AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I can't help but wonder if he thought you were a whore, Ciella," I mused. "I mean, it's not like you have any lace on your hands for him to see - and he definitely didn't get any further than that."
"Well, he seemed to like my bare hands just fine," Ciella shot back.
"Yeah, Tath would like just about anything he could rub his dick against." I gave Anver an apologetic look, knowing he was going to have to spend the next hour with these women, at least. Then I turned back to Ciella. "But I find it adorable how you think a hand job in a dark room means more than the baron begging the High Priest to make an exception for my initiate status. Congratulations, Ciella. One day, you will be a priestess for the history books."
And with that, I turned away. Ela, Wraythe, and Talin followed me. It would've been perfect - except that I had to leave Anver behind. That felt wrong, and I simply couldn't shake the feeling. I also knew that Zeal had given him this task for a reason. I just wished I knew what that was.
Chapter 14
Nariana
Ela and I headed to our High Society course next. Our guardians, however, had their own classes to attend. As the day wore on, we easily fell back into the same routines we'd had last semester. The five of us had lunch together, which was normal, but this time it felt just a little different. More comfortable, maybe? I couldn't exactly put my finger on why, but I liked the change.
It was almost like we'd discovered some new understanding over the winter holidays. Ela was no longer trying to resist the fact that he was a punisher. I was no longer trying to hide the fact that I was Zeal's Chosen. Wraythe and Talin were still overly protective - that was their duty as guardians - but they felt more calm about it. Then there was Anver.
His hesitation was mostly gone. His pride was back. The proud young boy I'd first met in our primary years seemed to be returning, and I liked it. Once again, I could recognize the guy who'd been my very first friend. Even better, he flirted shamelessly. Anver didn't seem to care if Tishlie, Ciella, or anyone else saw either.
"You know," Anver said, pausing to glance back at where his ward was eating her meal, "there's just one thing I don't understand about them."
I looked over to find Ciella and Tishlie giggling like schoolgirls. While we might still be getting an education, I was twenty-one years old, and didn't feel much like a girl. Tishlie was a year older than me, and Ciella was even older than that, but the pair of them were being just a little too loud and just a little too obvious.
"What don't you understand?" I asked. "They refuse to grow up. They keep trying to convince themselves that it's someone else's fault they aren't succeeding, and they refuse to admit that it's due to their own immaturity."
"Well, yeah," Anver said, as if that should have been obvious. "But the thing I don't understand is that I have multiple Protection courses with Ryshie. Ciella told the High Priest that she couldn't be sure of my lace - but Ryshie hasseenit."
"You think he's still bonded to her?" Wraythe asked.
"How could he be?" Talin asked. "Ciella has done nothing to build a relationship with that man. All she ever does is put him down and push him around. Where do you think Tishlie gets her ideas from?"
"Talin's not wrong," Anver admitted. "Ciella was constantly demanding that Tishlie treat me like a servant instead of her friend. If I tried to complain, Ciella would yell at Tish, making me feel like I was doing more harm than good."
"And how did that make you feel?" I asked, lifting a hand made it clear I wasn't done. "Each time Tishlie treated you like an object instead of a person, did that make you more or less likely to put in extra effort?"
"Less - of course." He looked at me like that was a stupid thing to ask.
So I leaned over the table and gave him a serious look. "Do you really think Ryshie is any different? Ciella's probably treating him worse than Tishlie ever treated you. The more that woman shits on him, the less likely Ryshie is going to be to offer up anything that could help her. She punishes him for doing the right thing, so of course he's not going to offer up any more than the bare minimum."
Anver thrust out his lower lip and nodded. "Yeah, that's a good point. I also can't say that I've ever really looked at his match marks to see if they were large or small. For all we know, his bond never formed."
"Because Ciella is not the kind to give at all," Wraythe pointed out. "Not her time, not her affection, and certainly not kindness. Zeal has made it clear that the bonds grow as we get closer to each other. That's why all of us can feel Nari. We're carrying a piece of her soul under our skin."
"And why you can feel Ela," Talin added. "Maybe he's not as obvious to you because you're not sleeping with him, but you still do things for him with this uncanny ability to know exactly what he needs."
"So do you," Ela told Talin. "I'm pretty sure that if we search all of our lace, we'll find the marks for each other on our bodies. Do you really think that Zeal made a single snake with five heads as our symbol, and didn't tie us all together equally?"
I found myself turning to Anver and lifting a brow. It was hard to be sure if my reactions to the guys were because I could feel them through our bond or simply because I knew them that well. With Talin, it was a little different. I'd only met him just before our Choosing Ceremony. We didn't have the history together that I had with the others, so the way my relationship with him had grown so quickly could only be described by a bond between a guardian and his desire.
But with Anver, I had both a history with him when we were children, and then years when we'd grown apart. He knew us, but he hadn't been as close with us recently. To me, that meant that if anyone would be sure of it, it would be him.
Slowly, he began to nod his head. "From the way you all describe it, what I get isn't as intense, but it's still there." He looked over at Talin. "I can even feel you. I mean, ever since you came back from your vacation, something's been bothering you. I'm not sure if that's something I'm supposed to know or not, but I can feel it."
"He feels like he failed Nari again," Wraythe told us. "Every time something happens, he's taking it much too personally. It doesn't matter if it was her stepping backwards instead of sideways and almost falling down the stairs, Nari getting assigned that session with a completely untrained sadist, or his brother demanding sessions with Nari in a way where she really couldn't refuse. The way Talin sees it, all of those things are his fault, and his fault alone."
"Which is complete bullshit," Ela said. "I mean, Nari was onyourarm, Anver, when she fell down the stairs."
"Oh, thanks for making me feel like the failure," Anver teased. But he looked over at Talin. "But the guys are right. At that moment, she was my responsibility, not yours. That means it's one thing you can take off your list of supposed failures."
Talin simply dropped his arms on the table then let his head thump down on them. "I know, I know. I didn't fail her, it's not my fault, and I shouldn't take it so personally." Then he lifted his head and sighed. "But it keeps happening. I know that someone is going to come after her, so I have to stay focused and aware at all times. I'm the one the temple recognizes as her guardian. Zeal picked me because of my family, in the hopes that it would be one more layer of protection, and instead, I'm too distracted with Ela, or my classes, or wanting to kiss Nari - and that's always when things go wrong."
