26. Quill
Quill
The Pyre Estate’s kitchens were exactly what I should have expected.
They were massive, gleaming, and staffed by what appeared to be enchanted constructs that moved with eerie precision.
I watched in fascination as copper pots stirred themselves and vegetables chopped into perfect uniform pieces without any visible hands to guide them.
“They’re useful,” Aeron said, squeezing my hand as he led me to a marble countertop lined with tall stools. “Though my grandfather insists on having actual people cook for formal dinners. Says magic takes the love out of food.”
I’d never thought of it that way, but then again, I’d never had the luxury of thinking much about food at all. Growing up in my parents’ potion shop meant meals were quick, functional things eaten between customer visits. We were sandwich people at best. But this felt obscenely luxurious.
One of the constructs approached us, its movements fluid and almost graceful. Up close, I could see the faint runes carved into its porcelain surface, glowing softly with blue light. It made a sound like wind chimes, which I assumed was its way of asking what we wanted.
“Anything,” Aeron said. “Whatever you have ready. We’re starving.”
Within minutes, the counter before us was laden with more food than I could have eaten in a week. Roasted meats, fresh cheeses, bread still warm from the oven, fruits I didn’t recognize, and spreads of things I couldn’t identify. I stared at it all, my mouth watering despite my anxiety.
“Eat,” Aeron urged, pushing me forward toward the plates. “Don’t be shy.”
“I’m not—” I started to protest, but he shot me a grin that said he knew better. I grabbed a plate with a huff and started piling things on. He did the same, taking considerably more than I did. But then again, he was more than a foot taller than me and twice as dense.
We ate in companionable silence for a while, and I found myself relaxing slightly. It was easier to not think about impending doom when my mouth was full of surprisingly excellent roasted turkey and some kind of herb-infused butter on crusty bread that made me groan with delight.
We were barely five minutes in when I felt the entire mansion shudder around us.
“That’ll be the wards locking into place,” Aeron said without even looking up. “Grandfather must’ve just left with the others to meet with the Elder Council. We’ve got the house to ourselves now.”
“Do you really think we’ll be safe here?” I asked, the fork halfway to my mouth. “The wards at Widdershins couldn’t hold them back…”
“Those wards had to have precautions woven in so that the students didn’t get hurt by accident,” Aeron said, reaching out to wrap a reassuring hand around my waist. “But we don’t have to worry about that here.
These wards are solid. They’ll keep us safe.
You don’t have anything to worry about, Red. ”
I wanted to believe him. I really did. But the image of those wards flickering and cracking, the sound of impact after impact as undead threw themselves against a barrier that was supposed to be indestructible, was still fresh in my mind.
How could I trust that these wards would hold when the ones at Widdershins had failed so catastrophically?
“You’re doing it again,” Aeron said, his voice gentle. “Thinking so loud I can practically hear it.”
I set down my fork and turned to face him. “How are you so calm about this? Your grandfather just left to deal with a necromancer who’s apparently been orchestrating attacks across the paranormal world for years, and we’re sitting in his kitchen eating cheese like nothing’s happening.”
“Because panicking won’t change anything,” he replied, his golden eyes meeting mine with surprising maturity. “And because I believe my grandfather can fix this. He and the Elder Council won’t let anything happen to us. And worrying ourselves sick won’t help them either.”
He had a point, even if I didn’t want to admit it.
I picked my fork back up and returned to my food, but my mind was still racing.
Everything had happened so fast. Twenty-four hours ago, I was flying over starlit forests with a dragon.
Now I was sitting in a mansion owned by one of the most powerful beings in the paranormal world, trying to process the fact that I was bonded to someone who would outlive me by centuries.
“Tell me something,” I said after a few minutes of silence. “And be honest with me.”
“Always,” Aeron promised.
“When you realized I was your mate... was it immediate? Did you know right away?”
He set down his fork and considered the question seriously. “Not at first,” he admitted. “I knew I was attracted to you from the moment I met you. But I thought it was just because you didn’t want anything to do with me. I want to conquer you, to prove that you wanted me even though you denied it.”
“Yeah, you were being a real dick about it,” I chuckled, leaning into him.
“But once I realized what was really going on, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. It was like the entire world had suddenly narrowed down to just you. Nobody else mattered.”
“That sounds kind of terrifying,” I said quietly.
“It was,” he agreed. “It still is, in a way. Because if something happened to you...” He didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t need to. I could see the raw fear in his expression, the way his jaw tightened at the thought. “But that’s why we’re here. To keep you safe.”
I reached over and squeezed his hand. “
We finished eating in comfortable silence after that, and I found myself grateful for the reprieve. Having the wards up took a weight off my shoulders and seemed to ebb the fear that had been eating at my belly for the past twenty-four hours.
After we cleared our plates—or rather, after the constructs spirited them away before we could even stand up, Aeron took my hand and led me through the mansion.
We wandered through corridors that seemed to shift subtly as we walked, past a library that made the one at Widdershins look like a child’s collection, and eventually arrived at a set of double doors carved from dark wood with intricate dragon motifs.
“My rooms,” Aeron said.
“R-Rooms?” I stammered. “As in plural?”
“Yeah,” he replied and pushed the doors open.
The space was larger than most of the classrooms back at Widdershins.
It had floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over grounds that seemed to stretch on forever, and the manicured gardens giving way to forests in the distance.
A massive four-poster bed dominated one wall, and there was a sitting area with plush furniture arranged around a fireplace.
Everything screamed wealth and power in a way that made my upbringing feel suddenly very small.
“Holy shit,” I said, not bothering to hide my reaction. “This is a lot.”
“I know,” Aeron replied, wrapping his arms around me from behind. “But you’ll get used to it. This is your home now too, if you want it to be.”
The words sent a complicated flutter through my chest. This could be my home.
When Aeron called me his mate, I imagined us going on dates, being together, and having sex a lot.
I didn’t think about the fact that this was for life, that it only made sense for us to move in together, that I would have to leave my old life behind.
It felt like missing that last step on the stairs, my whole world reeling at once.
“What are you thinking?” Aeron asked softly, his chin resting on my shoulder.
“That I don’t belong here,” I admitted. “That I’m completely out of my depth.”
“You belong wherever I am,” he said with such absolute certainty that I almost believed him. “And you’re not out of your depth, Red. You’re just in a new situation. One I hope you’ll enjoy. You won’t want for anything with me.”
I turned in his arms to face him, looking up into those golden eyes that had become so familiar in such a short time. “I’m scared,” I said quietly.
Aeron’s expression softened, and he brought one hand up to cup my face. “It’s okay to be scared,” he said simply. “I’m scared too. This is just as new to me as it is for you.”
“What about my parents?” I asked. “And the potion shop? I was supposed to take over for them, to keep the family business running.”
“None of you have to work anymore if you don’t want to. Life is easy now, for all of you.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it without saying a word.
I pressed myself against Aeron’s chest, burying my face in his shirt.
There was no way to express to him the sudden disappointment I felt because suddenly there was nothing to work for anymore.
Aeron’s family fortune would easily erase all my struggles, which was nice.
I wasn’t complaining about that. But it also took away all reason to try to become something.
I used to wake up determined to succeed because I needed to, because I wanted to help myself and my family.
But now every morning I’d wake up with nothing to achieve that money couldn’t just buy.
It was almost… disheartening. But I felt like I had no right to complain about it.
After all, how many people out there struggled every single day just to survive?
Meanwhile I was being handed a luxurious life on a silver platter and feeling bad about it.
“You’re thinking really loud again,” Aeron murmured, his chin resting on the top of my head. “You want to talk about it?”
I let out a long sigh. “I… I’m not sure how to say it but—”
A loud boom echoed through the mansion, shaking the floor beneath our feet.
I jerked my head up, my heart hammering against my ribs. Another boom followed, this one hard enough to rattle the windows in their frames. Dust drifted down from the ornate ceiling plasterwork.
“What the hell?” I breathed, pulling back from Aeron.
His entire body had gone rigid, his arms dropping from around me as his senses seemed to sharpen. I watched as his eyes shifted to that reptilian gold, his pupils slitting into vertical lines. When he spoke, his voice carried that undertone of draconic rumble that meant he was starting to shift.
“That’s not possible,” he said, moving toward the windows. “The wards should—”
Another impact, closer this time. Close enough that I heard the actual crack of something breaking. My stomach lurched.
“Aeron?” I reached for him, my voice sounding small and frightened even to my own ears. “What’s happening?”
He ran to the window, throwing the curtains back. I watched him go stiff as he looked down onto the grounds. Stepping up beside him, I looked out, heart racing.
The wards were fully intact and visible, untouched by anyone or anything.
“The wards are fine…” I whispered. “So where is that coming from—”
BOOM.
The sound was coming from inside the mansion.
My blood went cold. “Aeron—”
“Stay here,” he commanded, already moving toward the door. His form was shifting more fully now, scales rippling across his skin as he prepared for a fight.
“Like hell,” I said, rushing after him. “We’re not splitting up again.”
He didn’t argue, just grabbed my hand and pulled me into the corridor.
The mansion that had felt so safe and welcoming just moments ago now seemed sinister, its winding hallways suddenly treacherous.
Another boom echoed through the space, and I realized with sickening certainty that whatever was attacking had already been here when the wards went up. And we were locked inside with it.
“How is this possible?” I gasped as we moved quickly down the hall. “Your grandfather said—”
“I don’t know,” Aeron cut me off, his voice tight with barely controlled rage. “But we’re about to find out.”
We rounded a corner and nearly collided with one of the magical constructs. It was moving erratically, its runes flickering with unstable light. As we watched, it simply stopped moving, its form going inert as whatever magic animated it seemed to drain away.
Someone was attacking the mansion directly, manipulating its magic.
We moved faster, abandoning caution for speed. The corridors seemed to stretch on forever, and I was beginning to think the mansion itself was being forced to work against us, rearranging itself to slow our progress. But then we burst through a set of doors and into the main foyer.
And I stopped dead.
Standing in the center of the marble floor, surrounded by the wreckage of what had once been a magnificent crystal chandelier, was Morgana. She was still wearing that white mask, still radiating that sickly green magic. But now she wasn’t alone.
Behind her stood at least a dozen figures, all of them with that same twisted, corrupted aura. Witches, I realized. The Purity Front. And they were all looking directly at us with expressions of hunger and hatred while dozens of undead lined the walls.
“Well, well,” Morgana’s distorted voice echoed through the foyer. “Isn’t this convenient? I was hoping to find you here, dragon boy. And your little witch mate too.” She tilted her head, that white mask catching the light. “How delightful that you’ve made this so easy for me.”