Chapter 35 – Wave
Wave wasn’t sure what to think. Marc apologizing for—what was that again—lashing out at her? What part? The part where he threw her into a wall hadn’t been fun, but really not as big of a deal as everyone else made it out to be. She had seen how hard they went at each other during training.
The part where he didn’t believe her about Salis, now that had hurt like a bitch. Still did, if she was being honest. She got how it had looked from the outside, but somehow, she had wished her word on it would have had more weight.
She wasn’t even going to try to sort through her feelings toward Hellion. That can of worms could stay shut till the world exploded.
“Want me to kick his ass?” Salis asked, breaking her spiraling.
“No. It would just hurt your pretty hands,” Wave replied absentmindedly.
Marc had seemed sort of earnest in his apology, but what was the point? They weren’t together; they wouldn’t be. He hadn’t even said he wanted to be. Just that he was sorry. Great. He could be sorry for all he wanted. That didn’t change things. Again, he hadn’t even said he wanted to change things.
“Fuck,” she grumbled.
Salis lifted his arm over her shoulders and kept her walking. He was a real angel, letting her stew in peace. He made sure she ended up in her next class and not wandering around like an idiot.
She made it through the rest of the day on autopilot, not retaining anything.
Thankfully, no one called her out on her distracted mind.
Apparently, her showdown with Professor Kilkenny had made some teachers wary and they let her be.
And according to her roommates, the students were still assessing the situation.
Whatever the reason, Wave was thankful for the reprieve.
Jarred was waiting for her when she got out of her last class. The moment he saw her, he sighed.
“Come here, love.”
“It’s fine,” Wave muttered against his chest, not ready to rehash things.
“It’s not, but we’ll talk about it later. You still up for going to work?”
“Of course. It’s my first shift after…”
“Okay,” Jarred said and dropped a kiss on her lips. They walked over to the library slowly while Wave soaked up every bit of warmth she could and Jarred kept toying with her bite mark. Instead of it turning her on, it felt soothing, grounding, and helped her relax.
The air was crisp, hints of winter in the air. It rarely snowed at the Academy, but Wave would bet that the lake Salis and Irishen had taken her to blow off steam would freeze over soon. Maybe they could go ice-skating there. She had never done that.
When a shiver ran over her, Jarred pulled her closer. “You should have taken a jacket this morning,” he said. “Do you want mine?”
“No, I’m fine. I was just thinking about ice-skating,” Wave replied with a smile. “Besides, I like the cold weather.”
“Mmh,” Jarred hummed. “The first and only time I’ve been certain you’ve ever lied to me was when you said you’d find some tropical island. What were you really thinking about?”
“Arctic pole and penguins.”
Jarred laughed. “Wow, yeah.” He kissed her hair. “I’m glad you stayed.”
“Me too,” she whispered, basking in the feeling that his bond radiated inside of her.
Once Jarred dropped her off at the front desk, he leaned in to kiss her one more time. “I’ll be at the Winnies’ party. Call me when you’re ready to go home,” he said.
Wave nodded and kissed him back. “Have fun, pet.” She meant it and a small smile played on her lips when Jarred blew her a kiss from the library door before slipping out. Everything had been so intense lately that he needed to relax as much as she did, and Jarred actually liked parties.
Mrs. Riverson was nowhere to be seen, but there was a stack of books behind the counter, so Wave got to work categorizing them. She was so engrossed in her task that it took a tap on her shoulder to gain her attention.
Wave looked up and gasped. “Mrs. Riverson!”
The usually calm and collected librarian had tears in her eyes, which looked puffy, like she had been crying quite a lot. Her bluish skin looked gray and her cheeks were gaunter, like she had lost some weight quickly.
“Oh, Wayla.” The woman grasped her hands, squeezing tightly. “I didn’t know!”
“Wh-what?”
“Gileas never told me he had a child. You must be-believe me,” she hiccupped. Wave froze at the name of her father. Mrs. Riverson looked at her pleadingly and forged ahead. “He never said a word. I would have never…”
Wave quickly looked around and tugged Mrs. Riverson to the back room, unease rolling in her stomach. She pushed the woman on the chair and handed her a paper towel that she used to wipe her face. They stared at each other in silence for a while until Wave forced the question out.
“You and my father…” She cleared her throat, looked to the side, cleared her throat again. “What?”
Mrs. Riverson took a deep breath, wiped at her eyes again, then faced Wave’s stare.
“I met Gileas Stormwell almost two hundred years ago, when he came to the Tracthesian Academy as a guest lecturer. I had just been accepted as a librarian and he came to do research at the library. We—I fell for him at first sight.” The woman wrung her hands.
“I never knew he had a family. You must believe me, Wayla.”
“That’s what…” Wave took a moment to breathe in deep and rein in her temper and really looked at the woman. She was beyond distraught. “My parents were never married or bonded,” she finally said.
“Really?” Mrs. Riverson blinked and some of her distress faded.
Wave shook her head. “In love, sure. But their relationship… complicated doesn’t even start to describe it. You aren’t a bond breaker.”
Maybe Wave wouldn’t have understood before, but now, with her own Claimed and mate, if someone knowingly tried to push between them…
she would drown continents in revenge. Her mother certainly would have, but she had never bonded with Father.
Father had wanted to, Mother had refused.
No matter how much she loved him, she never trusted him enough to form a bond.
Tension drained from Mrs. Riverson all at once and she slumped down. “Thank the realms.” She sighed before guiltily glancing at Wave. She kept her tone calm and expression as neutral as she could.
“Don’t worry about it. I mean, I think we might need to talk, but I get that you didn’t know or try to break them apart.” Her hand rose to her neck and Mrs. Riverson’s eyes followed, rounding out comically.
“You are bonded!” She looked ready to jump up and hug Wave again.
“Claimed, actually,” Wave murmured, unable to help the smile rising to her lips.
“Who? Or do you wish to keep it a secret? I completely understand if—”
“By Jarred,” Wave cut the woman’s babbling off. She had no inclination to keep her claim on the jaguar a secret. He was hers.
“Oh, congratulations!”
“Thank you.” Wave decided to put on her big girl pants and face the music. “Would you… tell me about him—my father. About the two of you?”
“Of course!” Mrs. Riverson got up and put on a pot of coffee, then fished chocolate milk out of the fridge for Wave.
“Why Mrs.?” Wave blurted out the random question that had been bugging her. She had never heard even a whisper of a Mr. Riverson and if Mrs. Riverson had been her father’s—no, don’t finish that thought!
“Oh, I was married to a human long before I met Gileas,” Mrs. Riverson replied easily, like that wasn’t any big news. Wave coughed and Mrs. Riverson gave her a smile. “My Reggie died of old age, but I kept his name out of respect. He was a good man.”
“Mrs. Riverson—”
“Call me Marin.”
“I—Marin, right. Um…”
Mrs. Riverson slid a cup of coffee to her and sat down with her own cup. She cradled her hands around it and smiled wistfully. “Why don’t I start from the beginning?”
The moon was rising early and peeking between the clouds.
Wave glanced up and sighed for the millionth time after the bomb Mrs. Riverson had dropped on her.
Lovers. Her father had been… she wasn’t sure if cheating was the right word, and if it was, who was the cheated party?
Mrs. Riverson, her mother, both of them?
She tried to sort through her feelings but had no luck.
It was a mess, and somehow, she wasn’t even surprised.
Her parents had loved each other fiercely, but their love had always been volatile and filled with fights and hurts.
It wasn’t hard to see how her father might have been pulled toward kind and calm Mrs. Riverson—who after hundreds of years was still more than half in love with her deceased human husband.
Wave kept walking under the moonlight, trying to let it soothe her, but something kept niggling at the back of her mind. No matter how much she poked at the feeling, she couldn’t figure out what bothered her so much.
She knew she should have called someone to come pick her up as per Ginny’s rules. Safety in numbers and all that, but she needed a moment alone to sort out her thoughts. Besides, there wasn’t anyone around, and she didn’t want to pull Jarred from the party.
The headache she had been trying to push down spiked and Wave rubbed her temples.
What a mess.
On top of her father’s affairs and her powers growing and lashing out, she had a mate. And a Claimed. Two bonds that she never thought she’d have.
Despite the evening she’d had, Wave couldn’t help but smile.
They knew what she was, and the world hadn’t ended. It still could, but neither of them had given her even an inkling that they wanted her for her siren powers alone.
Her mind tried to bring that up every chance it got, but the bonds thrumming deep against her siren shield counteracted the spiraling quickly.
Wave wondered how it would feel if she dared to let them in deeper, all the way to her core.
If she dared to bond fully, with her heart, mind, and soul. With no shields in between.
Their connection was real, the bonds were real, all of it… so terrifyingly real. But even though the magical link between them thrummed, it didn’t reach the deepest, truest part of her. They weren’t unbreakable siren bonds.
Wave slowed down and glanced over her shoulder before crossing the street and heading to the park. It was quite funny to call the small forest a park. It held a pond, small hills, ancient trees, and a small stream running out of a grotto that doubled as a portal to the Deep realm.
That was her destination. The sound of pure water running free always calmed her nerves. She kept walking while breathing in deep, trying to absorb the calm of the forest, but it didn’t feel calm. The air around her felt…agitated.
That was the only warning she got before a ball of fire slammed into her side.
It burned, despite her three shields. If only she could figure out the way Marc shielded.
She was too reliant on external shields in her protection.
Wave gritted her teeth, breathed through the pain, and shook her hand to get the smoldering fabric to fall off.
Thanks to Ginny and Chrissy’s combined efforts, only the directly hit area was burning. The fire didn’t spread over the rest of her shirt. Her friends really were amazing. Another ball of fire emerged, but this time Wave was alert enough to pull up an external ice shield.
Water manipulation had always been her thing, but while she couldn’t grasp Marc’s method of shielding, she had picked up quite a number of tips from Irishen to strengthen her ice. The wall that the fire slammed into didn’t waver much and melted only a little.
Glowering Elena stepped into the view, and Wave sighed. Not that she had expected anyone else to be behind this.
“Splendid,” she said, trying to stay calm. “Someone finally bailed your rotten ass out?”
Elena wasn’t inclined to answer and instead hissed at her. She was still wearing the clothes they gave the prisoners, and her hair was a gnarly mess.
“You stole Irishen from me,” she spat out. “I’m going to burn you for that.”
“I did no such thing.” Wave almost rolled her eyes. “It was your sunny disposition that drove him away.”
“Don’t lie to me, you whore.”
“Just get the fuck away from me, Elena,” Wave said. She wasn’t scared, but she didn’t want to fight either. Elena wasn’t listening to reason and took a step closer, more fire engulfing her hands.
“Did you get Irishen to give you some protection charm? It won’t last long.” Another ball of fire slammed into her ice wall.
“What?” Wave couldn’t keep up. Why would Irishen—then it hit her. Elena didn’t know. How the hell that was possible that she didn’t know? Certainly even the guards gossiped about her surprising change of status. But Elena thought the ice wall was Irishen’s creation.
Oh boy. This is going to be fun.
Wave felt a wide smile creep onto her lips as she let her stormbringer power rise.