Chapter 14 – Wave
Wave didn’t have time to panic further before she found herself in front of her own door.
“Can’t portal in,” Sinister said but didn’t release his hold on her arm.
“What?”
“We need to talk before you do something dangerous and run,” Sinister replied.
“But…”
Sinister reached past her and opened the door, firmly guiding her inside. Ginny looked up from her book when they stomped inside and opened her mouth to speak.
“We are going to have a little chat in Wayla’s room. Make sure it doesn’t leak,” Sinister threw out the order like he expected everyone to always do his bidding. Apparently, it worked, since Ginny nodded with wide eyes and Wave shrugged helplessly.
Once her door was closed behind them, Sinister released his hold on her. Wave wasn’t sure if she wanted to fight her way out or hide under the bed. Sinister’s soft smile held her in place.
“I’m not going to tell a soul, Wayla.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t expect you to. Not without proof, and you won’t get that without time.”
“Why would you keep my secret?” Wave hated how her voice trembled.
Sinister inhaled sharply. “Because I know a little about how much secrets can hurt. Especially if they are dragged out in the open.”
“Hurt?” Wave snorted. “They kill.”
“There are worse things than death,” Sinister replied, with a knowing look in his eyes. “I think you know a lot about that.” When Wave flinched back, Sinister held up his palms and retreated a step. “You met Rosaliz,” he hurried to say.
“The naked succubus goddess?”
That brought a slight smile to his lips. “Yeah, her.”
“What about her?”
“Firstly, I love her.”
“She didn’t seem to share the sentiment.” Wave couldn’t help her snark.
Sinister smiled ruefully. “She might want to string my entrails from a flagpole. Doesn’t change how I feel about her. I’m saying this so that you know that I would rather poke my eyes out than sleep with you. No insult intended.”
Now Wave snorted, relaxing a bit. “None taken. What’s the second part?”
Sinister turned somber. “Ro is a pure succubus. Rare. She’s had her share of trouble.” He took a moment to clear his throat. “And I lost my little sister years ago… You remind me of her. Wide eyes, mouthy, and too kind.”
“I’m not too kind,” Wave protested immediately.
“I heard Jarred,” Sinister said. “You stood up for Hellion and Marc when they—” He had to take a deep breath to contain his snarl. “Physically attacked you.” He held up his hand to stop Wave from speaking. “I don’t care about your justifications for their actions.”
“But—”
“The point being, Wayla, is that I won’t share your secret with anyone, ever. So please don’t run? With all the shit going down, I think you are safer in Tracthesian than anywhere else.”
“Maybe…” Wave hesitated.
“If that changes, I will portal you the fuck out of here myself, okay?”
“Fine, okay, I’ll—think about it.”
“That’s all I ask.” Sinister hesitated, then his expression changed to the most vulnerable Wave had ever seen. “If I can get Ro to come to Tracthesian, would you be her friend? Knowing what she is?”
It took a while for Wave to compute what he was asking, but then a warm feeling spread through her heart. It wasn’t like anything she had felt before. She smiled.
“Yeah, Sin, I would.”
“Thank you.” Sinister smiled. “Now, don’t run and stay out of trouble.”
“You say that like it’s simple.”
“Point taken.” Sinister gave a small laugh and turned to walk out. “See you around, shrimp.”
Wave was desperately trying to fall asleep when her phone once again chirped. Since she had spent the last two hours tossing and turning, she picked it up and read the message, well, messages. All from Risha.
Annoyed, she hit the wrong part of the screen and before she could disconnect, Irishen picked up.
“Wayla?”
“Hmpf.”
“Are you there?”
“I didn’t mean to call you.”
“But you did.” He sounded unreasonably happy about that.
“Not on purpose.”
“I’ll take what I can get, Wayla.”
“Sure,” she snorted. “Any slice of Hellion, even secondhand.”
The line fell silent and Wave was tempted to end the call, but something held her back. That something definitely was not his voice.
“It might have started as a way to get under his skin a little bit,” Irishen said quietly.
“I’d say you were under his skin the whole time.”
“It might have started that way, Wayla, but it became more. You are my mate.”
Wave growled. “Fuck no.”
“Fuck yes,” he replied without any heat.
“I’m not—we aren’t…”
“Tell me about yourself, morsel,” Irishen said, changing the subject and completely ignoring Wave’s spluttering.
“Tell you what?”
“What’s your favorite color? When did you learn to drink the poison you call coffee? Do you like your water room temperature or from the fridge with ice?”
“Yo-you want to know my favorite color?”
“Mmh,” he hummed.
“What’s yours?” Wave asked suspiciously.
“Black,” he replied easily. “The shiny kind that reflects the colors around it.”
“Black doesn’t reflect colors.”
“Your hair does.”
“But it’s not… fine. I like blue.”
“But is that your favorite color?” Risha’s tone was teasing.
Wave bit her lip. She wasn’t going to tell him that her favorite color was black, too. The kind you met when you swam deep enough and light no longer penetrated through. When she stayed silent, Risha moved on.
“Okay, how about water? With or without ice?”
“Ice,” Wave blurted.
Risha laughed softly. “I like mine with ice too, obviously.”
“Why do you drink warm coffee, then?” Wave found herself asking.
“It’s the contrast,” he said, almost purring. “Hot and cold, wakes up the senses.”
“Uh-huh.” Wave gulped. She could see that. Irishen took mercy on her and changed the subject again.
“Have you ever been skiing?”
Wave shook her head and then remembered that he couldn’t see her. “No.”
“I could take you some time,” he said.
“Maybe,” Wave replied through a yawn. “What’s your favorite book?” she asked in return.
Irishen chuckled. “You know that’s an impossible question to answer.”
“Okay, fine. Top ten?”
“Hmm…” Irishen hummed. “There’s this children’s book my nanny used to read to me at bedtime. Snowflake’s Adventures with the North Wind. I still remember it word for word. If pressed, I guess I’d say that’s my all-time favorite.”
Wave smiled. “And the others?”
“Princess and a Dragon. I was very fond of dragons for a time.” Irishen laughed softly and kept talking about the book. And the next one, and the next. Somewhere around book twenty, Wave fell asleep.
In the morning, she was bleary-eyed and yawning as she stumbled out of her room.
“Morning, sunshine,” Diana greeted her. “Chrissy had to run, but she left your outfit for the day over there.” She pointed at one of the chairs that seemed to hold something black and shiny. Gingerly, Wave lifted the garment up.
“What the hell is this?”
“That’s a jumpsuit,” Diane informed her helpfully. “Don’t worry, it’s not really see-through. We tested it. Ginny did some barrier spells on it and Chrissy vows that it won’t tear even if you fall from a cliff.”
“Reassuring,” Wave mumbled and gathered the thing into her arms. That revealed a pair of cute, sparkly ballerinas below.
“You can thank me for those.” Diana smirked. “I argued that the jumpsuit would be pushing it enough.”
“Well, thank you,” Wave huffed and rubbed her temples. “Please tell me we have coffee.”
Diana pointed at a large to-go cup on the counter. “Freshly delivered chocoffee.”
“What? Who?”
Diana quirked her brow, like Wave was an idiot. “Who do you think?”
“Headmaster Lassengoh,” Wave said hopefully.
Diana let out an unladylike snort. “That would have been a sight.”
Wave sighed and looked warily at Di. “Did he bother you?”
She shook her head, sobering up. “He was very tactful, texted Ginny ahead of time and knocked once. It’s fine, Wayla, really. You don’t need to tiptoe around me.”
“Uh-huh. Well, thanks for standing up for my toes. I better get ready. You have class in half an hour?”
“Yeah, but I can walk you to your class first.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Don’t make me call Ginny and tell her you are already defying her plan.”
Wave hastily retreated into her room. “I’ll be ready in ten.”
“Don’t forget your coffee,” Di called after her.