Page 24 of Forging Bonds: Part One

We all say goodbye to Sully, and I promise that I'll see him soon before we get very far though he calls out after us.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I reached out to Lucius, but I'm still waiting to hear back. He likes to keep to himself, especially since the Reaper Council have fucked everything up for the reapers. It's going to be a while before he responds."

"Lucius?" I ask curiously. I don't have any idea what he's talking about, although, from the way that he's speaking, I think that I probably should know.

"The Reaper Elder you asked me to contact," Sully explains. "He's the only one from Trieneliea that I know how to contact. Well, I have a vague idea, at least. He's also one of the only reapers from Trieneliea who didn't blindly follow the new council, so he's good people."

"Reaper Elder?" Raiden questions, looking confused and slightly alarmed.

My eyebrows draw down, "Oh shit, I don't think we told you. It's nothing to worry about. Like Sully said, it's someone that he knows and trusts." Raiden's expression clears of the alarm, but he still looks confused, so I carry on explaining, "When we were going to get the flash drive, the guys mentioned how unusual your wing color is, and you don't know why. We were trying to figure out a way that we could find out what it means without talking to the rest of the reapers because they're all dicks. So, we thought we would ask Sully and see if he knew of one that wasn't a dick and wouldn't immediately tell the Reaper Council about it."

Raiden smiles and pulls me under his arm, dipping to kiss me once and shocking me once again. "Thank you. I have looked into it, admittedly not extensively, since we have a lot going on at the moment, but I can't find anything. My only hope of getting answers is to speak to an elder, but as Sully mentioned, they're all loyal to what I now know is the new council, so they aren't the best people to speak to if I'm hoping to fly under the radar or stay off their radar for as long as possible."

Sully nods, "As I said, I've sent word to him, but it could be weeks, maybe even months before he receives it or decides to respond."

Raiden nods, "That's okay, I appreciate it. The Reaper Council shouldn't be getting in contact any time soon."

Sully shakes his head, "I would be very surprised if they did. They usually take a while to get around to shit, but rumor has it that they're dealing with something at the moment, which means all their focus is on that. You should be good for a while."

Chapter Eight

Neith

Raiden looks relieved, "Thank fuck for that. I know it's inevitable that they are going to call on me at some point, but I want to get some training in, and maybe even figure out what the color of my wings means before it gets to that point."

"I think that's probably the smartest way to go about it," Sully confirms. "If I were you, I would keep that stronger side of yours under wraps at the Choosing."

"Shit, I hadn't even considered that," Reed curses.

Raiden nods, "I had. I was planning to keep it concealed. I've done it for the majority of my life, so doing it for a few trials at the Choosing will be fine."

Sully nods, "Agreed." Ringing fills the room, and Sully pulls out his phone, rolling his eyes as he looks at the screen. "It's Ty. He's probably checking to see where you are since you were late getting here because you were playing with the kelpies, and then we sort of detoured on the conversation a couple of times."

"Tell him we're leaving now," River says, and we all head out the door.

I wave at Sully just as he answers the phone, and he smiles. "Yeah, yeah. They're on their way now, you impatient fuck."

I chuckle. I'm not sure many people would speak to Ty like that, but Sully and Ty have known each other for a long time, and I guess that gives Sully certain privileges most don't get.

"We're going to have to drive to the academy, aren't we?" I ask as we all get into the van, and Evander gets into the driving seat.

River stretches out on his seat, "You know I love Ireland, but when we go back, I am insisting that we buy a nice big van out there. We can leave it at House. We might have to build a garage or something to keep it out of the elements though. Do you think House would mind if we built a garage?"

I shrug, "You know, I actually have no idea. I haven't tried to add anything to it before. It does it all by itself." I pause as I think about it, "I think it will be fine. House doesn't have any control over the grounds, so I don't think it would mind if we built a garage. I actually told House and Ethel that if we come back on some time off and not because there's a problem, that we would sort out the grounds. They both got really excited."

River smiles, "Yeah, we can do that. I don't know that much about gardening, but I'm sure we will figure it out."

Griff chuckles, "I had a look around. I think there is quite a lot of structural stuff that needs to be done, and we can do that. Plus, Ransom should be able to whip something up that will help with the plant side."

Ransom nods, "Yeah, I can definitely do that. We'll have to do the actual building of the walls and flower beds and whatever else that needs to be built, but I should be able to come up with something that will make the planting and growing a lot easier."

"Awesome, thank you, guys," I reply, and the van falls silent again.

I have to admit that it is nice to have a bit of room in here instead of all being cramped. I was driving the van back in Ireland, and I found it cramped, so I can only imagine what the guys felt since they're all so much bigger than me, and most of them were sitting in the very cramped back.

"How are you doing with the whole royalty thing?" Ransom asks Evander.

Evander's eyes glance in the rearview mirror, looking back at us all, he shrugs, "I'm good. I mean, it was obviously a shock at first, but it won't change anything. Maybe it would if we lived in Trieneliea, but we don't so everything will pretty much stay the same. At least for a couple hundred years. I can worry about it then."

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