoms…but I have to be satisfied hinting at it. “Are you well?”
Her eyes dart behind me. “Yeah,” she says. “I’m good.”
I can scent her, though—that subtle, rich, sweet smell. She isn’t fooling me, even if she thinks she can with her dull human senses.
“I hope you got some rest,” I add.
“Been trying to rest and recuperate,” she says. “Eager to get back to the lab though. You got my results from the clinic? All looked good, right?”
“Yes,” I nod. “As soon as we’re back to work, we’ll cross-index them with your vitals from when you were wearing the device.”
We stand there for a moment. I have no idea what to say…Lyn, for once, doesn’t either.
“We’re going to get noodles,” Solvi says. “You should come.”
Lyn blinks.
She looks at Solvi. Then at me. Then back at Solvi again, as if trying to determine whether this is a polite social nicety or an actual summons that cannot be refused without consequence.
“Oh—” she says. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not intruding,” Solvi says immediately. “You’re invited.”
“That would be quite unusual,” I interject. “Lyn probably has—”
“Baba, I don’t just want to hang out with you all summer,” Solvi says. “Maybe Lyn could tell me what it’s like to be a student in Mythara? I mean—you’re great and all, but you talk about stuff like you think I don’t get it.”
Lyn’s lips curve in a smirk. I’d never noticed how red they are…how full.
I am a monster.
“He does kind of talk like that, doesn’t he?” Lyn teases.
“I don’t—” I start.
But they’re both looking at me like they’ve already won—especially Solvi.
“Fine,” I tell her. “Lyn…if you aren’t busy?”
“I’m taking time off, remember?” she says. “Boss told me to.”
I sigh. “Yes…yes, he did, didn’t he?”
And from the look on Lyn’s face—caught between relief, dread, and something far more dangerous—I know this is a mistake.
I’ve crossed too many boundaries already.
And now I’m about to cross another.