The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey (28 page)

She glared in mute outrage and then looked to
Jala with an expression that could wilt flowers. “We will speak of
this later,” she hissed and rose with the toss of her head and
stalked off.

“That really is a wonderful dress, Cassia. It
does amazing work at slimming. You should keep that tailor.” Finn
called after her in a cheerful voice.

Jala stared at him, her eyes wide. “I can’t
believe you said that to her,” she whispered after a moment.

Finn turned to face her, his expression no
longer cheerful. “She is a bitch and that dress does make her ass
look smaller,” he returned with a shrug. “Are you OK? What did she
say to you?” he asked with a look of concern.

“A lot and nothing I care to repeat,” Jala
answered quietly. She looked up at him and almost broke into tears.
“You know I didn’t know, right?” She asked.

He gave a slight nod. “I know, and I tried to
prompt him into telling you,” he replied, his tone more serious
than she had ever heard from him.

“What do they say about me? I wondered why
they all stared, but I didn’t realize there were rumors about me
and Shade.” She watched him half afraid of his answer.

He toyed with the edge of the chocolate box
and gave a light shrug. “They say you are his whore and that he
enrolled you in school to keep you close as a bit of a joke. They
say a lot of things. It’s their form of entertainment. They pick on
those with less social standing and plot ways to kill each other
off. Give it time and they will find another target.” He spoke
softly and gently, but it didn’t take the edge off his words. “I’ve
been avoiding you to keep more rumors from forming. I have my own
reputation, and it would have done nothing but add fuel to the fire
surrounding you,” he admitted with a sigh.

“I thought you just didn’t have any interest
in my company,” she replied. The knot in her throat was getting
bigger. She would have to leave the garden soon or risk breaking
into tears in front of everyone. She could feel their eyes on them.
“You know, I’m not, right?’ she asked at last, half dreading his
answer.

“What? His whore?” He raised an eyebrow. “Of
course I know you’re not that sort. Believe me, if anyone can spot
that sort it’s me,” he said with a bitter chuckle. “I was avoiding
you for that exact reason. People know what sort of women I keep
company with, and I didn’t want them to think worse of you than
Shade was already letting them think.” He shook his head. “He
should have known better. This mess lies directly at his feet,” he
finished in a voice that was almost a growl.

“I don’t know why he didn’t tell me, but I
won’t believe he did this with any malice. Shade is my friend,” she
objected hoarsely and rested her elbows on the table and rubbed her
face.

He regarded her thoughtfully for a moment and
shrugged. “You know him better than I do, I’m sure,” he said.
Leaning forward a bit, he flipped the box open silently and looked
at the chocolates. He raised an eyebrow and lifted one of the “I
love you” pieces out. “Oh, you are just having a great day all
around,” he said dryly. “Well, if nothing else, you got chocolate
out of it,” he said with a shrug and popped the chocolate into his
mouth chewing slowly. His expression changed from a faint smile to
disbelief after the first few chews. His chewing slowed and he
swallowed, his eyes locked on her with the look of concern back on
his face. “Jala, have you eaten any of these?” he asked.

She dropped her hands back to the table and
looked at him wearily. “No, why?” She asked with a soft shake of
her head.

“They are filled with rather strong alcohol,”
he said then sucked on his teeth lightly. “And if I’m not mistaken
are laced with Nesra,” he finished and looked back down at the box,
shaking it slightly to see how many candies were inside.

“I don’t even know what Nesra is, Finn,” she
admitted. She rubbed her face again and looked around at the people
still watching them. “I can’t believe they don’t have something
better to do,” she sighed.

“Nesra is an aphrodisiac, Jala, and there is
enough in all this candy to have you panting after anything that
moves,” he said, ignoring their audience completely.

She stared at him and looked down at the box
and shook her head in disbelief. “Wonderful, just bloody
wonderful,” she said in disgust.

“Marry me, indeed. Enough of these chocolates
and you would be drunk and horny enough to do that.” Finn shook his
head, his tone sharing her disgust. “That boy has issues.” He
closed the box and leaned on the table watching her.

She sat for a moment longer and then looked
at Finn, hoping he would understand. “I have to go Finn, I don’t
want to be rude, but I have to leave here. It’s too much. I can’t
take them watching me. I refuse to break in front of them.” She
stood quickly and picked up her book, she grabbed the box of
chocolates as well, and was turning to leave when he gently took
her arm. She hadn’t even noticed him stand.

“Calmly now. If you don’t want them to see
you break, we won’t even let them see you crack. Give me a bit of a
smile, just fake it for a second. Once we are past them, you can
cry on my shoulder if you want,” he whispered to her as he began to
walk from the garden with her in calm measured steps. She forced a
smile to her face and walked out with as much dignity as she could
muster.

“Thank you,” she whispered to him at the edge
of the garden.

He nodded in reply and looked around for a
moment. “Where are we going?” He asked. “I’ll walk you there and
then head back to the garden so they don’t have a chance to gossip
too much.”

“I’m just going to go back to my rooms and
lie down. I want to sleep before I talk to Shade. I haven’t been
sleeping well, and I’m sure that’s why I’m handling this so
poorly,” she replied. He gave a nod and guided their steps that
way. He remained quiet the entire way back to the rooms, and she
silently thanked him for it, because talking was the last thing she
felt like doing right now. She gave Finn a light hug in thanks at
the door, and headed straight for her rooms. Crawling under the
blankets and covering her head with her pillow seemed the perfect
solution to the day.

Shade entered the hall to find Oma just on
the other side of the door, apparently waiting for him. She
regarded him, her pale blue eyes almost accusing. He paused, his
expression bewildered.

“What?” He asked in confusion.

“She is upset, very upset, and I think it is
your fault,” Oma accused in her quiet voice.

Shade blinked and looked toward Jala’s door
and started to head that way. Oma stopped him with a light hand on
his arm. “She is sleeping right now, and you should let her until
the nightmares wake her. She needs what restful sleep she can get,”
Oma said.

“What nightmares?” Shade asked, his confusion
doubling. Oma rolled her eyes at him as if he was the stupidest
thing she had ever seen. Her hand was still on his arm, and she
tugged him gently toward her own room. She gave him a light push
toward the table once they were inside, and shut the door behind
them. “I am an Empath, not a mind mage. I tell you, she is upset
and it centers around you, but I don’t know why. Just as I can tell
you, she has nightmares almost every night, but I cannot tell you
what they are about.” Oma spoke with such patience that Shade began
to believe he actually was the stupidest thing she had seen.

“She’s never mentioned nightmares to me, and
we talk daily,” he offered lamely.

Oma sat down across from him and gave him a
dead pan stare. “And why would she? She is not the sort to want
sympathy or coddling,” she answered with the same patience.

Shade nodded slowly and tried to think why
she would be mad at him. The most obvious answer was the betrothal.
He should have told her by now, but he had been avoiding it. It
wasn’t as though they had done anything improper. They were
friends, and that was it, but still rumors would have flown by now.
He sighed.

“How bad is it, Oma?” He asked finally.

Oma seemed to consider the answer before she
spoke. “I’m surprised she is still here,” she said finally. She
gave a shrug. “If you handle this well, perhaps you can fix things.
I would let her sleep as long as she likes, though. A well-rested
mind is much more rational.”

Shade frowned at her words and fidgeted in
his seat. “Let’s play tiles then, I’ll need something to focus on
to keep me from going mad until she wakes,” he said. With long
practiced ease, he began setting the tiles up on the table in a
very complex pattern. Oma was a skilled player and he needed the
game to be a tough one so it would actually distract him.

They had played three games, and the evening
had darkened to full night, before Shade finally admitted she was
going to sleep until morning. It was a good thing he knew that, but
still it didn’t make the waiting any easier. He could barely
stomach the idea of Jala being angry with him. He wasn’t exactly
spoiled for friends, and the ones he trusted completely, he could
count on one hand. Jala was perhaps the best person he knew. In his
theory of grey, he would put her nearly white. He couldn’t think of
another person he knew that would qualify for that. He rubbed his
face, and fought back the urge to wake her once again. Tiles no
longer worked. He had to occupy himself better.

He stood slowly and stretched before looking
down at Oma. “I’m going out quietly tonight. It’s been a while
since I have,” he announced quietly.
Actually, I haven’t gone
out quietly since Jala arrived
, he realized once he had
spoken.

Oma was watching him with a disapproving
silence, giving the slightest shake to her head to indicate she
didn’t agree with this plan at all.

“I won’t be sleeping tonight, Oma, and Jala
needs to. I’ll be back before morning, and we will talk then,” he
said with a tone that showed his mind was set.

“If you must go, be back by early morning,
preferably before the sun rises,” she ordered gently.

He gave her a nod of agreement and headed to
his own rooms. He began stripping out of the fine clothes the
moment the door shut behind him. He threw open his closet door with
a bit too much force and dug to the bottom of his trunk, scattering
clothes. His hands brushed across the soft leather buried there,
and he pulled it out. Worn, scarred, and battered, the leather
armor was far from anything one would expect Christian Morcaillo to
wear. He pulled on the under padding then laced the deep grey armor
on quickly. With practiced ease, he fastened on a belt with several
pouches, and secured half a dozen knives about him.

As silent as a shadow, he slipped from the
window and up to the Academy roof. He scanned the area to make sure
no one below had noticed him. With a satisfied nod, he moved
farther back into the shadows and called on his birthright. His
body began to shift, slowly at first and then rapidly as his mind
made the demand more clear. His size shrank, his limbs changed, and
his leather armor and gear changed with him, all absorbing into
this new, smaller, lighter body. Where a man had stood moments
before a small owl now perched. He ruffled his feathers a bit and
looked himself over. Without hesitating, he pushed into the air and
flew toward the rougher parts of Sanctuary.

He would become someone else there tonight.
He would shift his form to one seldom used and become no one of
importance. In those rough parts of the city, they knew him as
Chris who had no father to please, no one to impress, and no lands
to govern. He was a simple street rat, a rogue when he needed to
be, but otherwise no different from the other commons. In those
parts of the city, no one cared what he did as long as he left them
out of it. The best part was, there was no way anyone would ever
link Chris to Christian, unless he told them. The rogue was rougher
of looks as well as manners. It was quite simply another life. The
Changeling blood was innate, and the change would not show as
magical. It was natural for them, and the reason they were nearly
extinct. A true Changeling could be anything, anywhere, and it
terrified people to know that there was a creature that could
imitate them so completely that even their own mothers could not
tell the difference. It was too much for most, so his family
pretended to be something else. The Morcaillo’s were well honed at
keeping secrets. He felt a bit of disgust at the thought and flew
on toward his own personal secret. This one at least wouldn’t hurt
anyone. It was just his way of feeling what a normal life was like.
A few pints with his friends there and some time soaking in the
shadows of the city and he would be ready to face the world as
Christian the Shade once more.

Dim lanterns swung lazily outside the
Pauper’s Pint, and the alleys to either side of the drinking house
were as black as ink. The faint sound of a woman gasping echoed
quietly from the alley accompanied by the steady grunting of a man.
Shade eyed the garbage that spilled from the alley onto the street,
and tried not to imagine what sort of whore would turn her tricks
in the blackest of alleys. The porch of the tavern was empty
tonight. That in itself was unusual. He took the two steps as one
and pushed his way inside. With luck, he would find the Ravens here
tonight. The small gang of thieves was the closest he had to
friends in this persona.

The taproom was nearly empty, where, on an
average night, this place was bustling. Shade eyed the empty,
scarred tables and looked around the rest of the taproom. Sadie
stood on the other side of the bar watching him as he entered. The
buxom woman was normally all smiles and flirtations. Tonight,
however, she simply watched him, her hands busy at cleaning a mug.
He saw her swallow heavily as her eyes glanced to a corner booth.
He could tell someone was sitting there, but he wasn’t at the right
angle to see who. Shade looked back to Sadie and noted how pale the
woman was. He cursed silently. It would seem his other life had
poured over to spoil this fantasy. From the way she looked at him,
he had no doubts that this trouble had come calling for him. He let
out a long breath and moved silently forward, diagonal from the
door, until he could see into the booth and get a decent look at
its occupant.