Page 26 of The Demon Tide

Or’myr Syll’vir holds her gaze, showing none of the unsettled intimidation Tierney is so often met with. Instead, he seems oddly arrested.

“You’d be Tierney Calix, I’m assuming,” he says, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “I’m Or’myr Syll’vir, as you probably read on the summons. I’m to be your geomancy lab partner for a few days. I need to channel some strong water magic into weaponry—” he gestures loosely around the lab “—and, well, they tell me you’re a bit gifted in that department.” He extends a hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The warmth in his expression triggers Tierney’s defenses. She’s tired of this game, played over and over, being initially met with friendliness until people find out she has her own mind—a mind that won’t always obey their rigid rules.

She does not take his hand.

Instead, she crosses her arms. “Well, Or’myr,” she says with open challenge in her tone, “you should know, up front, that I’m somewhat shunned here.”

He cocks a brow and lowers his hand. “Are you really?”

Tierney feels herself becoming entrenched as she stares him down. “Yeah, I am. Because Trystan Gardner is my closest friend here. And Elloren Gardner is mybestfriend. I’ve been informed by a number of people that I’m hopelessly polluted in my alliances.” Her gaze flits pointedly around his well-outfitted lab. “You seem to have some influence. So, just know that you’re likely to harm your social standing if you work with me.”

Or’myr lets out a short laugh, a glint of mischief in his eyes. “I’m no stranger to controversy. Seeing as I’m a grandson of the Black Witch.”

Tierney’s thoughts sputter. She gapes at him, everything familiar about him falling into stark place.

Elloren.

He looks just like Elloren.

A hint of challenge lights Or’myr’s green gaze. “My middle surname is Gardner,” he states evenly. “My mother had an affair with Edwin Gardner that she refuses to renounce. Because she was madly in love with him. So, Advisor Calix, your tendency toward forbidden affections does little to put me off.”

Tierney places a hand squarely on one hip, feeling overtaken by surprise. “You’d be Elloren’s cousin, then?” She blinks at him, drawn in by Elloren’s own features, so disarmingly striking on a male face.

“Correct,” Or’myr confirms as they stare at each other in the cluttered lab. Flustered, Tierney glances at the multitude of wands crafted from the myriad of purple woods strewn about, as well as a sizable number of charged rune stones from a plethora of cultures—including Gardnerian. He’s clearly a proponent of magical mixing, this green-eyed geosorcerer, countless grimoires from all the lands haphazardly stacked throughout the laboratory.

She tilts her head. “You’re a bit of your own mind, aren’t you?” Delight rises at the prospect.

“And you seem like an out-and-out rebel, Asrai,” Or’myr returns, his lips ticking up.

And then they’re grinning at each other as Tierney is swept up in a feeling her misanthropic heart rarely encounters—instant like.

Tierney’s rakish grin wavers, something deeper taking root. “I think we’re going to get on quite well, Vu Trin Syll’vir.”

His smile broadens. “Call me Or’myr. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Advisor Calix.”

“Call me Tierney,” she returns, her expression taking on a more serious cast. “Or’myr...have they let you meet Trystan? Does he even know he has family here?”

He frowns. “I suspect he’s heard of me by now. But no, they have not let me meet my own cousin. Even though I’ve petitioned Ung Li quite relentlessly.” He glances out his lab’s oval window, toward the Wyvernguard’s North Island, a weighted tension taking hold. “If it goes on much longer, I’ve a mind to force the issue and just go over there.”

“Have you heard what’s going on?” Tierney presses, unable to suppress the outrage sparking in her tone. “How he’s being called a Crow and a Roach...”

“I have, in fact,” Or’myr answers. “I have some familiarity with those types of things myself.” He gives her a poignant look. “Is Trystan the type who can work past it? To focus on the fight we should all be united in?”

Their gazes lock and hold, and Tierney feels her own leagues-deep pain stir. “I have trouble with that myself, sometimes,” she admits, and Or’myr looks closely at her, as if surprised by her candor.

“It’s hard for us all sometimes,” he allows.

Tierney eyes him with some disbelief. “You’re...ridiculously magnanimous.”

“Not really,” Or’myr counters. “I dislike most people and am generally in a bad mood.”

Tierney lets out a short laugh at this. “Then you and I should get on famously.” She glances around the purple-lit lab. “Shall we commence drawing water power into stones and runic weaponry?”

“So that we can drag Vogel and his forces down into a watery death?” Or’myr rejoins with a wicked smile.

Tierney grins and raises her palm, pulling in a deep breath as she forms a churning, lightning-spitting ball of water to hover just above her hand. “Yes. That. The fight we should all be united in. Let’s get to work. And after that, you can repay me by being my alibi.”

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