Page 10 of Amethyst and Iron
He was equating the damage that their doctrines and despicable outlook would do if they rose again and were left unchecked, to what had transpired through the Celestial Plane’s similar approach. But these motherfuckers would have a much more personal impact, one that would be all the more brutal and fucking devastating.
I took comfort in the fact that we’d have the key to accessing more information about those demented fanatics soon enough once I tracked downRemnant.
Lazriel had needed some time to process the fact that his father was not only alive, but deeply and dangerously connected to the vampiric underground. But tonight he was moving into action-mode, wherein he would track down his highly-elusive mother. Once he’d discussed all of this with her, I’d then have the way clear to finally track downRemnant.
Cassius finished up the lecture and assigned readings on two specific Celestial Doctrines which we would need to be prepared to discuss next class, taking ethical context into account.
As I rose to my feet and shrugged my hooded leather coat back on, I caught sight of Lazriel pulling his phone from his messenger bag after packing his things away.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, as he frowned at it, not making a move to walk into the gangway where students were filtering out. In fact, he was inadvertently blocking my exit.
“Velra should have finished up with her hangout with Kelsana atVantiqeby now. She said she’d meet us right after class.” He looked out through the door as students walked through it into the crowded corridor just beyond. “I didn’t sense her, so I’m checking for messages from her. Nothing, though.”
“She could just be running late. Maybe her and Kelsana ventured into some heavy subject matter instead of keeping it light and fun.”
“Right, yeah. Like Rennick mind-raping Kelsana like a fucking psychopath.”
“A fucking psychopath who is now being held at the Guardian Compound’s Containment Facility for processing.”
I had to add that reminder in for him, because after Rennick had attacked me and then Lazriel had intervened to save me, all bets were off when it came to that fucked-up sorcerer for him.
A flick of familiar white magic drew our attention as it was used to shut the classroom door once the last student had left, and I turned to see Cassius beaming at us, while he recalibrated the floating tomes for the next professor.
“Well done,” he told us. “You didn’t make a spectacle of yourselves this time, nor reveal the unorthodox professor-student relationship that we find ourselves in at this juncture as a result of recent developments.” His lips lifted. “Recent most welcome and… pleasurable developments.”
“Just keeping our promise to Velra,” I told him with a wry grin.
He grinned back, knowing it had been more than that.
Lazriel pushed out onto the gangway and strode toward him, swinging his bag over his shoulder as he went. “Speaking of thepleasurableelement, how about just before I track my mom, we tend to that? You know, get down and dirty with some hot fucking and feeding?”
There he was trying to put it off again.
And he damn well knew that offer he’d just laid down would be exceedingly difficult to resist. Especially for Cassius, given that he’d only just started exploring his sexuality and being fully open to that. It was absolutely no small thing for him.
I followed Lazriel down to the front where Cassius was, intending to intervene. Or at least to postpone his wantedfuck-and-feeduntil after he’d had words with Rhyza Thaine.
But then Lazriel jolted.
“Your pulse is spiking,” he told Cassius. “I know you’ve got a real hard-on for me, for all of us now, but this reaction is kind of extreme.”
Cassius’ eyes widened and then he stumbled in his step.
“Damn,” Lazriel uttered, “It’s not just spiking now. It’s going batshit crazy.”
In mere seconds, sweat formed on his brow. And as he staggered again, he was headed for collapse.
Lazriel burst forward and held him up. “Your skin is like fire,” he said, swinging his head toward me anxiously.
I rushed over there, intending to do awellness sweep, a standard spell that all magic-wielders could perform.
But then he lurched in Lazriel’s hold and roared out in agony.
In the next moment, he was ripping at his black shirt and jerking it down to a spot just above his heart.
The site of the Soul Brand—those two jagged lines connecting—one his white magic, the other Velra’s purple and the black of her shadows as well.
No.
