She groaned, realizing she would have to write her report all over again. So many bloody questions for that man to answer, and she would not allow him to outmaneuver her this easily.
She tried to force her weary body to rise once more, but she was already asleep.
13
Jess found herself lost in the gentlest of dreams, running through vast fields brilliant with wildflowers, the sweet scents of jasmine and honeysuckle wafting through the air, Malek by her side, barking with excitement. Jess gazed intently at the wolf who towered as vast as the cloudy heavens even as he comfortably leaned against her, the perfect height for her to pat with gentlest affection.
A soft frown of confusion pursed rosebud lips, even as she allowed herself to be soothed by the gentle sounds of laughter and play from the fields behind her.
Jess shook her head even as Malek gently licked her cheeks.
“Silly dog,” she said. “What does all this mean, Twilight?”
The sapphire-eyed cat perched upon her shoulder flashed the strangest of smiles. “It means it's time to wake up, my queen.”
And she did.
“Malek!” The first word a sleepy Jess uttered, blinking about in sudden confusion. Wasn't she supposed to be doing something? Jess frowned, shaking her head, before grimacing at the sudden visceral memory of couched spears plunging into living flesh, the feel of fiercely held mace pounding with frenzied abandon.
Reveling in the horror she wrought, taking unholy delight in blood spilled, lives cleaved from all who dared oppose her.
Jess shuddered and shook those memories away, glad they were already scattered and indistinct. Yet for all that the events were lost in fog, her hands remembered all too well the feel of a killing blow.
“Bloody hells,” she hissed, before lurching for her door, thinking only to grab a robe before dashing outside, suddenly terrified for her closest friend in all the world. “Malek!”
Then her eyes skipped across the mark on her wrist. She shivered, having no memory of putting it there, but the message was clear.
Her eyes darted down to her pile of sweat-stained clothes and padded gambeson presently reeking of blood and death. She pinched shut her nose and found her belt pouch in the heart of the pile, opening it with trembling hands, desperate to see if she had left herself a clue as to what had happened.
She gave a frustrated curse and threw the pouch down, heedless of the coppers that spilled from it. Of any notes, there was no trace, leaving her more desperate than ever to assure that her shieldbrother was safe.
Jess managed to ignore the wide-eyed stares of students as she dashed from her quarters, all caught off guard by her presence save for Mord himself, in the flesh and perfectly attired in doublet and hose of deepest blue, gazing at her with features exquisitely handsome, and eyes inhumanly cold.
His lips quirked into the cruelest of grins.
“I see my prize has awoken.”
Snickers then from none other than Mord's two favorite hangers-on; small and wiry Erno de Vilde, gazing at Jess like a prize mare he was eager to break, and Vaki de Slaktare, his satin doublet stretched near to bursting, tongue caressing bulbous lips, as if Jess was a tasty victual he would happily devour.
“She's not even wearing her uniform, Mord,” Erno smirked. “Just her robe.”
Vaki chuckled. “No doubt she finally recognizes her place here at school, and is eager to fly to your quarters, knowing a robe is all she will ever need to wear, as she worships her master.”
And with those words Vaki cried out and stumbled back, clutching a nose suddenly spurting blood. “You bitch!” he hissed, glaring daggers at Jess who felt a fool for having left her quarters in such a hurry, now being stared at by these bastards like a piece of meat, enjoying the fierce sting of her fist crushing her enemy's nose.
Vaki withdrew his wand. “I'll make you pay for that, whore!”
Before crying out a second time, Mord's hand having rocked out, shoving his friend with surprising force against the far corridor wall. The fat boy bounced to his rear, cursing and sputtering, wand dropped, even as Erno smirked down at him, adroitly snatching up the boy's wand. “Don't be an idiot, Vaki. Jess is Mord's.”
Mord's icy gaze was strangely intent. “Jess?”
“Bloody hells, Mord, I don't need this right now! If you won't face me in the ring, then stay out of my way!” Jess glared at a snarling Vaki, heart roaring with sudden sweet fury. “Or you could challenge me, you pustulent sack of filth. With blade or wand, I will take you and happily run you through!”
Vaki paled and spat, glaring at Jess sullenly as he stumbled to his feet, brushing himself off. “I'll leave you to your toy, Mord. Best you see to that mouth of hers!” He yanked his wand back from Erno, grumbling curses as he left.
Mord shook his head. “It's a crutch, you know. Potent as he is, he can't aim for squat without a focus. A real wizard needs no such crutch.” He smiled then. “Of course, wands make excellent receptacles for enchantments, should one ever come across such a treasure, as our dear dean himself has, or so rumor holds.”
Jess frowned. “You know an awful lot about wands, Mord, for someone no better at magic than I.”
"At least he didn't make an ass of himself spouting tripe about seeing spellweaves, only to be laughed out of her first-year class," Erno mocked. "I see you make no such claims now."
Mord's measuring gaze crawled over Jess from head to toe. She backed away, glaring at his mocking smile.
“You really don't remember, then? None of it?”
Jess frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
A cocky smile Jess wanted to smack off his face. "Nothing you need worry about, my future prize. All you need know is that we baptized ourselves in darkest glory, reveling in the death of our enemies, before you surrendered to sweetest rapture as I mastered you endlessly through the night.”
Jess blinked, speechless at the audacity of Mord's words.
"We did no such thing. I would know if we had!"
His hungry gaze twisted into a possessive glare, Mord instantly before her, squeezing her shoulders tight with inhuman strength.
“It is only a matter of time before that will be exactly our fate. I will claim you, Jessica de Calenbry. Body and soul.”
“Mord. Back off. Now.” Jess hoped she hid the tremble she felt in her voice.
“One day, I will make you mine.” His intent squeeze turned painful. “One day you will submit, and call me master!”
“Mord, let go now!” Terror mixed with sudden fury, and just like that, Mord was feet away, mocking grin upon his lips once more.
“If you ever touch me again, I'll kill you!”
Mord laughed. "Yet by your clan's own promise you will be presented before me in a gown of white, trembling for my touch. Enjoy your time at Highrock, my little dove. Soon enough I shall be putting you in your golden cage, and then you shall have no choice but to sing for me."
Mord's voice carried, Erno not the only student to witness his declaration, a handful of their peers turning the corner at that very instant. The slightest titter of startled laughter, knowing smiles from several students turning their way. Jess flushed furiously and darted down the corridor, more eager than she had ever been to escape to Malek's quarters, her bastion against awkward stares and Mord's constant mockery.
14
Sympathetic eyes locked with Jess's own as Malek held her close.
"By all the gods, I'm just glad you're safe, Malek. And here I am blathering on about Mord."
Jacob, Malek's lithe lover, gazed at Jess unperturbed from the corner of the grand hardwood bed that took up the center of Malek's comfortable quarters. “Mord's a right bastard, Jess. Don't pay his words any mind. No one else does.”
Malek nodded his agreement. “Jacob's right, you know. What matters is that we are all safe. When I woke up, the first thing I did was look for you. And when Eloquin said you had gone to quarters but weren't opening your door for anyone, we
ll, I feared the worst.” Malek frowned and shook his head. “I should have been right there, waiting for you.”
Jacob rolled his eyes. “As if wearing away the flagstones with your pacing would have done anyone any good. It was Eloquin himself who told you to quit terrifying our peers and take your ease in private.”
Jess quirked an eyebrow at that. Malek grinned. “Let's just say that perhaps I glared at a few students, and the boy who called me a catamite found himself dangling out the nearest window.”
“But Malek, you are a catamite,” Jacob teased. “As I should well know, being several months older than you, and you but a babe in the woods when I first... corrupted you.”
Malek chuckled at that. “For you alone, lover, for you alone.”
Jess smirked. “It's a good thing we're not that high up. Soft loamy dirt below, your detractor should survive the fall with no more than a few bruises, a broken bone at most.”
Malek rolled his eyes. “No doubt his father sent mine a scathing letter reaffirming my status as the black sheep of the family. Good thing I don't give a fig for Father's opinion, as I haven't talked to that monster for years.”
Jacob gave a fond shake of his head. “Yes, but that glass was priceless, dear, and Eloquin had you running for hours.”
Malek shrugged. “In truth, I'm glad he did. Even when Eloquin destroyed me in weapons practice, constantly throwing questions about our last mission that, for the life of me, I just couldn't answer. Threw me completely out of my form. At least he credited me with some improvement, and when all was said and done, I felt better than I had since I first woke up.”
Jess frowned. “How long was I asleep? A single night, right?”
Malek grimaced. “It's been three days, Jess. That's why you're so thirsty, I imagine, having drunk down all my summer wine the moment you entered.”
Jess flushed at that. “It's that bastard Mord's fault. The things he said...”
Jacob smiled. “And you also have a weakness for wine.”
Jess grinned back. “True.” Her expression turned solemn. “Mord seemed to imply that, well, you know.” She gazed almost apologetically at Jacob, who sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Of course I know about General Eloquin grooming you all to be the king's blackened daggers. Everyone knows. Do we really need to bother with silly pretexts?"
Jess flushed and looked away.
“Jacob, that was unworthy.”
“I'm sorry, Malek, but no boy keeps his mouth shut, bragging to whichever girl catches his fancy at the feasts Eloquin and Hyve hold for you all after your missions. Girls melt for deadly assassins, particularly in this academy full of future battlemages and commanders, so everyone has a good time, and if Eloquin thinks his secrets are being kept for more than five minutes after he leaves, he's a bigger fool than any master tactician has a right to be.”
Jess flushed, realizing Jacob was probably right. The days after a mission was successfully completed and the revels were embraced would be a delightful blur, and Jess could only imagine the wild tales her peers would share with admiring lovers, all of them taking full advantage of Crown leave to carouse without scorn or censure for a full week. Their actions during that time were never spoken of aloud by anyone, professors paying no mind to their absence, just as if they really had been knights back from crusade. It was the one time Jacob and Malek dared to love openly for the world to see, and no one would say a word.
Jess flushed. “I guess I only have myself to blame, really.”
Malek sighed. "Mord is a loathsome toad. Jacob made it clear you hadn't even attended the revels, and Mord clearly had. Spreading rumors that you two had consummated your nonexistent relationship is just his way of pushing back any competition. He's the same jackanapes he always was, no better, no worse. So let us stop worrying about poor Mord, and focus on more important things." He squeezed Jess tightly to him. "Don't worry, shieldsister. I got your back. When I'm around, he hardly bothers us at all."
Jess nodded. “But the things he said. As if, well, as if we had fought as battlebrothers, side by side.
Malek shrugged. "He's one of the few Knight Aspirants who actually answers the King's Call, not afraid to blacken his dagger by our side. It's why I haven't tried to kill him in earnest. During those times alone, I would trust him with my life." Malek sighed. "I'd try to make peace with him for all that I can't stand him, if it weren't for his treatment of you."
Jess locked gazes with her closest friend. “Malek? I haven't had the heart to ask before now, but did we lose anyone?”
Her heart lurched with sudden dread as he sighed, before giving a reassuring shake of his head. “We were lucky, Jess. We lost no one, but the Aspirants weren't so lucky. Their newest recruit lost his life, thank the gods the others were spared.”
Jess grimaced, closing her eyes, saddened that a fellow student had fallen, grateful beyond words that it was not one of her beloved band of Squires, that it wasn't someone she knew.
“Though poor Liam is much the worse for ware, I'm afraid.”
Jess felt her stomach lurch before Malek's serious gaze before it lightened into a smile. “Yet for all that, he is stable, and has been enjoying the company of a certain young lady.”
Jess blinked. “Really.”
Malek grinned. “Sable de Plaga, of all people.”
Jess flushed in memory of a certain girl's smile. “Sable? She seemed a beautiful girl, but, well...”
“A bit too jaded and cynical for an idealist like Liam? I would have thought the same myself, but seeing is believing.”
Jess smiled. “I guess I'll have to go pay the Healers Wing a visit with a fresh stock of herbs.”
Jacob flashed a jaded grin. “You do that, darling Jess. Feed those pedantic busybodies all the herbs they can stand, while I feed Malek here his favorite herb.”
Jess smirked as Malek chuckled throatily, pinning his lover in bedding before slowly bending down for a kiss.
“I will leave you two to it then.” Smiling fondly as she softly shut their door, Jess turned to her familiar, padding comfortably by her side.
“To the gardens?”
Twilight nodded. “Why not? Perhaps there is a mouse or two that needs chasing. And the sun always does feel particularly delightful in the heart of your sanctuary, shining down upon my fur just right for a nice little nap.”
Jess gave a puzzled little frown at her familiar's choice of words but shrugged it off, changing into a proper Highrock uniform back in her quarters before heading to the rooftop garden, having had enough of the knowing smiles sent her way from the wealthier students living in the same wing she did, racing from their private quarters off to the classes held throughout the vast keep they all called home.
15
Skipping up the ancient staircase that shimmered like finest marble that most students didn't seem to note any more than they did her quietly grinning familiar, Jess gently pressed upon the exotic hardwood door before her, fingers caressing the exquisite, life-like oak engraved upon its surface as the door effortlessly opened at her touch.
Jess took a deep breath as the breeze ruffled her ebony tresses, presently free of all bows and braids though still tinted with the dye of ground bark and crushed berries she had immersed it in what seemed a lifetime ago. She shook away all brooding thoughts and instead enjoyed the sweet scents of an endless sea of flowers, gazing out at all the thriving blossoms and cuttings she had nurtured these last few years in Highrock’s beautiful rooftop garden, thriving under her care. Of course that term hardly did it justice, she thought, gazing fondly across the vast roof of the massive central fortress of the martial academy that had been carved out of the rock face of the mountain their institution had been named for, centuries ago.
The sun's golden rays danced warmly upon Jess's skin, leaving her comfortable despite the nip in the breeze as she gently harvested various herbs in the college garden at the behest of the Healers Wing. The peppermint leaves emitted a sharp yet soothing
minty freshness as she gently pinched them from their shaded pots, their feisty roots well-contained to keep them from overrunning the garden.
Jess smiled warmly as she gazed at Louise, daughter of Lady Vaila, head herbalist here at the college, racing to her side with a fierce hug to Jess's legs before doing her best to assist Jess in plucking the peppermint, pinching the leaves free and careful not to break the stems. The child’s lustrous ebony locks, light bronze complexion, and heart shaped features would one day see her garden full of suitors, Jess had no doubt, despite the fact that Lady Vaila claimed no husband, a fact that mattered far less here at the college than it would most other places. Besides, Jess saw the echo of Louise's features in the face of the man whose praise was as precious to her as gold.
Louise turned to Jess, her deep brown eyes filled with genuine concern. “What’s wrong, Jessie? You’ve been sad since you came to visit us. I think the peppermint is wilting because you are unhappy.”
Jess chuckled softly. “I'm okay, Louise. I just have a lot on my mind. And may I say you are doing a wonderful job of pinching free the leaves without damaging the stalks.”
Louise nodded, features filled with happy pride. “Mother teaches me when you aren’t here, and she says I will make a wonderful herbalist. When she retires, I’m going to take her place.” The young child nodded to herself as if this was a given, and Jess couldn’t help but smile at the little one’s utter certainty. “But you can stay and help me, if you want. Mother says you are the best of all the students at tending to the gardens.”
Jess laughed at this, giving the girl an affectionate hug, feeling Louise sigh happily in her arms. “I love you, Jess.”
Jess blinked, surprised and touched by Louise’s confession. “I love you as well, little one,” Jess replied, feeling a shiver of awe at how deeply she meant it, sharing a warm smile with the girl who made her wonder if perhaps there was something to the motherhood thing after all.
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