Raelia (The Medoran Chronicles Book 2) (46 page)

“Don’t start that again, Zain,” Alex said in a frustrated voice. “Just hurry up and tell me what you want.”

The Meyarin had cornered her a number of times over the previous weeks to find out why she wouldn’t attempt to access the power of Aven’s blood in her veins. He couldn’t understand her aversion to the idea, even when she continued to remind him that her Combat class was made up of decidedly
human
students who would notice if she began to kick their butts to kingdom-come. Their differences of opinion had led to the two of them arguing until they’d agreed to disagree. Or, that was Alex’s standpoint. Zain continued to believe she would change her mind if he bugged her enough.

“What’s your rush, little human?” he asked, leaning casually against a tree. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you didn’t want to be seen with me.”

She was unimpressed with his annoying, but not unexpected, big-brotherly attitude. Over the weeks their relationship had developed to the point where he’d begun to deliberately antagonise her, just like any sibling might do. His jovial and carefree attitude made it easier for her to not fear his daunting power, but at the same time, she’d never had a brother before, and now she knew first-hand just how irritating they could be.

“You might have all the time in the world, but I have to get to SAS in ten minutes,” she told him. “Start talking, or I’ll start walking.”

He laughed at her no-nonsense expression. “You’re so much fun to be around when you’re all snarky like this. King Astophe was right about your spunk.”

“Zain…” she warned.

“All right, all right,” he said, rolling his eyes before turning serious. “Roka wanted me to update you.”

This wasn’t the first time the prince had passed a message along to her via his guard. Alex appreciated the communication more than she could say, since she hardly felt worthy of the royal Meyarin’s attention, let alone his continued sharing of information.

“Okay, shoot.”

Zain smirked and, in the blink of an eye, he pulled his already strung bow from his back, notched an arrow, and let it fly. A bloodcurdling scream filled Alex’s ears and she whipped her head around to see Skyla facing them with her back pressed flush up against a tree—almost two hundred yards away. The girl was frozen in shock, and Alex realised why when she saw that Zain’s arrow was embedded into the tree’s trunk at the crease where Skyla’s neck met her shoulder.

“
Zain!
” Alex hissed incredulously. “You could have killed her!”

The Meyarin snorted. “Please, Alex. Give me some credit.”

Right. He was Meyarin.

But Skyla didn’t know that.

Alex hurried over to the terrified girl with Zain ambling slowly behind her.

“You’re all right, Skyla,” Alex assured her classmate, yanking the arrow from the tree and shoving it into Zain’s hands. “You’re not hurt or anything. You’re fine, see?”

Skyla’s frantic eyes jumped from Zain to Alex and back again. “You—You tried to kill me!”

“It was only a warning.” The Meyarin waved away her accusation. “I don’t tolerate eavesdroppers.”

From two hundred yards, Alex doubted a Meyarin would have been able to eavesdrop on their quiet conversation, let alone a human like Skyla. The trembling girl gaped at him but then, to Alex’s astonishment, she averted her gaze.

“I was on my way to SAS and I saw Alex talking with someone,” Skyla said in a small voice. “I was just curious.”

“Curiosity is an admirable trait,” Zain said. “But as you’ve now learned, it’s also dangerous. Take more care in the future, Miss Fay.”

Skyla nodded her agreement and scurried away from them, heading off to class without a backwards glance.

“I’ll be quick,” Zain promised Alex, drawing her reeling thoughts back to him and continuing their earlier discussion. “There’s nothing new to report from the last update. I’m still trailing Aven, mostly focusing my attention on his gifted humans—the ones we know of, anyway. I haven’t discovered any of his plans, and that worries me. I’ve spoken at length with Hunter and we’ve been joining forces, hoping that we’ll get a lead. So far nothing has turned up. I have to wonder if one of Aven’s gifted allies has some kind of disillusioning or protective gift. Every time we get even slightly closer to figuring out what he might be doing, we lose the trail.”

Zain began to pace back and forward, his frustration showing through his tense movements.

“What can I do?” she asked.

“Just continue what you’re already doing,” he answered.

She knew better than to argue with him, since that had never helped her during any of their previous conversations.

“Let me know if that changes,” she said. “You know I’ll help in any way I can.”

“You better get going,” Zain said, deflecting her words. “I’ll see you in Combat tomorrow. At least
try
to fight, won’t you?”

“
Goodnight
, Zain,” Alex said pointedly, not waiting for his response before taking off for her class.

Over the next three days Alex was snowed under with schoolwork. Even their normally leave-study-in-the-classroom History teacher, Doc, had assigned a three-thousand word paper on the relevance of Agnus Cordon’s hierarchical government structure and how it compared to the modern day monarchy. Talk about snore-worthy. Alex had literally fallen asleep in the Library while researching the topic.

When Friday night rolled around, she finished the last of her exhausting assignments and decided to reward herself with an early night. She was in the bathroom getting ready for bed when she heard the door to her dorm open and seal shut again. She was about to call out a greeting to D.C. when she heard Jordan’s voice in the other room.

“You’re overreacting, Dix,” he said, sounding exasperated.

“I’m
not
,” D.C. replied. “I really don’t think you should go.”

“I don’t have a choice,” came Jordan’s muffled reply, his voice quieter than before. “You know that.”

“You do have a choice!” D.C. cried. “You’re almost eighteen—what are they going to do? Ground you? You don’t live with them anymore!”

“Dix, what’s really going on?” Jordan asked. “Why are you acting like this?”

There was a loaded pause and Alex stepped closer to the door separating them. She felt bad for eavesdropping, but there
was no way she could announce her presence now without it being awkward for everyone.

“I just…” D.C. trailed off before trying again. “I just don’t feel very good about this.”

In the gentlest voice Alex had ever heard him use, Jordan said, “Hey. Nothing’s going to happen to me.”

Alex barely made out the words when D.C. whispered, “Promise me you’ll come back?”

“I’m only going for the weekend, Dix,” Jordan said, his tone still overwhelmingly sweet. “I’ll be back Sunday night. Earlier, if I can.”

“No.” D.C.’s voice was filled with urgency. “I need you to promise. No matter what happens, promise me you’ll come back. To us. To
me.
”

Alex felt her stomach churn uneasily at her friend’s desperate plea. Jordan must have sensed something as well, since it took him a moment to respond, and when he did, his voice was rough with emotion.

“I promise, Dix,” he whispered. “I promise I’ll come back to you.”

D.C. let out a sigh, and there was a rustle of noise where Alex presumed her two friends were embracing after their semiintense moment. She wondered how long she’d have to wait in the bathroom before she could make a stealthy escape.

“Bear’s waiting for me down in the Rec Room,” Jordan said. “You coming?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” D.C. agreed. “I probably won’t be sleeping for a while yet.”

“Still having the nightmares?”

Jordan and Bear had eventually been told about D.C.’s recurring nightmares that had exhausted both girls the week before the SAS weekend. After Alex returned from the trip, D.C. had settled back into her normal sleep routine. Mostly.
Once or twice a fortnight she still woke up screaming, but that was about it.

“No,” D.C. answered. “Not as often, anyway.”

She said something else then, something too quiet to hear, and a moment later Alex heard the door to the dorm room open and close again. Alex waited a few seconds to make sure they didn’t come back before she stepped out of her hiding place.

“I thought you might’ve been here. We don’t usually leave the bathroom door closed.”

Alex jumped and held her hand up to her fluttering heart.

“Dix! You scared me,” she spluttered, seeing her roommate standing next to the window. “I thought—uh—”

“I told Jordan I’d meet up with them in a minute.” D.C. looked Alex squarely in the eyes. “Did you hear everything?”

“I’m sorry,” Alex apologised, shuffling her feet on the carpet. “I wasn’t sure if I should interrupt or not. I didn’t mean to listen, but it was kind of hard not to.”

D.C. blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Don’t worry about it, Alex. It’s not like you heard anything I wouldn’t have told you about, anyway.”

“Can I—um, can I ask what that was all about?”

D.C.’s eyes darkened and she turned to look out the window into the night. “Jordan’s parents want him to visit Chateau Shondelle for the weekend. He’s leaving first thing in the morning.”

Alex felt her throat constrict at the thought of their friend having to spend the next two days with Marcus and Natasha Sparker. “Since when do they want anything to do with him? Whenever they do see him, they don’t actually
want
to see him. What gives them the right to demand his attention?”

“They’re his parents, Alex,” D.C. said quietly. “You know how much he wants to please them. If they say ‘jump’ he won’t ask ‘how high?’—he’ll just do it, if only to try to make them proud. He’d do almost anything to earn their love.”

“So he’s going back to his childhood home for some quality family time? Is that what you’re telling me?” Alex asked, more heatedly than she’d intended.

“I don’t like this any more than you do,” D.C. snapped.

Alex looked into her friend’s anguished eyes and could see the truth of her words. “I’m sorry, Dix. I’m just worried.”

“I know,” D.C. mumbled. “Me too.”

“I’d planned on having an early night, but I think I’ll come down to the Rec Room with you, if that’s okay?” Alex asked, grabbing a hoody to pull on over her pyjamas.

“Yeah, sure,” D.C. said, leading the way out the door. “I think that’s a good idea. Just the four of us hanging out together. Exactly like it should be.”

Alex looked at her friend closely, wondering about the unusual tone of her voice, and then she shook her head and let it go, figuring D.C. was distracted by Jordan’s family predicament.

When they reached the Rec Room, Alex walked directly over to Jordan.

“Ah,” he said, seeing the look on her face. “I guess I don’t need to tell you where I’m going this weekend?”

When she didn’t say anything, he placed his hands on her shoulders and sent her a reassuring look.

“I’ll be fine, Alex,” he said, squeezing his hands gently to emphasise his statement. “I’ve already promised Dix I’ll be back by Sunday night. And I would have to be stupid to break a promise to her. That could mean public execution in the town square, for all I know.”

Alex ignored his attempt to joke and looked straight into his eyes, trying to read more than his words. After a moment, she saw how much he believed what he was saying—not the execution part, the coming back part. She would just have to trust that he knew what he was doing.

“Just be careful, yeah?” Alex said, relenting at last.

“You know me,” he said with a crooked grin. “‘Careful’ is practically my middle name.”

“Hmm.” Alex tilted her head. “I thought your middle name was ‘Obnoxious’? Or was it ‘Arrogant’? Oh, wait, I know. It’s ‘Stuck-Up’, right? ‘Jordan Stuck-Up Sparker’. It has a ring to it, don’t you think?”

Bear snorted and D.C. cracked a smile. Jordan’s response was to let go of Alex’s shoulders and move a few feet away, picking up a cushion from the nearest couch and throwing it at her. She ducked just in time, but it sailed directly into D.C.’s face, prompting what turned into an all out pillow war with Jordan and Bear versus D.C. and Alex. The light-hearted moment was exactly what they needed to turn the tense atmosphere into something much more relaxed, and the rest of the night continued in the same carefree manner, with the four friends enjoying one another’s company and laughing into the early hours of the morning.