Page 72 of Gift from the Stone

Internally, I’m freaking out like a damn teenager with her first crush. Between his confession and the closeness of his body to mine right now, I’m pathetically swooning. It’s getting harder and harder not to touch him anytime he’s near me. I want so badly to go to him freely like the others, but I don’t. I know he wouldn’t receive it well. And it takes everything in me not to pressure or push him.

“That’s one of the reasons I came to see you. Corentin’s changed your schedule up after yesterday. You’ll be working with Vince, Walker, and Draken now during this free period rather than staying in the shifter class,” he tells me.

“Did he, really?”

“Yes. It’ll be better for you and your dragon to work with the strongest amongst them. The others are a waste of space and your time. We have a lot of work to do before traveling to Terravile and you need to be ready.”

His mentioning of Terravile instantly cools the pissiness I felt creeping up from Corentin changing my schedule without at least discussing it with me. They may not have any idea what could possibly happen at the Alpha trials, but I do, and he’s right, I need as much help as I can get just in case.

“Fine. You said that’s one reason you came to see me. What’s another?” I ask sweetly, hoping he’ll say something cute.

I mentally snort at the thought. Cute isn’t a word I’d use to describe anything about Caspian. Teasing, mischievous. Sometimes, those are rarities sprinkled out over his serious demeanor but never cute. The smile that’s lingering on my face thinking about him slowly melts off as I gaze into his darkening eyes. He’s about to say something I won’t like, and the hairs standing on the back of my neck are not the only indicators of that. I feel his apprehension.

“Just say it,” I demand lightly.

“I’m leaving to go check on the other shifter groups across the realm. I need to scout and see if the Mastery’s infiltrated them as well. It’s going to take up a lot of my time from now until we leave for Terravile,” he spits out.

I try hard to shove my bond down, suppress the frantic beat it’s starting in my chest, but I have a million questions running through my mind right now that are not helping. The last time he left, although we weren’t on good terms, he was fucking taken. Despite my mental urge not to bombard him, the questions fall from my mouth faster than I can process them.

“When? Why you? Where are you going? Who’s going with you?”

“Look at me, Primary,” he commands, no doubt sensing the rising panic in me. “I’m leaving in just a minute, alone. I’m going because I’m the stealthiest and fastest. My gift allows me to transport in and out of the darkness faster than anyone, as well as use the shadows to move certain distances without even needing to transport. I’ll come back and check in as much as possible.”

His assurance does nothing to calm my bond down, but I bite my tongue, literally, letting the pain distract me from my turbulent emotions. I know they all have roles, jobs, that are going to put us in situations like this. I just didn’t expect it to affect me as much as it is.

As the tears begin gathering in my eyes, I look away from him and blink them rapidly, forcing my burning nose to ignore the building pressure. I can’t say or do anything that’s going to make him feel bad about leaving. He has to do this, and he’s obviously, I guess, the best man for the job. When I compose myself enough to look at him without crying, I turn and nod.

“Come here,” he says, but the command is pointless since he’s already pulling me to him with his shadows.

Wrapping his arms around my waist, he covers us in darkness. Instead of hurriedly whisking us through the shadows like he usually would, he takes his time, walking us back slowly through Gaster’s walls.

He stops only a few feet behind where Nikoli is perched on the desk Oakly’s using in the library, neither the wiser we’re sitting here watching them. As we move through the rows of shelves, he brings me just a few feet from where Gaster is showing a student two different texts. His momentary pause and the quick glance up lets me know he in fact does know we’re here somewhere.

The weightlessness that comes with traveling like this has always put me off, but I think that’s because he never gives me time to get comfortable. Typically, he’s whisking me away and spitting me back out just as fast. Now that he’s giving me time to adjust and appreciate this, it’s amazing, liberating. No one can see us, bother us, harm us. It’s just the two of us, moving as one. Coming through a wall in a part of the castle I’ve never been to, my ears immediately pick up on the voice of my most cheery of men. Following the sound, I snicker when my eyes find Draken taunting six classmates in his fire elemental class.

“You fuckers seriously thought it would only take six of you to beat me. Now how are you going to get out?” he chastises, shaking his head disappointedly at them.

“Can he hear us?” I whisper to Caspian.

“Only if I want him to,” he says in a normal voice.

“Don’t. Let’s see if I can mess with him.” I laugh, and the rumble of his chest at my back lets me know he’s perfectly okay with my plan.

Focusing on Draken, where he’s still standing there both picking on and giving directions to his classmates on how to get out of his ring of fire, I send a big hit of lust right down our bond and straight to him.

His back shoots ramrod straight, and he turns on his heel, searching the area for me. Me and Caspian both laugh as he confusingly rubs his chest and shakes his head. I give it a minute, letting him settle back down and focus back on the students, then I send an even bigger hit. This time, his eyes flash rapidly as he begins searching the room, pacing back and forth.

“Whoops. Might have been too much that time,” I admit.

The visibility in front of me drastically improves from the darkened haze that I’ve been viewing out of, to clear perfection. I steel myself for the weightlessness to drop, but it never does because Caspian only lowers his shadows enough to show our faces.

“Get his attention, Primary,” he whispers in my ear.

Once more, only a little, though, I hit Draken with my lust, and this time when he turns in a circle, I giggle, and he immediately spots us. His confused scowl morphs into a huge smile as he starts charging toward us, making me squeal.

“Race you to Corentin’s,” Caspian shouts, covering us again fully.

We move through the walls and the throngs of people undetected, Draken’s laugh carrying behind us. Caspian could’ve easily already had us there, but instead, he keeps shooting Draken with shadows and water, letting him know where we are until we hit the admin building, and he flies us through Corentin’s office, depositing us on the couch. The sudden shift in my bodily structure has my head spinning and everything sways as I sink into Caspian with a grunt.

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