Page 30 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 7

Tanis!

Her breath caught in her throat. A shudder went through her entire body. She felt herself frozen as that familiar, beautiful face approached her down the path. Her first fledgling. Her Childe that she had turned back time for. She was here. Right here.

Tanis’ golden skin was flawless under the twin moons. She wore a more tailored proto-Confessor robe than the others, which hugged her voluptuous figure and hers was red rather than the traditional black.

Tanis is a leader here, Fiona realized. Tanis is a member of the Order… Tanis serves Kaly…

But unknowingly. Tanis, like everyone else here other than a select few in the inner circle, thought that Artemis was just a powerful Kaly Vampire. Not the Immortal Kaly. Or a slice of the Immortal Kaly.

She’s just like me… yet I still feel betrayed.

But even as she thought this, she realized that Tanis was the solution. She would solve their problems.

If she will listen to me. If her ears hear more than her eyes see.

Grayson was sidling up behind the female guard. Ryder appeared ready to pounce. Even Charlie had positioned himself to assist in the violence. But it would all lead to disaster even if they were initially successful.

Fiona stepped forward and called with all due command in her voice, “Tanis!”

Her first fledgling froze. Only her silver eyes slid from where they had been looking–at the male Vampire beside her–across to Fiona. Confusion furrowed her Childe’s brow. Fiona guessed that Tanis felt her Mistress’ presence, but Wyvern could not be there. Wyvern was dead.

Except I’m very much alive and you will listen to me, Tanis.

She walked a few steps further towards Tanis. Grayson and the others had stopped in their forward momentum. Even the female guard was silent at what appeared incredibly strange though she likely couldn’t see why.

“Tanis,” Fiona repeated, finding her confidence growing even as she knew that she didn’t even wear her own face at the moment, let alone the one that Tanis would have recognized.

Her first fledgling broke off from her paused conversation with a cluster of other Confessors and approached Fiona. “I’m sorry. Do I know–”

“Tanis, you will tell this person,” Fiona commanded, tipping her head towards the female guard, “to allow us to pass without further comment.”

Tanis lifted a sculpted eyebrow, but it didn’t rise as much as it would have if that note of command wasn’t there.

“Confessor Tanis, I don’t know who this woman is,” the female guard said with a querulous note, “but she’s nothing to do with this private matter of security.”

Fiona and Tanis were now three feet from one another. Tanis’ eyes flickered over her face, searching for something, searching for who Fiona was.

I am Wyvern.

“Tanis,” Fiona said, her voice softening with affection, with the love she had always borne her, “You must do this. For me.”

Those eyebrows lifted, but then they stopped in their upwards climb. Tanis’ lips parted. She knew. She knew who Fiona was. Even though it should have all been impossible.

“Confessor Tanis, as I said,” the female guard began again, “I apologize for you being delayed by these–”

“Silence!” Tanis lifted an elegant hand that had the female guard’s jaw dropping open, but she was quiet. Her eyes though did not Fiona’s. “You will allow these people to pass. There will be no more questions. I will handle it.”

The female guard opened her mouth, but Tanis’ sharp-eyed gaze zeroed in on her. Whatever she was going to say died on her lips. She stepped back against the front of the stone gate. Grayson moved out of her way at the last moment, which had her head snapping towards him. She hadn’t realized that he was there. Grayson smiled at her genially as he stepped back inside of the city.

“Come this way,” Tanis said as she swept past Fiona.

She made another movement to indicate her earlier companions were to go on their way and not accompany her. Fiona turned and gestured for the others to follow, too. They filed after her. Charlie was right next to her.

“That’s–that’s the fledgling that you,” Charlie started to say, but Fiona silenced him with a nod.

“Yes,” Fiona added.

“You used her Mistress’ voice on her,” Ryder said from her other side.