by L J Andrews
Raffi charged again, but I slammed my hand down on the table. Frustration was a strong enough emotion to spur the powerful energy coursing through my system day after day. The wood grains released their own aura, I was getting faster at linking to earth energy. I was pleased when the touch of my palm to the wooden table flashed a shocking barrier between the two wyverns. Enough they both stumbled backward. Raffi cursing me, but Frenrir gasping for air.
“You attacked me,” Frenrir glowered in my direction, his palm splayed over his chest.
“I protected you, but if you’d like I’ll stand back and let Raffi do as he pleases.”
“You would do me a great honor,” Raffi grumbled, adding a few audible cracks to his knuckles for dramatic effect.
Frenrir had a way of creating a perfect frown over his protruding chin. “I am not the enemy. I am only here to assure the council of your good nature. If you keep me safe, then I shall have nothing negative to say.”
“Then do as Sapphire says and have some respect,” I snapped.
Frenrir seemed as though he desperately wanted to say something more, but bit back his tongue.
“Alright then,” Sapphire interjected. “This is what we must do for a time. We are hiding nothing from the council. Teagan is honorable and loyal. So, if you’re here Frenrir, then you shall make yourself useful. We are seeking word on the High Priestess mage. We must know where her loyalties lie so we can have a full understanding of our allies. Have you, or the council had any sightings of where the mages may have gone?”
Frenrir straightened his shirt and shook his head. “Not a word. We thought the mages lost to the wyvern race completely. Those with a bond have not even felt the slightest stirring—he, is the first sign we’ve had. Then of course the High Priest—”
“Bron is not the High Priest,” Jade whispered. “He’s a murderer and traitor. Teagan has the blades, Teagan is the High Priest and you’ll do good to respect that position.”
Frenrir shrugged, but bowed his head in agreement to his queen. “Forgive me. Old habits, you see. Like you, my queen, this mage is young.” Frenrir faced me. “Are you ready to assume all the title of the High Priest mage holds?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure you know about as much as me regarding what the title means, so don’t act like you’re ready to tell me my responsibilities. We both know you don’t have the slightest idea either,” I said, causing Raffi and Dash to snicker. I thought Sapphire might have smiled too, but wasn’t certain due to his scruff. “I’m ready to keep the royal bloodlines safe. I’m ready to find out where I came from, and learn who I can trust. That’s all I can tell you.”
“Fine,” Frenrir sighed. “I shall make my leave and report on the first day to the council. I will be upstairs if needed.”
“You won’t be,” Dash grumbled under his breath, but Frenrir didn’t react.
“The first door on the left, that’s the room you may use. Don’t bother the students,” Sapphire muttered when Frenrir bowed to both royals and stepped out of the kitchen—not before grabbing a piece of crisp bacon of course.
Jade stomped to Sapphire’s side and huffed. “What is the council doing? When has there ever been a representative sent to keep track of royals?”
“Representative? More like sniveling spy,” Raffi snarled taking his own fair share of the bacon Sapphire had made. “Look, our royal was cooking for the beast.”
“I wasn’t cooking for him. It was one of the students, I’ll have you know. I sent them to bed when Frenrir seemed ready to shift simply to have a bite,” Sapphire grumbled. “To answer your questions, Jade, no. To my knowledge the council has never put such watch on the royals. When your grandfather, King Lux ruled, the council was there as a formality. Possibly if there was a difficult decision. Now, it seems as though they’d rather keep the throne for themselves.”
“So, what do we do?” I asked, feeling the unease prickle along my neck. I didn’t like this, not one bit.
Sapphire sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We stay alert, and we keep what we can amongst ourselves. Share only obvious information with Frenrir. What I’m certain of, is the council is not keen to the mage. I suspect finding the High Priestess will be the last of their worries. We also, go along with what they want.”
“How do you expect we play both sides?” Jade muttered. “We can’t conceal and do everything the council asks.”
“We must,” Sapphire said. “I believe that your crown, our way of life , and frankly, Teagan’s life depends on it.”
“They wouldn’t harm a mage,” Dash insisted.
Sapphire raised a brow, and chuckled soft, yet it still boomed deep into my chest. “You’re certain of such a thing? The council does not forgive easily, and the mage is still to blame for the death of our people as much as King Nag. Teagan, I must insist you be vigilant in honing your abilities. We shall help where we can. But I believe finding the help of fellow mages is more important than ever.”
I closed my eyes, leaning forward on my palms over the table. “Yes, but there’s just one problem.”
“What’s that?” Sapphire and Jade asked in unison.
I glanced at the four wyverns surrounding me in the small space. “We don’t know what mages we can trust.”
There it was out, the burden I’d carried since finding Frenrir in the kitchen. The wyvern council wanted me destroyed, and quite possibly the strongest mages in existence wouldn’t rest until I joined darkness, or died. The daunting truth crushed upon my shoulders. How was I ever going to get out of this alive?
Chapter 4
Frenrir didn’t look like a reform student. He was lanky with long fingers and nails that pointed a bit. His skin wasn’t taut like Raffi or Dash and his eye had an odd yellowish glow. I suspected it took some wyvern mental manipulation to convince the students at Wyvern High that he belonged among them as a peer.
“So, it’s true then. About the seal?” Frenrir whispered through the steam billowing around the bathroom. I startled slightly, securing the towel even tighter around my waist.
“What are you doing in here?” I showered each morning before the sun came up. I didn’t want any questions about Jade’s seal on my back from other students. I glared through the dim lighting as Frenrir perched on the edge of the counter and smiled. A shiver ran down my spine—I didn’t care if he was a dragon sneaking in while someone was showering was crossing a line I didn’t appreciate.
“I am to watch you, yes?”
“Not while I’m in the shower, pervert.”
“I don’t catch your meaning,” he said with a true innocence I almost laughed.
“It’s not…good to watch other people shower—especially if they don’t know you’re there,” I insisted, stepping up toward the sink to finish getting ready for school.
Frenrir kept his knowing gaze on my back and I wished he would slither back to the cave he’d come from. “I was not watching, that curtain was in front of you.”
“Still, don’t make it a habit, Fren. You might find out guys don’t appreciate it—and especially the girls. Sapphire will rip your head off,” I chuckled and shoved my toothbrush in my mouth hoping Frenrir would get the hint we were done speaking.
“I have no interest in watching anyone else but you,” he explained.
I pointed the froth tip of the brush at him and lifted my brow. “Right there, that sort of talk—knock it off.”
Frenrir sighed and I sort of enjoyed seeing him get frustrated. “I must ride on that pungent vehicle with you today. I shall never understand why the royals chose to live among humans. Moving about is so much easier with wings. Humans were once our servants you know. It could be so again.”
“Why not just live among them and let them live their lives. I understand that sort of dominating thinking is what King Nag wants.”
“No,” Frenrir snapped. “Nag wants nothing but wyvern races on this earth. He doesn’t see the importance of living with all matters of energy. The humans, t
hough lesser and not as valiant have an energy which only adds to our strengths. We would grow weak and helpless without all the creatures of the earth.”
“Still, keeping humans as servants doesn’t seem all that fair,” I knew he had a difficult time hearing me through my brushing, but I wasn’t going to stop on his account.
“So you say. I imagine because you were raised by one is the reason for your opinion,” Frenrir said pompously.
Wiping excess toothpaste from my chin I glared at Frenrir. “And you have your opinion because you’ve never taken the time to understand anyone else apart from the elders. You don’t even understand the royals, what they’ve sacrificed to keep their elemental stones safe.”
“So you’ve seen the Jade stone?” Frenrir asked with excitement.
“No, I haven’t,” I snapped, tugging a gray T-shirt over my head.
“Interesting. I’ve always wondered where the stones were hidden.”
“Who knows. Would you like to hold my hand while I leave the bathroom, or am I allowed to stay a few feet away from you?” I muttered, shoving past him with a knock from my shoulder.
“You have a sharp tongue, mage. I have no doubt you must be a relation of the former High Priest—”
My finger nearly jabbed Frenrir in the eye when I rapidly wheeled on him. “Don’t pretend you know anything about me, or where I come from.”
Frenrir lifted a brow. “So you do not accept that the traitor could be your father.”
My lips pressed into two tiny lines, and I felt the pulsing rage building in the hinge of my jaw. “Just…keep your nose out of my business. You know nothing.”
On the bus Mitch chatted up Frenrir the same way he’d acquainted with me the first day I’d come to the reform house. Frenrir did little to try and hide his arrogance toward a human, and spoke as though he were a refined gentlemen from a regency novel rather than a delinquent needing extra guidance in life. If anyone would give away the truth, it would be Frenrir.
Inside the school the air was muggy and uncomfortably dry from the heaters blasting against the icy weather. Stripping the jacket instantly, the burn of energy I’d embraced didn’t help against the heat, I could only imagine how uncomfortable the wyverns felt against the air. Jade was waiting by the front doors, speaking to a mousy girl with a ponytail topped directly on the crown of her head. At the sight of me approaching the girl offered a soft thanks to Jade and rushed away with a frightened glance in my direction.
“Am I that scary to look at?” I scoffed.
Jade smirked lazily leaning against my chest, arching her face upward so our lips were close enough it took all my self-control not to kiss her. “I sense intimidation, not fear from her. You know you have a reputation, Teagan Ward.”
“Something I try very hard to keep up.”
“Well, your rebellious spirit sort of appeals to me,” she whispered against my ear, causing the side of my neck to tingle with longing.
Frenrir cleared his throat, drawing Jade away from me—begrudgingly.
“You think it wise for a mage and wyvern royal to get so close?”
“Hush, Frenrir,” Jade demanded. “You speak so loudly—anyone could hear you.”
He only shrugged, watching the nearby students rush to different classrooms. “Forgive me, my queen. I simply speak in earnest. The bond is meant to keep you safe, as well as your mage. Nothing more.”
“Yeah, you’re late to that, Fren. We’ve already heard all the warnings from everyone else,” I said, curling my fingers in Jade’s grip. “And just like them, you’re going to have to get used to it.”
Frenrir rolled his eyes and just for a moment I imagined I saw a little steam burst from his nostrils. “It’s all very unorthodox, that’s all I’m saying. There’s a reason the wyvern race reign in strength, our attachments are made to continue the lineage of valor and power—not…romance.”
Jade growled in the back of her throat, kissed me quickly and glared at Frenrir as she walked away. “I will see you later,” she said over her shoulder.
“I believe I’ve offended the young queen,” Frenrir muttered at my side.
Shaking my head, I secured my backpack over my shoulder tighter and trudged toward my first class. “Very observant, Fren. Jade is queen for a reason, right? Maybe you should stop telling her what to do and how to be—it will take you far in her good graces.”
“She is young and has not formally ascended the throne,” he argued.
“Yeah, well how is she ever going to show you and the elders how powerful she can be if you never give her the chance. You know Jade was the one who predicted something dangerous was coming—if she hadn’t put everyone on edge Bron and the lindworms might have killed Sapphire and her. Then where would the elders be? Two royals lost.”
A miracle of miracles occurred when Frenrir took his place behind the desk next to mine and agreed with me. “Perhaps you’re right. I will make a greater effort in keeping my opinions to myself that hold little value. But I must make it clear, the elders will never accept the bond you’re building with her.”
“Yeah, well until they’ve felt what I do, until they have her seal etched into their skin they can take their acceptance and—”
“Gentlemen, may we begin our lesson?” Ms. Battle snapped from the front of the classroom, drawing my attention away from Frenrir. I felt my cheeks flush, but I nodded and opened my algebra book.
“How did you lose him?” Jade asked, her face inches from mine as she leaned against my chest. We rested against the tuft of grass at the blue midnight sky. The stars were crisp like trapped pearls in a sea of black—the night was cold and clear, but most of all peaceful.
“He’s sleeping now,” I said softly, my cheek blazing in my favorite sort of heat against her forehead.
“I doubt he ever sleeps,” she snipped.
“I don’t know, he sort of stopped following me once we came back. I have to be honest, having such a close tail is going to be exhausting. I kept checking behind me the whole way here, I was so certain he was following me.”
“What do you think? Is he going to convince the elders to tear us apart?”
“He didn’t like it, and made it clear it wasn’t accepted for us to be so close, but when did we decide we’re going to let anyone tells us how to be?”
Jade smiled, I could see the bright gleam of her white teeth in the moonlight before I tugged her a little closer and closed my eyes, just enjoying the stillness of the night.
“Do you hear that?” Jade asked after a long pause.
Instantly the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. It wasn’t what I heard, it was what I didn’t hear. The surrounding forest was silent and seemed as though all life had fallen asleep. Not even the bristle of leaves by the breeze could be heard.
Rising slowly, I protectively placed my arm in front of Jade. “I don’t hear anything,” I said, knowing full well that nothing meant something.
“I hear the trees,” she whispered. The energy of the trees connected to Jade as it did me, but it would seem I was cut out of the conversation. “Something angry is out there, I feel a warning, a strange power—yet, oddly familiar.”
Jade cocked her head slightly, her emerald eyes staring into the forest, searching for whatever had spurred her senses, but the forest was still and silent.
“Let’s go,” I said, though it frustrated me to not feel the same things. I was charged with protecting Jade, and how could I protect her if I didn’t sense threats?
Jade took my hand and together we crept toward the path that would take us back to the reform house. We didn’t get far.
The attack came in such a blur, I hardly had a chance to react. Jade was ripped to the ground; her hand violently tore from mine and I saw the gleam of crimson blaze through the night. Someone—or something—was holding a blade, hovering the point over Jade’s chest. The enemy was dressed in a dark cloak—just like a poisonous zomok would wear. My mind only took a single heartbeat to catch
up to the situation before the powerful burn of mage energy rushed my blood and fueled my body as I prepared to attack.
Though the High Priest blades were still back at the reform house, I carried a gilded blade along my leg at all times. Raffi had given it to me after Bron had been banished. The craftsmanship was immaculate, with a carved head of a warrior dragon on the hilt and blade that could cut through bone. The weapon was in my hand in half a breath.
Before the assailant could draw the blade down against Jade, I dug my hand in the collar of the dark cloak and tugged them off Jade.
“Go,” I shouted at Jade.
She scrambled to her feet, her eyes wide and furious. If I’d had time I might have rolled my eyes at her stubbornness—Jade wasn’t leaving. She shifted in one smooth glance. Her enormous, dominant wyvern form filling the space in the forest. Jade’s wings reminded me of sea-foam, but it was the smoothness of her body I found incredible. She gleamed like a royal wyvern—everything about her screamed strength.
“Jade, go,” I shouted again as the cloaked attacker released a rogue dagger into the night. It was aimed at Jade’s heart. Holding my hands in front of my chest, the appeal to my power came naturally. The dagger fell to the earth, my ability stopping the attack, and thankfully Jade had taken flight. The wind beneath her wings adding a tumultuous breeze through the branches.
Holding my dagger tighter in my grip I rushed toward the cloaked attacker. The markings along my arms took shape, hardening into the impenetrable armor around my arms. Gripping the blade I raised one arm to block a downward strike, while slashing my weapon against the thigh of the hooded assailant. The cutting edge slashed against something hard and did little damage.
Spinning out of the attack, I backed away. The fury of the attacker when they struck again brought me to my knees. My arms trembled in exertion as his blade pressed down against my dagger. I appealed to the strength of nature, the energy of the earth, swiftly adding to my mage power and holding me strong against the assault. The ground rippled slightly from my power. It was terrifying and thrilling in the same moment to hold against this enemy—I sensed something coming from the blade cutting into my own dagger. Something powerful.