Page 12 of A Reign of Storm and Madness

Maeryn’s brow creases, but she doesn’t say a word. I can see it in her eyes—she knows I’m right, even if she refuses to say as much. A moment passes, and then she finally nods to me before turning on her heel and stepping out of my room into the corridor of the north tower.

“Come, Niall, I wish to eat before classes begin.” She doesn’t look back as she starts walking. Niall, on the other hand, does. His eyes remain on me even as his feet carry him further away. I wait, half expecting him to bump into the wall or trip over his own two feet as he walks forward, but he turns back to give me the saddest puppy dog look I’ve ever seen on another being.

When the two of them are finally gone, I whirl to Kalix. My lips part and I stop myself. One whipping was enough for me. The next punishment I receive for breaking their asinine rules will likely be death.

I bite down on my tongue and grit my teeth. “Did you require something of me, Master Kalix?” No matter how hard I try to sound perfectly courteous, the words cut out of my lips as if they’re verbal daggers.

Twin dark brows arch up and he blinks at my inquiry. A second passes. Then another and another. His head tilts to the side as he gazes at me, eyes slowly roving down from my face to the rest of my body. Heat pours into my veins as he pauses at the outline of my breasts, bound beneath my wrappings under the cream tunic. A smirk blossoms on his face.

“Yes,” he says. “I require honesty, little mortal.”

I honestly would love to stab him in the throat, I think.

Before I can respond verbally, however, Kalix continues on. “But I think that might be asking a bit much from you now as I expect you’re still recovering from your punishment.” He turns his back to me and releases his folded arms as he moves for the stairs leading up to the top floor of the north tower. “Follow me,” he says. “The others wish to see how you’re doing.”

Tingles of power race through my limbs. All it would take is a single moment of weakness on his part. With his back turned, and his attention focused on the stairwell, I could do it, I realize. I could reach back, unsheathe my dagger, and have it planted in his skull in seconds. He wouldn’t even see it coming.

Then I remember how he’d snuck into my room and washed my back. I remember now where the smell of the tunic I’m wearing comes from. Him. It’s his tunic, not my own and he’d given it to me when I hadn’t had one left.

I should not feel indebted.

Trudging after him, I level a dark glare on the expanse of his shoulders and then drop down to his ass as he walks higher, placing the rounded curves of his backside at eye level with me. A very nice, muscular backside.

I blink and shake my head. Fucking Gods. The Belladonna is still fucking with my head. Or so I tell myself.

Chapter 8

Theos

Ruen is deathly silent—so silent that I continuously forget he’s in the room—as we wait for Kalix to arrive with the Terra. He hasn’t spoken a word in the last seven days during her recovery. I suspect he knows that Kalix and I snuck away to care for her. Yet, he hasn’t commented on that either.

Good, I think. Because I fear one word from him would send me into the final tailspin I just don’t fucking need. One word from him and I’d be hard-pressed not to take a brimstone blade to his throat and give him yet another one of the scars that mar the rest of his body. Not that the Gods even deign to allow us to touch those. No. Brimstone blades and other weapons either made of or dusted with the stone are not for us to wield. They’re too dangerous.

The floorboards outside the door creak and a moment later, I’m on my feet as it swings inward. Kalix appears first and then, as he steps to the side, I catch sight of the Terra. Her face is leaner than before this past week. The skin beneath her eyes is darker. But the storm cloud color surrounding her pupils is bright and ripe with emotion. Volatile emotion. My breath catches in my throat as she steps into the doorway and Kalix closes the door behind her.

“We need to talk,” he says, flipping the lock before passing his hand over the handle. The ghosting shadow of a snake drops from his palm—the smallest of creatures. It slithers through the keyhole in a flash.

I sigh and for the first time in seven days, I feel my muscles relax. His familiar will keep a lookout in case any of the Academy’s Divine ones have sent spies in any form—Terra or familiars themselves—to listen in on our conversation.

Now that the creature has ensured our privacy, I find myself striding towards our Terra in a flash. She jerks back slightly when one moment I’m across the room and the next I’m standing before her. I don’t hesitate to take her shoulders in my hands and turn her around.

“Let me see your wounds—”

Before I can finish the command, the little mortal is gone. The movement so fast that I know she hadn’t been the one to do it. I turn accusatory eyes on Kalix as he grins at me a few feet away with her arm in his grip.

“Now, now, brother,” he says calmly. “Let’s not get too intimate this soon. Oh, wait.” He grins and cocks his head to the side. “Too late for that, isn’t it?”

“Give her to me,” I demand, reaching for her once more.

Kalix yanks her back out of my reach and clicks his tongue at me. “You do not command me, Theos,” he says with a smile spreading to show teeth. “Leave the little mortal alone.” His hand drops from her arm quickly and my attention shifts to her face.

There’s no emotion there. Nothing. Just cool indifference. I hate it.

“Dea, you know we never intended for you to—” I begin, my chest aching at the cold look in her eyes only to halt as a gruff voice speaks behind us.

“I’m glad to see you up and about.” At once, the three of us—Kalix, Kiera, and I—turn to face Ruen who’s now standing several feet from us.

If ice was an emotion, then the look on the Terra’s face would be layered in hoar frost. “As am I, Master Ruen.” Voice like a glacial blade, Kiera bows her head slightly in his direction.

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