37. Interruption
A fter Aeden had finished talking to Harrison, they didn’t have that long to look through the archives before they needed to leave. Aeden was all too conscious of how easy it was to lose track of time when conducting research with Lyric, and he didn’t want to fall into the same trap again.
They hadn’t found anything meaningful or any records remotely close to the Battle of Weir; that in itself would take them a huge chunk of time.
Aeden had sworn Harrison to secrecy, and he trusted that he wouldn’t say anything to anyone, but he also reassured him that he didn’t expect him to trawl through all the archive records if he didn’t want to.
Aeden would spend his time between the archives and Nyra when he wasn’t in class, something he felt confident he could manage.
The two of them made sure they left the room as they found it, but they realised when they were leaving they had no lamp, so they had to walk back through the darkness, something that Aeden made a mental note of grabbing next time he was down there.
The afternoon’s class was with Master Bennet, Master of Magic and connections through the Weave – something Aeden now had an expressed interest in given he now had both magic and a connection to the Weave through Nyra.
Harrison was in the same class, and for Aeden, it felt nice to be attending a class knowing he didn’t need to avoid his friends.
“I can still taste the must,” Harrison said as the two of them sat down in their class. Master Bennet had already placed out a large textbook on each of the tables. “Great more, reading,” Harrison said.
Master Bennet was a skittish teacher. Tall and slender, he looked in desperate need of a good meal.
He was well spoken and dressed in fine clothes like he was attending a banquet.
His greying hair was slicked back, his slim face devoid of any facial hair, revealing a faint scar at the base of his chin that cracked like lightning up to his bottom lip.
“Today’s class will be Weave-based. After all, you need to master your Weave if you are to master your magic,” Master Bennet started, clearing his throat when a few of the students were continuing with their conversations.
“With the Aer-Kin eggs hatching, we need to make sure you’re all attuned as best as possible to the Weave.
The bonding ceremony is not for the faint hearted,” he said.
“Let me tell you, some of you – quite simply put – are still not ready.” His attention diverted to Aeden, and he awkwardly stopped speaking for a few moments.
What the hells was that? Aeden thought .
There was a flicker in Master Bennet’s eyes, a moment’s hesitation, something that most people would miss. Aeden, however, didn’t.
“You have someone in your cohort that has somehow managed to bond with an Aer-Kin despite having no attunement training. That in itself is nothing short of a miracle. Even if we don’t include the circumstances in which the two of them were bonded.”
All eyes spun around in an instant and burrowed into Aeden. He wanted the ground to swallow him up as his cheeks started burning, his skin itching. He contemplated standing up and leaving the room.
Master Bennet interrupted Aeden’s thoughts.
“What I mean by that is, while I will guide you through attunement, we have someone in this very room who can tell you what it feels like, what the process is like firsthand. Obviously I could tell you all how excruciatingly painful the process is, how it can bring a madness onto those whose Weaves split like a fine thread, but I’ll leave it to Aeden to fill in the blanks. Over to you, Harrington,” he said.
Aeden’s cheeks continued to burn. This was not how he wanted to start the class.
The rest of the room fell into silence, aside from Kael, who sat at the side of the room, his face smug and taunting.
How Aeden wanted to just jump up from the table and show Kael he wasn’t intimidated by him, not one bit.
“Are you sure that’s wise, Master Bennet?” Kael sneered. “After all, Aeden’s Aer-Kin is a complete runt. Its wings are damaged beyond repair. What use is a rider who can’t fly?” he asked .
It took every ounce of Aeden’s self-restraint not to slide his chair back and dive across the room at Kael.
Some of the room laughed, some rolled their eyes and tutted. It was clear that more than three-quarters were of the same opinion as Kael, that Nyra was a runt, hardly worth bothering with.
“Why should I?” Aeden said as calmly as he could. His own eyes fell on the master at the front of the room.
It was a response that Master Bennet clearly wasn’t expecting.
“These are your peers. They’re all readying themselves to bond with their Aer-Kins in the near future.
Would you really want it on your conscience if any of your peers were to not make it through the ceremony because you refused to help? ”
That was a low blow by Aeden’s standards. Why was he putting it all on him? He was just another student, the same as the others.
“With all due respect, Master Bennet,” Aeden said, “isn’t that your responsibility?
Isn’t that what the academy pays you to do?
” He made a point of looking at a couple of the other students, the ones he knew associated with Kael, before finally landing on the pompous asshole himself.
“Although I’m not going to lie, there’s a few of them I wouldn’t miss, should they not make it through the ceremony. ”
A few of the other students gasped, Harrison sniggered, and Master Bennet looked appalled at Aeden’s response.
“What can I say, I couldn’t give a fuck what happens to most of the people in this room,” Aeden continued.
“I see the way you all look at me, the way you look down your noses, the laughing, the pointing, the not-so-subtle whispering. I know you all judge Nyra, but she’s the best thing to ever happen to me, and we’ll prove every one of you who doubts us wrong.
We do belong here, and we can be just as useful as the rest of the Aer-Kin. ”
“Whilst I do admire your bond with your Aer-Kin, you’re deviating from what I asked you to do. If you’re not going to share insight on the bonding process, well, you may as well leave,” the frustrated master said.
He was no different from the others. It was clear Master Bennet felt the same as everyone else, that Aeden and Nyra were a burden, a waste of resources the academy could use elsewhere.
“You’re kicking me out?” Aeden stood up, readying himself to leave, but if he was going to go, he was sure as shit going to put a new level of fear into his peers.
“Well, if you’re all so desperate to know, it was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced.
My blood felt like it was on fire, my head felt like there was a rat burrowing through my brain, and the overwhelming nausea of sharing the emotions with a newly hatched Aer-Kin that was feeling and sensing everything for the first time was quite simply horrendous.
” He placed his hands on the table, leaning forward as he tried to look as many students into their eyes as possible. “Does that help, Master?”
Most of the students dropped their heads, unable to make eye contact with Aeden, which was what he wanted. He didn’t need any of them. Kael and a handful of others, however, didn’t. Instead, they were clearly lapping up the reaction they had gotten from Aeden like a pack of wild dogs.
“That’s quite enough,” Master Bennet said, raising his voice.
The door to the classroom opened and the colour instantly drained from Master Bennet’s face .
“C-Can I help you?” he asked.
The Sable twins entered the room, and there was no mistaking the ice-cold atmosphere that followed them.
Rosheen glanced around the room, then leaned against the wall as if she was uninterested.
She looked like she wanted to be there even less than Aeden did.
Her brother, Orion, smiled at Master Bennet as he entered.
He was holding a vivid red apple, which already had a couple of bites taken out of it.
“Don’t mind us,” Orion said, taking a fresh bite of his apple.
He groaned in delight, as if it were the first apple he had ever eaten in his life.
“We’re just making ourselves familiar with how things are working at the academy.
We weren’t going to reach your class until later, but when I heard raised voices, well, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look. Is everything okay, Master?—”
“Bennet,” he answered, “I’m Master Bennet.” His voice quivered. He was scared of them, and that drew a level of intrigue from Aeden, who was still standing.
Realising he stood out from the rest of the class, he tried to sit down without drawing attention to himself, which didn’t work, as Rosheen was looking straight at him.
“I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself formerly in the Great Hall this morning.
This is my sister, Rosheen. My name is Orion.
And let’s just say, we have a vested interest in the Aer-Kin and riders that are being produced at the academy.
You may have heard me saying in the Great Hall when I spoke to your dear director that standards here have dropped.
We’re here to make sure that they return to what we are expecting from the academy?—”
“Are you from the Conclave?” a student asked, interrupting Orion. Aeden recognised the student as Lucien, the very person who had saved him from drowning in the lake. He was built strong and powerful, and he was in the Guardian class.
Orion’s attention diverted from Master Bennet to Lucien, and if Master Bennet had looked pale before, he looked ready to faint now.
“What’s your name?” Orion said as he took a step towards him.
“L-Lucien,” he replied. Aeden hadn’t spoken to him since he pulled him out of the lake.
“Stand up,” Orion demanded.
Lucien did as he was told. He was taller than Orion, his full frame on display.
“You are an example of all that needs correcting in the academy. Tell me, what’s your surname?” There was a menacing undertone to Orion’s words that felt more than a little threatening.
“Poldova,” Lucien replied. Unable to make eye contact, he chose to stare down at his desk.
“Poldova.” Orion thought on the name before turning to look at his sister.
She sighed and stepped away from the wall.
“Poldovas are a defensive bloodline, known for their abilities to take high amounts of damage on the battlefield. One Aer-Kin in particular is lauded from their bloodline, Wilhelm, but that was three generations ago.” She was as well spoken as Orion, except there was no pompousness in the way she spoke, and her accent was softer.
She recited the information as if she was reading it from a codex, not from memory.
“Well, well, well,” Orion said, a smile returning to his face.
“I was right after all. You are a perfect example of exactly what I was speaking about when it comes to standards at the academy. No notable riders in three generations of Aer-Kin and riders. You sit here, unkept and overweight. You interrupt me while I speak and do not have the decency to stand to attention with the pride and honour that your family name gives you.”
Orion was standing right in front of Lucien, his eyes unmoving. “I mean, look at you. You look like anything but a rider. Rosheen, what do you think?”
“Statistically, they are in the bottom quarter,” she said.
“The perfect example,” Orion said. “You will come with us.” He turned to leave. “Come along.”
Lucien did as he was told and followed the two of them out of the classroom. Master Bennet pretty much collapsed in his seat, and the rest of the room just fell into silence.
“What just happened?” Harrison said, leaning in towards Aeden. “I mean, who are those two, and what are they going to do with Lucien?”
Harrison was right with his questions. All this had started when Lucien had asked if they were with the Conclave. Orion didn’t seem happy with that. Did that confirm they were not with the Conclave? If so, why would they be so interested in bloodlines and power?
Master Bennet looked terrified of them, and Director Vale had certainly been shaken by their presence. Which begged the question – why were they being allowed to walk around the academy as if they were the masters of it?
“As I said before, if they were with the Conclave, the faculty would have been expecting them,” Aeden said.
“They have processes that they follow. Formalities, things like that. It feels like these two have turned up unannounced, but to get the reaction they have from not just the director but Master Bennet too . . .” He paused, then lowered his voice.
“They’re scared of them, so they must know who they are. ”
“And they must have some jurisdiction over the academy, or they wouldn’t be able to just walk around pulling students from their lessons,” Harrison added.
Either way, Aeden couldn’t help but think that the two of them were as dangerous as they were intriguing.
“ Aeden ,” Nyra reached out through the Weave, causing Aeden to jump. There was a panicked tone to her voice that caused a stir in him.
“ What is it, girl? ” he asked. “ Are you okay? ”
“ Come to the hatchery ,” she said. “ It’s absolute chaos. Lyric says he needs you .”