I don’t blame you. I blame myself, I thought. But it didn’t matter, because he was right. We needed to focus on Shade and Aflora and whatever the hell was going on there.
“What did you read from her when you discussed her Quandary Blood?”
“Genuine surprise and a hell of a lot of confusion,” Kols replied. “She’s either an amazing actress or she had no idea about her abilities. I’m going with the latter because she seems to think it’s Shade’s fault. She was pretty adamant that her parents were pure-blood Earth Fae.”
“Her gifts prove that to be a lie.”
“I agree, but that doesn’t mean she believes it. Regardless, it shows innocence. I think she’s a pawn in a much larger game. What I want to know is, who is the master on the board? Is it Shade, his father, or someone else entirely? Because we both know the Death Bloods and Quandary Bloods share a dark history.”
“Hence the reason your grandfather killed them all off a thousand years ago,” I said, recalling the lessons from my history courses here at the Academy. It was a subject that always left me uneasy—the extermination of an entire bloodline to send a message to all the others.
Behave or you’ll be next.
The Quandary Bloods were seen as the villains of the story, but I always suspected there was more to the history than what we were told. It was a topic most of us avoided, something I assumed was done with a purpose. If no one questioned the events of the Midnight Fae Dark Age, then the secrets remained safely buried.
Maybe that was Aflora’s purpose here—to help disinter some of those rumors.
“We need to keep her alive,” I said, lifting my ankle to rest over my opposite knee. “She’s worth more than bait.” Because she might be the key to unearthing a truth long hidden.
“My father would want her dead immediately.” Kols stared at the floor, his expression hard. “I should kill her, Zeph. She’s an abomination. I have proof of it.”
I considered him for a long moment. “Then why haven’t you executed her?”
He continued to focus on the black carpet. “I promised Exos and Cyrus that I would look after her,” he admitted softly. “Not because it’s the right thing to do, but because I want to.” He exhaled a long breath, his golden eyes finally lifting to mine. “I feel this strange urge to protect her, Zeph. I barely know her and yet...”
“You feel obligated to shelter her from the harsh future you know awaits her,” I finished for him, my voice equally quiet.
Because yeah, I understood. That bizarre inclination to watch over her tied into my strange need to teach her, to help her survive. Yet I knew her death was inevitable. The need to take care of her hit me right in the gut, and I had no idea where it came from or why.
“Do you think it has something to do with her being an abomination?” I wondered out loud. “Maybe she has some sort of enchantment woven into her existence that’s forcing us to act in her best interest.”
“Like some sort of self-preservation instinct?”
“Yeah, exactly.” I rubbed the scruff dotting my jaw, a stiff reminder of my need to shave again soon.
I’d let myself go this week as a result of my misery pertaining to my new vocation. Teaching was not for me. I had little patience for idiocy, and half the new students were too green to know their left foot from their right. They’d learn. Eventually.
“It’s possible,” Kols replied, considering my enchantment theory. “I feel half-crazed with lust every time I’m near her. And before you say I’m always like that, this one is different. The others were just challenges I enjoyed conquering. Aflora poses more than just a challenge. She’s a real threat to me and this kingdom. And it goes against all my training to let her live, let alonehelpher.”
“You’re talking about the choker.” I gave him a hard look. “Tell me you put it on her.”
“You know I didn’t,” he muttered.
“Fuck, Kols.” This was bad. Really bad. “That was a direct order from Malik.”
“You think I don’t know that?” he countered, shaking his head. “I realized my mistake about thirty minutes after I allowed it to happen.”
“You mean after you jacked off,” I translated, knowing him all too well. He’d told me about the heat spell when explaining his findings about her powers.
“Yeah, twice, but that’s beside the point. I know it’s wrong, yet I still couldn’t put it on her this morning. Instead, I focused all my energy on keeping her under control today.”
“Which, I imagine, only brought you that much closer to her power.” That was how our abilities worked. We fed off the power waves of others. Kols was the strongest among us, the black lines dancing along his arms and chest an indication of his ties to the source. If we practiced our spells together, my strength would grow tenfold. Implying Aflora’s would as well.
“You have no idea,” he muttered. “My power is hungry for hers, and not just in an ascension kind of way.”
“She’s an ideal mate, isn’t she?”
He picked up his beer and took a powerful pull before nodding solemnly. “I’ve felt it from the moment I laid eyes on her. Her personality isn’t helping matters.”
