Page 54 of The Mage on the Hill
“Arden. Elias. Zubayr.”
“Cool. Everyone’s here? That’s… gods, I’m glad you weren’t alone.” Toby hoped the expression he wore was a smile. His face didn’t feel quite right yet. “You just can’t stop smiling, can you?”
“No.” Darius pulled their joined hands up and kissed Toby’s palm. “You’re safe. You’re home. Truly safe. And I do.”
“Do what?”
“Love you.”
“Even though I’m too young. And not, like, a PhD. And a whole mess of trouble. And probably talk too much. And eat too much junk food. And don’t know one finch from another. And will totally insist on a good gaming system for the basement.”
Darius chuckled. “Even so.”
“Damn good thing, Professor Valstad.” Toby managed to scoot close enough to nuzzle against Darius’s shoulder. “’Cause I’ve definitely fallen in love with you. Even if you’re a grouchy old griffin with self-esteem issues who doesn’t know how to feed himself when he’s on his own.”
“Hey now.” Darius’s protest lacked force, probably because he was laughing.
“Tell me where the lie is.” Toby heaved a long sigh that turned into a happy hum when Darius shifted and slid an arm around him. “We’re really safe, then? The guild’s not coming after us? No one’s gonna try to shove death drugs in my veins?”
“Safe.” Darius buried his face in Toby’s hair. “Completely safe. Well—”
“What? What part’s not safe?”
“Your parents… want a call.”
Toby poked at Darius’s ribs, making him twitch. “Oh, not funny. Not funny at all. But yeah, I guess parents are their own danger. Or dangers. I’ll call them when I don’t feel like my head’s about to pop off and float away.” After a few moments, a thought crept in. “Did you, um, meet them? My parents?”
“Not as… such?” Darius shifted onto his back, taking Toby with him. “Escaping angry vines.”
“Yeah, I’m definitely too dizzy for this still. It’ll keep.”
Sometime later when the sunlight had softened further toward evening, Toby finally sat up successfully, and Darius hobbled out to do something that Toby only caught asmutter, mutter, mumble. Some yelling followed as Toby wondered why Darius was limping so badly; then soon after, a herd of forty elephants assaulted the stairs. Fine, no elephants, but four mages wearing expressions ranging from dark glower—Darius—to barely concealed amusement—Elias.
“Back in bed.” Arden’s pointing was imperious and worthy of the stage.
While Darius complied, growling, Toby asked, “So why are you all gimpy?”
Arden didn’t give him a chance to answer. “Because he’s a stubborn, bull-headed idiot.”
The phraseflurry of activityhad never been more appropriate as Zubayr sailed in with a tray, Elias brought Toby’s backpack to the side of the bed, and Arden fussed with pulling up Darius’s right pajama pant leg and getting ice on a knee that looked more like a grapefruit.
“Dude….” Toby leaned over for a better look. “What did youdo?”
“Twisted it,” Darius grumbled. “Not a big… deal.”
Ardentskedand continued fussing, propping the knee up on a cushion. “Not a big deal if you never want to use it again, certainly. You just like upsetting people. It’s what you do. Now stay inbed, dammit.”
“He’s going to punch you one of these days.” Zubayr addressed Arden while he pushed Toby back against the pillows and set the tray across his lap. “And we’ll all laugh and laugh. Eat what you can, Toby. It’s just chicken and rice. Nothing fancy.”
“Thank you. But I don’t think—” Toby’s stomach interrupted him with a monstrous growl. “Never mind, I’ve been overruled. Apparently, I am hungry.”
“All your stuff’s by the bed.” Elias pointed to the pile of backpack and clothes. “We’ll just leave you two in—”
“No, no, no,” Toby objected around his first bite. Dinner was plain and absolutely heavenly. “You guys can’t go until someone explains all the things. He hasn’t even tried.”
Elias laughed as he perched on the end of the bed. “Darius would have to write it out for you. It’s not simple like someone told him where you were and he just walked in and got you.”
The story Elias told sounded stranger than Toby’s dreams while he’d been under. Assaults by Air mages, coming to find Darius in despair, a persistent vine with a message, following the plants, the vegetative fortress—it all sounded like something from an old story. But they all backed it up and added enough detail that it was impossible to dismiss.
