“Very well,” he replied, his tone sounding clipped even to his own ears. From the corner of his eye, he could tell her friendly smile faltered, and she glanced away. “I need an hour undisturbed. Unless Darren brings me those papers.”
“Darien,” she said, her voice small. “He told me he’ll come by tomorrow.”
“Great,” Adrissu muttered, and closed the door behind him. He let out a shuddering breath once he was in the safety of his office, sitting down heavily at his desk.
Had his mate been a woman? In that brief instance, that was how it seemed—he had not considered that possibility, but he hadn’t thought that his mate might return as an elf either until Braern arrived at his doorstep. It waspossible, he supposed. He hadn’t looked long enough to tell. Maybe he was just a pretty boy—Volkmar had been much the same, lithe and feminine. That would be... fine, he told himself. His heart yearned for his mate, but apprehension still swirled in his mind. Why had he been met with such an angry expression? How much did his mate remember this time around?
And astudent.That was really going to upset everything. To show such interest in a student would be wildly inappropriate on many levels, regardless of their status as a fated pair. Humans didn’t have such a thing, so it would be no excuse. He would have to bide his time until his mate graduated or left the school. Knowing of his mate yet being unable to be near them… The thought hurt more than the simple, patient waiting of the last nineteen years.
“Damn it,” he muttered, rubbing his face with both hands. Nothing was ever easy. He didn’t even know their name.
But he was sure his mate would find him soon enough. The look they’d shared in the auditorium, no matter how brief, attested to that. Classes would start about now; a standard course lasted an hour and a half. Depending on where in the building his mate was, he expected to meet them again in about two hours. His body buzzed with anticipation that he begrudgingly quashed; it didn’t seem promising that the meeting would be a pleasant one, unless he had somehow wildly misjudged the situation.
Adrissu waited, keeping himself busy with the pile of paperwork on his desk. There were always last-minute contracts to sign and lesson plans to approve at the beginning of term—not that he gave any of them much of his attention, unable to fully subdue the worry and wonder chewing through his gut.
He could hear an increase of ambient noise as the first class ended and students began milling about, some already on their way to another class, while others were heading to the library to study or to their dormitory to rest. All the while, he listened closely for anyone approaching. A few times he heard Eris speaking indistinctly, but no one came to his door.
At almost two hours exactly, though, the familiar rap of her small fist sounded on the wooden door to his office.
“Headmaster,” her voice came. “A student is here to see you.”
“Send them in,” Adrissu called, looking up quickly. His gaze remained locked on the door as it swung open to reveal Eris, who stepped aside for the student to pass. Green eyes and a shock of red hair—it was his mate, exactly as he’d expected.
Now that he had longer than an instant to look, his mate was decidedly androgynous: a human with a smaller-than-average stature and narrow, delicate features. Freckles splashed across their upturned nose, which was wrinkled with the same expression of barely restrained anger as before. A loose, flowing gray robe covered most of their frame, hiding the shape of their body.
For a moment, all three of them were silent, then Eris awkwardly cleared her throat and announced, “I’ll leave you to it, then.” She closed the door behind her as she stepped away.
“Welcome,” Adrissu said slowly, leaning forward in his seat and gesturing for his mate to sit. “I am headmaster Adrissu, as I’m sure you know.”
“I know,” the student snapped, still standing. Even their voice was hard to place, a strained deep tenor to it, as if they were purposely speaking lower than what came naturally. “You—what did you do?”
Adrissu sighed, folding his hands in front of him on the desk.
“Please, sit,” he said, and this time they sat, though their expression was unchanged. “First, you are...?”
The student’s face twisted again, teeth flashing in a grimace before answering. “Kian Farrow.”
“Kian,” Adrissu repeated. It sounded like a masculine name, but he still wasn’t certain. “I’m not sure what you mean by your question. Could you explain?”
“I saw you,” Kian said, eyes narrow with accusation. “I saw when you felt it, too. Like—like lightning. And all through class I felt... pulled to you. What did you do to me?”
“Was that all?” Adrissu pressed. There was something more personal in the way Kian glared at him—and, as if in confirmation, Kian’s scowl faltered.
“I...” they started, unable to force out the words. “I...”
“You’ve had dreams, or perhaps flashes of memory,” Adrissu offered, and Kian’s eyes bulged. “You had some recognition of me. Perhaps that’s why you came to the Academy in the first place.”
“I didn’t come here for you,” Kian snarled, the suggestion obviously offensive. “I’m here for me. And you still haven’t answered my question.”
“I did not do anything to you in the auditorium,” Adrissu said. “I felt a similar sensation, but it was just as much a surprise to me. We are...”
He paused, unsure. He had vowed to tell the truth to his mate after everything that happened with Volkmar, but he hadn’t anticipated his mate coming back as one of his own students. “Let me start with the simple fact that reincarnation exists, and this is not the first life you’ve had in which you’ve known me.”
For a long moment, Kian was silent. When they eventually moved again, it was to lean back in their chair, their angry expression finally crumpling away with a heavy sigh. “I knew it.”
“I am unsure how much you might recall of your... previous iterations,” Adrissu continued, observing his mate’s reactions as he spoke with slow deliberation. “And you were male each time before, so I was surprised—”
“Iama man,” Kian snapped, head whipping up again to glare at Adrissu. “I know what I look like. I’m not a woman. That’s why I’m here.”
