Page 22 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 7

“Did they know you were there?” Ryder had asked Elgar. “Balthazar, Caemorn and yourself, I mean.”

“I believe my future self remembered this moment right at that time. So while they could not hear me or feel me, my future self was aware I was present. My future self left getting a tattoo done. I was half undressed.” Elgar had drawn a hand down his chest. “A skull with roses surrounded by the Eyros symbol. A combination of Kaly and Eyros.”

“That sounds about right.” Grayson grinned. “You call Caemorn Grandsire.”

“I do? Ah, well, how strange and wondrous to think I would feel such a connection to Kaly,” Elgar admitted and seemed more pleased than before. “This future is truly a wonder. It is worth even more sacrifice than I thought.”

“There’s plenty that you’re sacrificing, Elgar,” Grayson frowned.

“You are referring to my affect in the future?” Elgar asked. “Surely, you have noticed I am not all that different now. I have always been… different.”

“Yes, that’s true. But you suffered enormously and are still a little fragile,” Grayson said, feeling like he was downplaying the truth of it. “More than a little actually. I know that Balthazar is very concerned about you and wants to make sure you’re taken care of.”

“That is Master.” Elgar shrugged. “He always wishes to do this. But it is my role, even as the Childe, to take care of him. Do you not agree, Grayson? Now that you are a Childe, do you not feel a need to protect Ryder?”

Grayson glanced over at his beloved Weryn. “I do. But I suppose I always felt that, but it is keener somehow.”

Ryder lifted an eyebrow. “Why do I suddenly feel ganged up upon by two Children?”

“Because sometimes the Childe must protect the Master from himself and others,” Elgar said solemnly.

Grayson believed that was true. Dani had done so for him often enough as had Kaito and Nero. There were countless of his Children over the millennia who had taught him things, taken care of him and kept him safe. If he had only trusted them and others more to do so, he might not have died in that field in Lasting because he would not have been alone.

So many things would have been different if we, Immortals, had been willing to reach out to one another.

“Someone named Demos was tattooing me,” Elgar said rather diffidently and shifted from foot to foot.

“Demos!” Ryder brightened. “Was he there, too? How did he look?”

“He was not. I had left him rather abruptly from what I can tell. Demos is your friend, Ryder?” Elgar asked with carefully downcast eyes.

“My best friend! He always believed I was Weryn reborn and, perhaps more importantly, didn’t see that as a bad thing,” Ryder admitted. He showed Elgar the sleeves of tattoos on his own arms. “And he is a skilled artist. He did these for me. Uses a special blood-based ink that can actually stain our skin for a time. It has to be refreshed pretty often, but that just gives Demos a chance to improve on his own work. That’s what he says anyways. But everything he’s always done for me has been spectacular.”

Elgar ran a delicate finger up the incredibly beautiful tattoos that covered Ryder’s arms showing all of the animals he could shift into. Well, not all. Not anymore. These marked the ones he had shifted into before he knew he was Weryn. There would be too many of them to fit on his entire body now. Grayson wondered if there were any animals that Ryder could not become. They definitely had to try that out when things were not so dire. Or, at least, there was a lull in the ever-present danger.

“I might get a raven on my shoulder to commemorate my first shift.” Grayson indicated the space behind his left shoulder. “With the wings extended over my arm.”

Ryder nodded in approval. “That would be brilliant! I’m sure that Demos would be happy to do that for his Blood Brother.”

“Blood Brother?” Grayson breathed. He let out a delighted laugh. “That’s right! I truly am. This is going to be amazing when we get back.”

“Everyone in Weryn will welcome you with open arms,” Ryder agreed.

Grayson wondered about Dani and his Bloodline. He still had his full powers. He was still Ashyr. But he was also more. He knew that there had been concerns–including ones he’d held himself–that he would lose his own Bloodline’s powers or would become subservient to Weryn. But that was not the case at all. He felt completely himself.

His love for Ryder glowed like a sun within him, but it cast a warm and healing light. It was not burning his own wants and needs away, let alone his will or independence. Ryder was truly an excellent Master allowing him to learn at his own pace, being encouraging at other times and knowing when to hang back and let Grayson make mistakes. He wondered if he was half as good a Master as Ryder was to his own Children.

“Would it be strange for a Weryn Vampire to tattoo me?” Elgar asked.

Grayson realized at that moment what all the downcast eyes and diffidence was about. “Ah, no, because you and Demos are… well, you’re–”

“Special friends?” Elgar’s cheeks flushed a delicate pink.

“Let’s just say you called him a Naughty Kitty and he let you get away with it. He’s a panther shifter,” Ryder explained.

Elgar’s smile broadened. “That is good. I am glad we can be playful.”

“And I think you’ve even petted his animal form,” Grayson teased.