“Guilt? Why?” Adrissu frowned, truly bewildered. “Pollux, I just said—I don’t hold any of this against you. There’s no need for you to feel guilty. You haven’t done anything to hurt me.”
Pollux’s face twisted in a scowl, his eyes looking glassy—Adrissu was only more confused now than he was before. The elf turned abruptly, taking several steps away from Adrissu. He didn’t follow, letting Pollux get the space he needed so he could sort out whatever was going on inside his head. He could hear the elf breathing hard—could almost hear his heart pounding—but Adrissu remained where he was, waiting silently until Pollux finally faced him again.
“I created a weapon,” he said, each word coming out stiff and forced, “that is more dangerous than anything that’s come before. That I wanted to use tokillyou. And you don’t think I should feel guilty for it?”
“No,” Adrissu said immediately, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t. It was a logical course of action, considering what you knew and felt at the time. Now you know better, and you aren’t trying to kill me.”
“You don’t hate me?”
Despite himself, Adrissu almost laughed at the question. “Of course not. I could never hate you. You are mymate, Pollux, my fated mate. There is nothing you could do that would make me hate you, that could make me stop loving you.”
Pollux’s frown wavered, his lips trembling. “I—I don’t—I don’t know what to say,” he stammered, his voice choked with emotion.
“Come here,” Adrissu said softly, holding his arms out. Without resistance, Pollux all but fell into his embrace, pressing his face into Adrissu’s shoulder. His form trembled in Adrissu’s arms as he wept silently, no sound escaping him as his fingers dug painfully hard into Adrissu’s back. “I love you. You’re mine, and I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you, even before that. I loved you before you were born. I could never hate you. Do you really think I would write you such lovesick letters if I secretly hated you?”
Silently, Pollux shook his head, and Adrissu rubbed his back in slow, soothing circles.
“I love you,” he repeated, contentment swelling in his chest as Pollux relaxed against him. “I was born to love you.”
Pollux whispered something against his shoulder, barely strong enough to hear — “I love you too.”
Adrissu took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh, closing his eyes. Hearing those words in the voice of his mate never got old.
Chapter Twenty-Four
AdrissustayedwithPolluxfor another week. They discussed their best options for the coming months; Adrissu would be needed back at the Academy before the end of the summer, and Pollux hoped to have handed over Blackthorn Enchantments by then. He did not want to be idle, though, and seemed at a loss as to what he would actuallydoif he joined Adrissu in Polimnos.
“If you had your own personal workshop, would you want to continue working on enchanting other things?” Adrissu asked, and Pollux shrugged.
“I think so,” he replied, trying to sound noncommittal, even though Adrissu could tell that the suggestion definitely intrigued him. “I do enjoy my work, so... If I could keep doing something similar, I think the move would be tolerable.”
“Then I will find you a workspace,” Adrissu said, kissing the top of his forehead. Pollux scowled, but didn’t pull away.
“Should I come help you?”
“No, handle your affairs here. I know plenty of people in Polimnos who would cut me a deal, I think. Just tell me what kind of space you want and if there are any non-negotiables, and I can find something that will work or modify something that’s close.”
“Alright,” Pollux answered. He sounded unconvinced, and Adrissu was sure he was already worrying about the situation; but he knew he could prove to his mate that he could keep his promises.
Finally, Adrissu departed for home with the tentative plan for Pollux to join him sometime in autumn, so he immediately busied himself with finding a place for his mate’s work. While his own lair could sustain such things, he knew Pollux liked having his own space; and as an elf, he would have a hard time getting to and from his lair as well, being much too proud to ask Adrissu to take him up and down all the time.
Adrissu did not want him to be too far from his tower, but neither could it be directly on the school grounds, which left only a few neighborhoods in Polimnos that would have buildings suitable for that sort of work. He thought of walking those streets just to see what might be around, but decided instead that he would go directly to the counselors of the Lord Representative, who handled such matters. Alana Pughes was still Lord Representative, but in recent years had withdrawn from the more public-facing parts of the job; her lack of political ambition meant that now she acted more as a figurehead than any real bastion of power. Thankfully, her counselors remembered that she and Adrissu had a good relationship, so they were more than happy to meet with him.
The two counselors were both human women who were related to Alana in some way or another, cousins or nieces or something—Adrissu did not know them as well, but he had interacted with them on and off throughout Alana’s tenure, so they got along decently. The counselor who handled architecture and zoning in the city was the younger of the two, a bright-eyed woman called Bea. When he walked into her office, she smiled at Adrissu with a flash of surprise that was quickly suppressed.
“Good afternoon, counselor,” he said, pausing just outside the doorway. It had probably been at least a year since he’d seen her last, if not more, but she her smile was as friendly as if they saw each other daily.
“Why, hello, Headmaster, I wasn’t expecting you,” she said, gesturing for him to close the door. “Come in, come in.”
Adrissu obliged, stepping inside. “I have a small request for you. Well, perhaps not so small, but nothing major either.”
“Sure, how can I help?”
“I’m looking for a workshop space,” he said, wasting no time with pleasantries. “Something that would be suitable to house some advanced enchantment equipment. This is an independent venture, not associated with the Academy, so it cannot be on school grounds—although it should not be too far from my home, either. I’m wondering if you would know of anything suitable that would be available, or if the owner might be willing to sell if there is nothing immediately open.”
Bea stared at him for a long moment, processing the request, before smiling more nervously this time and reaching for a stack of papers on her desk.
“There are a few things that might fit,” she said, flipping through them. “Workshop space, workshop space… Does it need to come with any equipment already installed? That may not be possible due to the nature of the work, as you might imagine, Headmaster…”
