Chapter 13

Aelia

My fingers curled into Reign's tunic, my nails digging into the fine fabric as we catapulted through murky oblivion. My lungs constricted, ribs crushing my organs for an impossibly long moment. Then as quickly as it had begun, a flicker of light appeared, and a familiar hall coalesced before us.

The icy tendrils of darkness fell away, and the glimmering Hall of Luce stretched out in all its radiant splendor. Reign held me in front of a door with a familiar sign. Healer. How embarrassing. Not even three full days and I'd already found myself at the healer's chamber.

"Can you stand?"

I scoffed and wiggled to be put down though my fingers still clutched his tunic like he was the only remaining lifeboat in a turbulent sea.

Slowly, he lowered my feet to the ground, keeping a firm grip on my waist. I may have wobbled slightly, but somehow by the grace of Raysa, I remained standing. "See?" I threw him a cocky smile. Soon, that warm grip was replaced by icy tendrils I'd come to instantly recognize.

"Stay," Reign murmured before he lifted his knuckles to the door and an instant later, a smiling Fae appeared at the entrance.

"Well, hello there, Professor Reign." She offered him a flirty grin before her lips pulled into a pout as she took in my dark hair and rounded ears.

"Good morrow, Elisa, I have an injured student for you."

"Ah, this must be the infamous female Kin everyone's been buzzing about. I'm not surprised to see her so soon." They exchanged a smirk, and my fingers itched for my daggers. My daggers! I had to retrieve them along with my scroll and satchel. Clearly, I needed my weapons if I wished to survive even a day on this campus. "Bring her in."

Reign ushered me through the entrance, his cool shadows supporting part of my weight, and deposited me onto a cool metal table. Like all rooms at the Conservatory, light spilled in from the arched stained-glass windows bathing the healing chamber in a luminous glow. "She has a wound to the back of her head and has been dizzy, likely from blood loss. It needs mending. And if you could take care of it quickly, I'd be ever so pleased. We have a class to return to."

"Of course." The healer turned to a large basin of water and dipped her slender hands inside. "If you prefer, you may return to your lecture and I will send her back when I'm finished," she called out over her shoulder.

"No. I will remain with her."

"As you wish."

While she was preoccupied, I turned to Reign. "I left my daggers, my scroll and my satchel back there. I need to get them before someone else does." The blades were what I cared most about. They were a gift from Aidan, though I didn't share that bit of personal information. I was certain any sort of emotional attachment would be frowned upon here.

He squeezed his eyes closed as if my request were the most irritating thing ever. That darkness coiled around him, expanding until its murky presence filled the room and a whisper of dread pooled in my gut. Goodness, I'd just go back for them myself when I got out of here; it wasn't as if I'd expected him to retrieve them. I'd nearly opened my mouth to say as much when a shadow skimmed across my palm and dropped my missing knives into my hand.

My jaw went slack as I stared at the sharp blades, then back at Reign. A loud thump came next as my satchel appeared on the floor immersed in a cloud of black.

"You're welcome," he whispered, leaning in so close his cool breath brushed over the shell of my ear. "I'll save you the embarrassment of thanking me."

Something like emotion stung at the back of my eyes as I took in the feel of the familiar blades, but I blinked quickly, burying the rush of sentiments to the farthest corners of my mind. I was certain crying was tantamount to treason at the Conservatory.

"I'll wait outside," he said out loud as he stepped back, and I tucked the daggers back into their hiding spots within my boots.

"I'll have her mended in a few minutes, Reign." The healer turned to me, rubbing her hands. A warm glow seeped from her palms as she approached. "Don't worry, little one, it doesn't hurt a bit."

I could have been imagining it, or maybe it was the head trauma, but the healer didn't look at me with the same scorn as all the others. When she brought her luminescent palms to my head, a smile flashed across her serene face. I gritted my teeth as a flood of warmth bathed my skull and a gentle hum vibrated the air. I could practically feel my skin knitting back together. It was the strangest sensation.

"You have such beautiful hair," she murmured once she removed her hands a long moment later. "I've never seen anything quite like it. Is it typical among Kin like yourself?"

As if the dark raven hue didn't stand out enough amidst the fair-haired Fae, the streak of platinum blonde certainly was distinctive.

"Thank y—" I cut myself off before finishing the phrase. "And no, it's not typical." In fact, though a variety of shades of hair color existed among the residents of Feywood, I'd never encountered anyone with tresses like mine.

She offered a smile. "You're welcome," she whispered. "And may I offer a word of advice?"

I nodded. "You can simply say ‘cheers' instead of thanking Fae."

"Cheers?"

"Yes, it doesn't hold the connotation of indebtedness, but it is an acknowledgement all the same."

"Okay, thank—cheers."

"Well done." She handed me my satchel from the marble floor. "Now go on, you mustn't keep the professor waiting. He's known to have quite a temper."

"Yes, I've come to realize that in my short time here."

Her eyes turned glossy, and a silly grin broadened her smile. "I'll let you in on a little secret: Reign is not as bad as he pretends to be."

I'd realized that, too, but thank the goddess I'd kept the revelation to myself. Of everything I'd gathered about the professor, his mercurial nature was the one consistency in his character.

"What are those silver bracelets he wears?" The question popped out before I could stop the words from tumbling free. "Since we're speaking of secrets…" I added.

"That, I'm afraid, is not mine to share." She motioned toward the door, and I took the gesture as my cue to leave.

I hopped off the table and was eternally thankful that my world had finally stopped spinning. The Light Fae's healing power truly was exceptional. I only hoped I'd be able to master a hint of that power. Any Light power, really. Still, there was nothing I wanted more right now than to fall into my feathered bed, or even to take a dip in that divine bathing chamber.

Gingerly, I pulled open the door to the hallway, praying to all the gods that my dark escort had somehow vanished. A pair of bottomless obsidian orbs found mine as I peered through the opening.

No such luck.

"Ready?" he snapped.

"If I must be…" Crossing the threshold, I knotted my arms over my chest as I prepared for the broody professor to sweep me into his icy embrace once more. "Let's get this shadowtraveling over with already."

A devious smirk curled Reign's lips as he waggled a finger at me and tsked. "Uh, uh, uh, princess. That little treat was only because you were injured. I'm not in the habit of carrying lazy students around, even my own acquisitions."

"But how am I supposed to get to class?" I couldn't help the whiney twinge to my tone.

"With your feet, princess." He pointed two fingers down and wiggled them in a walking motion an inch from my nose. "Now, hurry. If I beat you there, you will be punished for tardiness." A wicked gleam brightened those endless obsidian orbs.

The rough edge to his tone sent burgeoning heat settling low in my core before I snapped myself out of it. "That's not fair, you can shadowtravel!"

"I will not use my powers, but you better move your little ass. I'll even give you a ten second head start, princess."

"Dunghead," I gritted through clenched teeth before spinning around and sprinting down the hall. Never mind that I had no idea where I was going. There was no celestial way I'd beat him back.

Unless…

Reaching around for my satchel, I pulled out the scroll Reign's shadows had delivered as I raced through the front door of the Hall of Luce. Luckily, I managed to avoid bumping into any students since the corridor was empty. Thank the goddess for small mercies.

Ah, ha! I thought so.

The crisp air swept hair across my face as I stopped at the verdant ledge that dropped at least twenty feet. I eyed the glistening depths of the meandering river that circled the Conservatory. I'd always been a strong swimmer and the current did surge in the right direction, straight for the Hall of Rais, according to my map. It was a good thing Rue had told me about the campus and its concentric circles.

All I had to do was survive the jump.

Indecision battled it out in my gut as I watched the churning rapids. Death by drowning or punishment by Reign? I wasn't certain which would be worse. My professor's murderous eyes flashed across my mind's eye as he tortured Kian and Lucian with his demonic shadows, and the answer came easily. I tightened the straps of my satchel over my shoulders and lifted myself over the golden balustrade.

Here goes nothing.

"Please welcome me into your open arms, Raysa," I prayed before I closed my eyes and leapt off the guardrail.