“No, wait!” I exclaimed, stopping both Felix and General d’Alvey in their tracks. “It’s . . . not what you think.”
“You’re not a former general for the Last Keeper’s armies? You didn’t organize a coup within your own soldiers to split the rebellion in two and threaten us from both sides of Elyria? You’re not here to either recruit Mages to your cause or fish for information to send back to your rebellion in hopes of eradicating our way of life?”
I flinched at his cold and even words before shaking my head slightly.
“Then what is it?” he barked, drawing the attention of a few other nearby Mages and Vessels.
“All of that is true, yes,” I admitted, and General d’Alvey growled, taking a menacing step closer to me. I held up my hands in a placating gesture, nearly touching his chest in the process. It was a nice chest, but I was decidedly not interested in men. “But it’s a long story.”
“Best you start talking, then,” he said, but leaned away from me.
I blew out a breath before letting my hands fall to my sides.
I was a lord in my own right, I could do this.
“All of that is, or was, true, yes. But I’m here, now, to enroll in the Academy. The rebellion is . . . we don’t see eye-to-eye any longer,” I began weaving my tale, thankful that the Warlord wasn’t here to read my lies.
“And I’m just supposed to trust you,” General d’Alvey asked, raising one eyebrow in skepticism.
“No. When Lord d’Refan returns, subject me to his questioning,” I boldly stated and was rewarded with a surprised expression from the General and Felix alike.
“Humph,” the General said before narrowing his eyes in thought.
There was a pregnant pause where the General eyed me warily, his brilliant green eyes stormy with thought.
“Felix,” he finally sighed, “please show Lord d’Eshu to a room and ensure that he is outfitted with everything he will need to train at the Academy.”
I smiled slightly at his change of heart.
“Thank you—” I started, but he shook his head.
“Best to stay under the radar for a while. And I highly recommend not showing your face to Faylinn. She still hasn’t forgiven you for what you did in Isrun,” General d’Alvey growled lowly.
“Oh, Faylinn! I know her mother, I’m supposed to—” General d’Alvey strode quickly into my space, flattening his palm over my mouth in a move faster than a viper.
“You arenotto utter her name. If you must, you may call her by her title: Rune Master. If, by some godforsaken reason, youmustcall her something else, you may call her Fay and only Fay,” he hissed lowly. I nodded my head against his palm and he quickly released me, but I swore I heard him utter under his breath, “Faylinn is mine.”
Touchy about Faylinn, good to know.
With that, he quickly strode away from me and further into the belly of the Academy.
“Well, that was fun,” I said dryly to Felix, my nerves still firing from my encounter with the General.
Felix huffed a small laugh before gesturing for me to follow him.
“You have a lot of explaining to do, Torin d’Eshu. Especially if we’re going to be roommates,” Felix called over his shoulder.
I smiled to myself, both at Felix’s affable nature and at the fact that I’d encountered the General and survived—again.
This plan might work after all. I just needed to not think of these Mages as people or view Vespera as a place of refuge.
Easier said than done.
I dutifully followedFelix to his—our—room on the fourth floor of the Academy. As we walked, Felix explained that the first two floors of the Academy were reserved solely for classrooms and other mass-use rooms, like the armory and mess hall. The third floor was devoted to instructors’ offices, with the remaining three floors reserved for living quarters. Thehighest floor was comprised of suites given to Bonded Mages and Vessels. Though, with the quickly multiplying numbers of Mages Bonded to Vessels, some of those living arrangements had trickled into the lower two floors.
Felix stopped about halfway down the hallway outside of a nondescript wood door that looked alarmingly similar to every other door we passed. There was a small Mage Orb set into the wall that unlocked the door when it recognized Felix’s signature. We stepped inside and I was greeted with more black stone and unoriginal furniture.
What is this place’s obsession with black?
