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Talin's eyes jumped over to hang on Nari. "Probably. But I think if he'd said that he wanted to experiment, I would've understood. Mostly, I just hated that he was with me because he was so sure I was his..." He let his words trail off, then suddenly looked at Ela. "His ticket to the Path of the Word. Just like Oryll and Ghale!"
"And they think she's their ticket to the High Priest's inner circle," Ela agreed. "But by failing her."
I just grunted because they were going around that circle again. We'd already talked through it as many times as we could, so far as I cared. "Guys," I said. "It doesn't matter. Nari can't stop them from failing her if they want to. What she has to do is change the system."
"What?" Jamik asked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that she has to do things differently, and she is," I said. "Look, we've moved in with our wards. Shiran says he's planning on doing the same. You and Irila are as well. That means the whole system of keeping us apart is cracking. She's already messed up the rules about Paths and made her own. Now, she's working on being a guardian, and we're trying to convince the others on the Path of Protection that the grading system needs to be watched. Kinda sounds like breaking the system a few ways, right?"
"Yeah," Jamik breathed, glancing back at the women. "Shit. Last semester she had to find her path. This time, she has to find Zeal's way."
"Fuck," Ela breathed. "He's right."
"Of course he is," I said. "She's Zeal's Chosen. You don't think our god had a plan when he did that?"
Talin just huffed a laugh. "Be kinda nice if he'd tell us what it is."
"I think he just did," Jamik said.
Chapter 10
Nariana
When we got out of class that afternoon, two different groups were carrying things across the hall. I recognized Shiran, which made me think a few guardians were moving in with their wards. Clearly, we'd set a trend, but this was a good thing. If more of us lived together, then my own situation wouldn't be so obvious.
Later, when we headed to dinner, there was another group doing the same thing. That made three different partnerships, plus ours and Amerlee's - so five in total. I had a feeling more would pick up the idea over the next few weeks. Our guardians watched over us when we had sex. They worried about our safety. They were the ones to hold us when we needed a shoulder. Since they were already wrapped up in every part of our lives, it only made sense to bring them into our partnership as well.
Monogamy wasn't something the Path of the Body or the Path of Protection got to enjoy. Guardians gave their sexuality up for their desires, and we gave it up for our god. Love and sex were two very separate things in the Temple of Temptation, and we'd been raised to never confuse the two. So why did we keep a line between the two people we were supposed to love the most, often making our guardians feel like outsiders to our emotions?
I was thinking about that as I selected my meal. Talin guided me toward our usual table, with Ela and Wraythe only a few steps behind. All around us, groups were situated about the same. Mostly, it was two from the Path of the Body, and two guardians sitting beside them. Sometimes, the partners sat beside each other. Other times they were across the table so they could see each other's face, yet four was the most common number.
"Why do you think they try to keep us from getting too close to our guardians?" I asked, looking over at Wraythe.
But it was Ela who answered. "It starts those first two weeks. We're so worried about hurting them, doing something to make those rings painful, that we give them space. I think most just never go back to their old ways afterwards."
"But we spend that time doing nothing but thinking about you," Wraythe told him. "Well, both of you in my case."
Talin just slowly nodded his head. "Part of the bond, I think. It's so intense. I mean, I barely knew Nari, and I'd just met Ela, but I spent hours in my room thinking about these beautiful people I'd be living the rest of my life with. Well, or decades of it, I guess, but it felt like the rest of my life."
"Not leaving the Path of the Body," Ela told him. "I'll be hot when I'm old."
"Somehow, I believe that," Talin assured him, but the smile on his lips was too sweet.
Those two were getting close. I knew it, and yet they tried so hard to keep it to themselves. Outside of our room, it would cause problems, and lately it felt like everything inside our suite was chaos. Between the moving, the god, and the week I'd spent with Talin at the baron's residence, our comfortable normal had been shaken up again. But that one look said it was only a temporary thing.
"So," I asked, deciding to press the issue, "what happens if you two do flirt in public?"
Wraythe huffed out a laugh, sounding like he was trying to smother it. "They do in the Salle."
"No," I said, waving that off. "I mean in the halls, between classes, or even here. Why can't you flirt? Why can't you have a thing for my guardian, Ela? Everyone knows you like men. Why does Talin have to pretend like you're just some fixture he has to work around?"
"Uh..." Talin looked at Wraythe as if seeking help. "I guess that's because it's how everyone else does it?"
"We're not everyone else," I insisted.
"She has a point," Wraythe said. "We were so worried about moving in, but as soon as we did, the others followed. What if this is the same?"
"How many guardians are curling up with their desire's partner behind closed doors?" I asked.
