Chapter 26 Bruises and Bargains #2
Griffin: You excel at mysterious.
Griffin: I’ll need you to send me messages until I return. Updates, pictures, random thoughts—I need them to stay sane.
My heart spins gleefully ignorantly as I reread his message, wondering what doors we’re opening. If we are.
Are you guys gone for work?
Griffin: Yeah. We’ll be in and out of service area, but I’ll message you when I can. We’re hoping to be back tonight, but it may take a couple of days.
Griffin: Stay safe, Bondmate.
My thoughts fumble over each other, racing to find the appropriate words, when so few feel like the right ones.
You, too.
Kai is absent from lunch, Alchemy, and Elemental Mastery, where we’re separated by our element. Professor Hammerstad leads us in meditation and visualization exercises, which I struggle through. My mind wanders, latching onto anything but the slow inhale and exhale he’s instructing.
I wonder if Griffin and Daire felt the imprint when it formed. If Elementals date casually or exclusively. And if there’s any free will when it comes to who you love or if we’re all just threads tangled in some cosmic design, pulled taut by forces we don’t understand.
In D&C, Kimber tries to murder me with a circuit that would make a professional athlete cry. I don’t know how I’m still conscious. The only upside is that I’m too tired to think about the Vestra or where Kai is as I stand in line to shower.
“Hey,” Scarlet says, taking me by surprise as I exit the locker room. “Tidescast practice was canceled tonight because someone accidentally charmed the pool with a geyser spell, and it’s going to take a few days to clean up the mess.”
I blink at her. “How does one accidentally cause a geyser?”
Scarlet rolls her eyes. “Who knows? But they cracked the damn foundation.” She eyes my legs, like she can see how wobbly they are. “Rough class?”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to stand once I sit down.”
She laughs. “Come on. More soaking and tea will help.”
“Do you have your own glider?”
She nods as her gaze shifts over my shoulder. I know Kai’s there. I don’t know how, or why, since I haven’t imprinted on him, but I can feel him just as distinctly as rain or sun against my skin.
“What are you guys doing?” he asks.
“Masterminding,” I deadpan.
Kai rolls his eyes, and that’s when I see it—a bruise blooming at the corner of his mouth.
Heat flushes in my chest.
“What happened?” Scarlet asks.
Kai’s eyes are on me, as if he can sense my element yawning awake. He takes a measured step back and glances in both directions before focusing on me. “It’s nothing.”
Clearly, it’s something. But I’m not about to ask where he was or what he was doing. “I’m going to ride with Scarlet,” I say instead.
He studies me for a prolonged beat, as if debating if I’m about to scorch the school, then he turns to Scarlet. “Straight to Mysthaven. No stops.”
Scarlet gives him a lazy salute, then loops her arm through mine and turns us toward the parking lot.
Kai trails behind us until we’re tucked inside the glider, then he veers for the lot where he and Holden are parked.
Lief greets us at the door of Mysthaven, and as soon as Scarlet mentions soaking he herds us to the stairs. Once we’re submerged in the heated water, he brings us tea and snacks and doesn’t comment about how Scarlet keeps the water below my chest.
I continue soaking and reading the textbook Holden assigned as she swims laps, until Kai insists we practice shielding again.
I get dressed and meet him in the living room.
I’m still terrible, but not quite as terrible as last week. Still, Kai sees too many of my memories.
When Kai’s crystal link rings for the third time, he finally ends practice and excuses himself.
I check my crystal link for what feels like the millionth time today. The books on prophecies and bonds that Edmond agreed to send still aren’t in my library. We’re scheduled for a tutoring session tomorrow, but I can’t wait that long. I head down to his office, finding the door closed. I knock.
“Enter,” he calls.
I push the door open, finding Edmond behind the same large monitor he was hidden behind this morning.
“Sorry to bother you, but I didn’t see the books yet.”
“Yes.” He wheels his chair to one side, looking at me. “I think it would be best if we discuss what questions you have to make sure these are the right books. As I’m sure you know, there are risks in seeking knowledge without proper guidance.”
“There are greater risks in remaining ignorant.” Like being executed.
The ghost of a smile touches his lips. “Valid point.” He stands, moving to the shelf where the books on prophecies are neatly stacked, and withdraws the small red book—one of the two I had selected this morning—and turns to me.
“None of the texts in this room are for casual reading. I think it would be best if you read them in here so you can ask questions.” He pauses, something softening in his expression.
“I’m sure this is very overwhelming. I’d rather you have guidance than drown in this sea of information. ”
Annoyance vibrates through my limbs, but it feels rude to push back when they’re his books. “I hope you don’t mind a roommate in that case.”
Edmond tilts his head as he slowly extends the book to me.
I settle into the lone chair across from his desk and don’t waste a second, carefully opening the book.
He clears his throat. “Do you mind me inquiring what specifically you’re looking for?”
I debate my words for several seconds. “Everything,” I finally say.
“As you can probably imagine, I know next to nothing about this world. Bonds, prophecies… it’s all foreign to me.
I want to know how they’re interpreted and by whom.
Why they exist. If they all come to fruition. Who decides. If they can be altered…”
“Prophecies are woven into the very fabric of our being,” he says. “My grandmother used to say prophecies aren’t chains, but signposts. They can be misinterpreted and mistranslated, but altered?” He shakes his head. “The only—”
A door in the corner of the room—one that didn’t exist seconds ago—opens.
Holden stops, his hand still on the doorknob, eyes on me, clearly caught off guard by my presence.
His dark hair is tousled, and he’s holding a tome larger than the one he assigned me today that has been heavily annotated.
“You’re supposed to be shielding with Kai. ”
“He had a call. Edmond’s allowing me to read his books on prophecies and bonds.” I hold up the book in response.
Holden’s gaze flicks to Edmond.
“We made a deal that the books remain in here.”
“Yes. Once again, I had lots of bargaining room,” I say sarcastically, annoyed that this secret door exists and spurs so many more questions that I know will go unanswered if I waste my breath, so instead I refuse to, turning my attention back to the pages.
Rather than leave, Holden backs into the room he came from, closing the door most of the way before widening the gap to several inches.
I ignore him and delve into the world of prophecies—something I’d always assumed was fictional, and somehow seems more so the more I learn. Oracles and seers transcribe them during sacred eclipses, a process that seems impossible rather than practiced.
I read until my back is stiff and my neck aches, and still, I keep reading.
My crystal link vibrates in my lap hours later. I glance down, seeing a new message from Griffin flashing across my screen. The idea of prophecies seems both ancient and significantly less so as I stare at the unopened message, realizing how late the hour is.
A reluctant sigh leaves me as I return the book to the shelf and wish Edmond a good night before heading to my room, craving the solitude to open and respond to Griffin’s message.