Page 52 of Of Bone and Ash

“This is the best you could do?” I hear Hawkins snap at the leader of the Balaur Patrol.

“I—you said to bring a healer! He’s a fucking Angel! They can heal people. Besides, the students believe he’s a Fae with healing abilities so that it doesn't blow his cover when he helps me heal my Dragons after a Demon fight,” Boris grumbles in defense.

“I think I’ll wait for the Healer. Thanks,” Serafina snaps, and I freeze, my magic lashing in the air around me as I desperately try to control myself.

The healer is for my Tether?

I immediately look to the young woman who is standing next to the chair Boris is sitting in, lording over the two men like a damn Goddess. She’s dressed in simple black clothing, her hair pulled tightly up at the top of her head. She has less make-up on than she did the first time I saw her, but more than she had on last night and… bruises. There are fucking bruises around her neck! The dark purple color is a stark difference to her creamy skin.

Oh, someone is going to die for that.

“Who the fuck strangled you, and are they dead yet?” I snarl at her, ignoring the professor and Dragon, who both stand, the first on shaky legs, as I stomp over to my Tether, reaching for her injured neck. The need to heal her is like a physical itch, something that won’t be settled until her skin is once more unblemished.

Before my fingers can brush against her soft looking skin, a wall of black death magic strikes me, sliding me backward a few feet. It doesn’t hurt; a Reaper's magic can’t kill an Angel, but it packs a powerful punch I was unprepared for.

“I thought I told you I didn’t like being touched,” she hisses at me, a frustrated look crossing her features.

“And how the hell am I supposed to heal you if I can’t touch you?” I grind out, annoyed at her childish behavior.

“You don’t. I’ll wait,” she responds, flipping her long ponytail over one shoulder, and looking back at Professor Hawkins, effectively dismissing me. Well, that won’t do.

“And what, pray tell,” I grind out, my hands fisted at my sides as she steps closer to the damn professor. I swear if she lets him touch her, I’ll kill him. “have I done to offend you enough that you would rather stay in pain than allow me to heal you?” Serafina looks over her shoulder at me, her cold gray eyes flicking up and down my body, and for the first time ever, I tense, suddenly feeling insecure. I shove the feelings away, already hating how this damn Tether bond to the girl has messed with my mind.

“Your blatant disregard for life in general. I find it distasteful and would rather not be around you. Besides, I am Fae, why would you heal me?” she asks, cocking a brow in a challenge, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t lose my shit. “You know, I was raised by an Angel,” she continues, looking away from me as she walks confidently behind Professor Hawkins.

She turns, leaning a hip against the imposing desk as she crosses her arms over her chest. I try to ignore how it pushes her perfectly proportioned breasts higher, granting me an amazing view of her cleavage. “Besides the two I grew up with, there isn't one I would ever say was a pleasure to meet. Everything I have seen and heard from you only cements the fact that I don’t want nor wish to get to know you better. Besides,” she says, waving a hand through the air. “I’m not in pain.”

Professor Hawkins glares up at her like he too knows she’s lying, and it makes me even more irrational at the thought he knows her well enough to hear the lies spilling from her ruby-red lips.

“Half Angel,” I correct about the silly Nephilim who helped raise her. Dominic Carter is hardly a worthy Angel, and I hate that she classifies him as such. “And I thought I told you not to lie to me.”

Serafina stills, head tilting a millimeter to the side before she bloody smirks at me. The nerve of this girl. “You just proved my point. You are prejudiced to even those of your own kind. Dominic is a far better man than you could ever dream to be.” I scowl at her, her words striking a nerve as Boris leans back in his chair and tsks under his breath.

“Yeah. My bad. I should have waited for the healer. I wasn’t sure if we were dealing with a life-or-death situation since someone…” Boris side eyes the professor, who is still glaring at me. I watch him readjust in his wheelchair, leaning closer to my Tether. She notices, of course she does. It seems not much gets past the girl and she reaches out to pat him, somewhat awkwardly on the shoulder. “chose to hang up without giving me more information.”

“Ambrose. Since you’re here, perhaps you could be useful,” the professor says, resting his elbows on the desk in front of him as he stares me down without a hint of fear or apprehension.

I glare at him, feeling a little self conscious. Have I lost my edge, or is this man certifiable? I press my magic forward once more, wanting to breach his mental shields and see what the hell this man is thinking, but the moment my magic gets within a foot of the professor, Serafina’s magic springs forward, shoving mine back and making me jerk in surprise.

I turn my glare on her, and she responds by grabbing her ponytail, bringing the long, silky strands of hair over her shoulder as she studies the ends, lips pursed like she has no care in the world. This little brat?—

“What creature can call on another being?” the professor asks, cutting into my fuming. “Mentally or Physically. Not only in dreams?—”

“Not a dream,” Serafina interrupts, and Hawkins dips his head at her.

“Alright. Subconsciously enough that the person can sustain an injury?”

“Injury? Is that what happened to you?” I ask, my glare still firmly on my annoyingly uninterested Tether. I have never been ignored like this in all my years, and I’m itching to put her in her place.

“I don't know,” she snarks, looking up from her hair to meet my gaze. I feel a lurch in my gut and sneer at how she can physically affect me this way. No wonder the idea of getting a Tether is so repulsive to Angels. Not only have I lost control of my magic, but my damn body is also betraying me. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” she sighs before looking down at the professor. “He’s useless. Let's call Dominic. At least we know he has our best interests at heart.”

Useless? I can’t help but stare at her, my rage hitting a new high as I glower at her. “It could be a few creatures. However, in order to have a physical form, they would have to be powerful. Most likely an Angel, which is highly unlikely, or possibly an Asphyx,” I tell her, venom dripping from my words as she tilts her head, looking at me for only a moment before looking back down to the professor.

“What the hell is an Asphyx?” she asks, looking to him once more for an answer she knows I have. I swear my head explodes as Hawkins looks up at her with a soft smile. Boris slowly stands at my side, eyeing me like he knows I’m a disaster about to wreak havoc on everyone in the room. It's enough of a distraction that I’m able to restrain myself from killing the professor, but only just.

“A Demon with the ability to warp reality. Rare, but they do exist,” he admits before looking at me puzzled. “How sure can you be it isn't an Angel? I know you lot are getting low in numbers, but there are more of you than there are Asphyx’s.”

“An Angel wouldn’t care enough about a silly Fae girl to warp her reality,” I say coolly, enjoying the dirty look Serafina shoots my way the moment the words silly girl leave my lips.

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