Exile (20 page)

Aless sighed, exchanging glances with both Cyril and Corin. He let his gaze linger on the younger man, who had been looking at him with concerned eyes. So much for tonight, he figured. There’d be plenty of time for that after the whole situation had been remedied, he figured, looking Corin in the eyes. “I’ll do it,” he replied.

“Wait!” Corin suddenly exclaimed, worry flooding through his face. “Master Cyril, please think about this. We don’t even know if this will work. We can’t let him go feral before we have tried all the options.”

“What are you suggesting instead?” Cyril asked.

“I don’t think we should destroy any more restraints today. We should take a look at any maps we can find, see if there’s anything else we can do.”

“This is our last hope, Corin. I thought you had realized this,” Cyril scolded.

“No, it isn’t. We… we still have some things we should do, before we go on,” he insisted. “If that tale is right, and it seems to be connected to this, then there was an old temple here that was lost, somehow. We should look for that first! If it’s there then maybe we don’t need to destroy the restraints.”

Cyril sighed, looking at Corin with tired eyes. “Things will only get more severe as days progress. Tomorrow my restraints may give in; we have to get as much done as possible,” he countered.

“That’s another reason to put off breaking someone’s,” Corin pointed out. “The fewer people we have who can help us, the less likely we are to find a solution in time. If Aless’s and your restraints both gave in, we’d be stuck.”

Cyril stood up. “You have a point,” he admitted, looking between the two. “I’ll see what I can do about the map. In the meantime, please give the texts another look and tell me if you figure out anything else.”

Corin bowed. “Thank you,” he said, waiting for Cyril to leave. As soon as the door shut, Corin rushed toward Aless, pulling him into a close hug. “I’m so sorry.”

“What for?” Aless asked. “You didn’t need to do what you did. You gave me an extra day if nothing else.”

Corin flushed. “I thought he was going to make you do it,” he muttered, burying his face in Aless’s neck. “I don’t want to lose you….”

Aless sighed, pulling Corin onto his lap. “The situation is more serious than I thought,” he explained. “I wish I could tell you it would be fine, that you wouldn’t lose me, but….”

“You don’t think we’ll solve it,” Corin finished.

“I think we’ll be lucky if we do in time,” he clarified, moving an arm around Corin’s waist, “and I think I’ll be feral for a long time before we do.”

“I don’t want you to become feral,” Corin insisted. “We’ll find something.”

“I hope you’re right,” he replied. “Still up for tonight?”

Corin pulled away. “If it’s the last time I may get to see you, I want to do it,” he replied. “Are we still going off the monastery?”

“I’d say yes,” Aless replied, “but at this point I don’t think Selena cares, I don’t think Cyril cares…. We can go into my room—it’s fairly soundproof.”

Corin climbed off Aless’s lap and looked at the documents again. “I should probably reread these for Master Cyril, shouldn’t I?”

“I’ll get out of your way, don’t worry. Meet me tonight in my room. Don’t keep me waiting too long,” Aless finished, leaning over and kissing Corin before heading off.

Chapter 21

“O
H
, M
ASTER
Alvah, are we to report to you now?” a scribe asked, rushing up to Cyril and handing him several scrolls. “Master Kateline told me to get this translated, it’s a set of old crop rotations from Far North.”

Cyril sighed. Petra bless Kateline—that girl had to have the patience of a goddess. Even with half the scribes gone and the library just
barely
cleaned up, they were rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off. He had already had ten scribes run up to him, each giving a similar speech and passing him some useless text.

He turned to the scribe. “Please put this in Kateline’s officefor the time being, I have no use for it.”

“So you’re not leading the research?” the scribe asked, returning Cyril’s frown.

“I am, in a sense. For now, I’d like everyone to drop all of their assignments,” he ordered. “I need to find a map of the monastery from around a thousand years ago.”

“Wouldn’t those texts be forbidden by now, Master Alvah?” she asked.

“I’m eliminating the policy. Anyone who would punish you for viewing them is either incapacitated or doesn’t care anymore,” Cyril said.

“But can’t they hurt us?” the scribe pushed. “They’re forbidden for a reason!”

“It’ll hurt you more if a guardian goes feral! Were you not there when Kateline’s restraints broke?” Cyril finally snapped, turning to the scribe. “If you’re this scared to look at a book than by Alvah you should
not
be a scribe!”

“I….” The scribe attempted to defend herself, flinching at the dark look in Cyril’s eyes. “I’ll go look for the map you requested, Master Alvah.”

“This goes for everyone!” Cyril yelled. “It is vital to our research that we find a map from a thousand years back! Check the Forbidden Archive; tear down the walls if you must, but we must find that document!”

The scribes all looked at him with varying degrees of confusion, all placing their scrolls on random shelves before leaving the area, tugging books off the shelves and whispering to each other in excited voices as they exited.

Cyril smiled slightly, pushing through the crowd and approaching Kateline’s office. From the reports he’d been given, the damage there was the worst by far. However, with any luck Kateline had managed to prevent Petra from destroying everything, and Cyril could only hope maybe a few notebooks had survived.

S
ELENA
lay on her side, feeling another bout of sickness flow through her. She leaned over the side of her bed, coughing before doubling over, and violently vomited into a bucket she had placed there.

She felt disgusted and ashamed. She hadn’t expected his restraints to snap, there was no way she could’ve seen that! Of course Corona would’ve taken advantage of a situation like that. Anytime emotions were powerful, the spirits were given an opening; she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it coming.

She had expected Zephyr to speak up during their encounter, but he had remained painfully silent during the session, almost suspiciously silent, she noted with a frown.

“I’m not as bad as my siblings,”
Zephyr defended himself. “
I felt as though I’d let you have this, if nothing else.”

Selena rolled onto her side and let out another choked sob. Everything hurt, even places she hadn’t known
could
hurt. The fact that Piers’s body did it was the worst part, in Selena’s opinion, though she couldn’t blame Piers at all for the incident. She had expected Zephyr to break through, not Corona, and Piers hadn’t expected it either.

“Selena? Are you in there?” A knock came and Selena tried to bury her face in the pillow. She didn’t want to see any guardians. At least, not like this. It had taken her so much energy to go see them earlier to report the events. She was so weak, so stupid—she should have never asked Piers to sleep with her. Maybe, if she hadn’t, he would still be here.

The door opened as Aless stood in the doorway with a frown on his face, looking down at the petite figure.

“Are you okay?” he asked. He pulled the door closed, walkedover to stop beside her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Go away….” she muttered.

“Corin was worried,” Aless countered. “So was Cyril.”

“I don’t like you,” Selena whined, ignoring Zephyr’s jabs at her immaturity. “Go away.”

Aless sat on the edge of her bed. “Are you a child or a guardian?”

“Both,” Selena replied, leaning into her pillow and breaking down once again, trying to shield her face from Aless.

Aless looked a little bewildered by Selena’s response, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Want to tell me what happened?”

“No.”

“We could really use your help, you know,” Aless replied.

“It’s not as if I can help,” she said, sitting up. “I can’t read, okay? I’m stupid and I know it! I’m not going to be able to help.”

“Reading isn’t everything. Even having your support while we—”

“It doesn’t matter what I do,” she countered, “because you’re all going to go feral, and so is the next Guardian of Zephyr! We’re screwed no matter what happens, just accept it!”

“That isn’t true, we can find a solution—”

“Kateline is gone,” Selena answered. “Piers is gone. It’s not too long before Cyril is gone, and what then? Who knows how many scribes will die when he does?”

“We’ll solve this.” Aless insisted. “We—”

“No,” Selena replied, shuddering. “You don’t get it, do you? You’ll be feral by the end of it, so you won’t have to see it. I have to watch everyone become feral. I have to lose everyone I care about. Do you understand how difficult that is to watch?”

“I lost my best friend and my master,” Aless answered. “What happened in the Chaos Temple, Selena?”

“Piers came to visit me,” Selena answered, voice monotone.

“That’s not what I asked,” Aless said.

“I know….” Selena replied. “I… don’t know what Piers has told you regarding us… but guardians were to refrain from being with each other for
this
reason, and we still persisted because… we just…. I told him I wanted to wait until the issue with the restraints had been resolved, but I didn’t want to wait if we didn’t get the chance to ever… you know. Piers’s restraints broke midway through and Corona finished the job.”

Aless remained silent for a few moments. “Piers would’ve never wanted that to happen,” he finally said.

“I know….” Selena replied.

“And I didn’t want to kill everyone when my restraints broke,” he added.

Selena shook. “I know….”

“And yet you blame me for it,” Aless pointed out.

“I
know,
Aless! I know that and I know it’s wrong!” Selena snapped.

“But you do, anyway,” Aless replied, frowning. “Selena, I’ve never wanted to be your enemy. Why have you painted me as such? I could’ve helped from the start.”

“Zephyr brings the worst out of everyone,” she stated, ignoring the spirit’s protests.

“That’s not true. You forbade me from speaking with Corin and you forbade me from knowing about the issue with the restraints. That goes slightly beyond a spirit’s petty badgering,” Aless retorted.

Selena rolled over and finally allowed him to see her tear-stained face. “I didn’t want to lose what I had left…. I know I was being unreasonable…. And that was Zephyr’s influence. I loved my old master. He was a great man, practically my father. And I knew Piers would become close to you when you returned…. He spoke about it for years and he stopped visiting me once you arrived! I didn’t want to lose Corin and Kateline, too.”

Aless suddenly pulled Selena into a hug.“I understand,” he muttered, frowning slightly, “but they are still your friends. I couldn’t take what part of them you already had.”

“Zephyr shut up when I said things like that,” Selena answered. “The spirits love lies and random acts of meanness.”

Aless paused again. “Selena… Corin hasn’t been researching in the mornings,” Aless confessed.

“What?” Selena asked.

“Well… I’ve been taking him to train with me every morning. Before you get angry with him—”

“He has been becoming more muscled than before….” she remarked, frowning. “So I was right, then? You were trying to take away my—”

“No,” Aless interrupted, “it wasn’t like that… I…. Well, honestly, I was at the beginning.”

“Thanks for this. You’ve really cheered me up,” Selena deadpanned. “Now, if you’d—”

“No,” Aless interrupted again, “I mean… I thought that’s what I wanted with him originally, but I didn’t.”

“So what did you want with him?” Selena asked, turning back around and glaring.

Aless took a deep breath. “I think I’m in love with your student.”

“W-what?”

“He called out to me from day one,” Aless elaborated. “That mana… and he is quite attractive, you know.”

“He’s sixteen winters younger than you and you’re a guardian. Don’t you think that’s inappropriate?”

“Piers is what, thirteen winters older than you?” he countered. “Look, I know you’re not happy with it, but… I really do
care
for him.”

“And how does Corin feel about this?” she asked.

“He returns the sentiment,” Aless replied.

“Sentiment?” she asked.

“Oh, uh….” Aless replied. “He returns my feelings.”

“Whatever makes him happy.”

“Really?” Aless asked.

“I think Piers wouldn’t let me live it down if I tried to stop you two,” she confessed.

“He’s a good friend for that,” Aless agreed, chuckling slightly. “So… should I take this to mean I have your blessing?”

“I guess,” she answered. “You know, ever since you two began talking, he’s become more confident. I thought it was the research and working with Kateline, but—”

“Really?” Aless asked, trying to contain a large smile.