29. ~Talon~

29

~Talon~

Two weeks had gone by since I’d woken up in the infirmary and found the three people I cared about most in the world gathered around me, right there for me when I’d come to.

When I’d needed them the most.

I’d tried to return to normalcy—we all had.

But it hadn’t been that easy.

Not after everything that had gone down.

For my part, I’d been getting a shitload of looks my way and a whole lot more whispers, a mixture of wariness and disbelief at what I’d done.

It was like they thought I was a fucking ticking timebomb, something so volatile that could go off at any moment and obliterate them all, and Electi Academy along with them.

That had been an extreme circumstance, though.

And it had all been perfectly played by Constantine and that sick bastard, Callum Cornwell. A combination of Orpheus sending out feelers and reaching out to his contacts and his father’s, along with Exemplar tracking, had determined that he was on a covert mission for Constantine. So covert that the fucker was cloaked, meaning we couldn’t track him.

At least not yet.

It took a shitload of power for a magic-wielder to cloak themselves for a long period of time, especially to the level that would be needed to withstand tracking spells from the most powerful beings in the supernatural world. It wouldn’t be long before he ran out of juice and he’d have to return to Constantine’s new home base to recuperate and whatever the fuck. And at that point, with a team of Exemplar members watching the place and doing careful recon, they could nab him before he made it inside.

As that had been going on, Xavier had been seeing his therapist and taking two calls from his dad every day, as well as going to classes. He’d been getting back into his writing too.

Ore had been run off his feet.

Thank fuck he was still walking the halls of Electi Academy, even after Dean Bronson had witnessed him drop his illusion that had been hiding most of the student body behind it. He’d managed to convince her and the rest of the faculty that he’d been organizing a blowout party to help with morale, bringing everyone in to help organize it and make it a night to remember. Taking on the acolytes, he’d put down to their training under Marlowe over the years and their determination to defend the Academy, the place that they called home. Fortunately, the dean had lot of other things to worry about, and she’d interviewed—or interrogated—a bunch of students, all of which had supported Ore’s story. So nothing had come of it.

But it did mean that suspicion had been lit, meaning the security measures Ore now had to take in order to bring the army together and continue drills, training, and all that, were so fucking extreme, it was crazy.

As if he didn’t already have enough to worry about with monitoring the situation in the DFR with the new rule underway and Ore coordinating with Marlowe and Cassius. Although it was only temporary, it was still a big change and some major upheaval for the Kingdom. Especially after they’d recently been invaded and lost a huge chunk of their army too. They were basically reeling right now and I knew it was hard for Ore to not be able to be there in person.

He had to be with Alena, helping her to handle her black magic sickness and all the darkness it was bringing forth in her. The other day the four of us had been eating together in the cafeteria and someone had accidentally brushed against her. It had set her off, triggering her issues with any touching right now, and the black magic had led the way and had her setting half the cafeteria on fire. Fortunately, Ore had been right there and he’d put it out in mere seconds and got her clear too.

Bronson had let the incident go with a warning because of who Alena was and with what she’d been through. But she wouldn’t stand for much more of it, because she’d consider it a safety issue for the students and faculty as a whole.

It was a good thing that the other two incidents that had occurred hadn’t been public like the cafeteria one. I hadn’t even seen them, only Ore had.

One had involved her smashing every mirror and reflective surface in her chambers with a sudden, enraged burst of magic. Ore had been there again to limit the damage to just those and calm her before it had escalated any further.

The second had occurred when Ore had taken her flying. She’d suffered a flashback to her time with Constantine and she’d lost control, crashing into several trees and downing them. It had enraged her and she’d caused a storm to descend, along with flash lightning. Fortunately, Ore had been able to pull back the storm and then he’d had three of the best Light Fae students here restore the trees to their former glory covertly while he’d held up an illusion. At least the storm aspect could just about be passed off as a freak weather phenomenon.

She was bottling a lot of shit up, not processing what had happened to her, but trying to force it down instead and it kept coming out in these blow ups that were then fueled by the black magic running through her veins.

The three of us were hoping to start remedying that tonight.

We’d noticed that she got worse when she was cooped up inside for too long. We’d figured she was maybe seeing it as a cage remnant of her time in captivity.

Lockdown protocol was still in effect, which not only meant no coming and going through the ward, but also a curfew to stay inside the Academy buildings, namely our chambers, after a certain hour—usually sunset.

But tonight we were breaking that curfew and trying something for Alena.

Ore was gonna put up an illusion as usual and also cloak all four of us.

I couldn’t wait.

I hated things the way they were.

I hated that she was in so much pain and definitely not herself.

We’d been reunited, yeah, but it just didn’t feel like it.

My phone buzzed in the back pocket of my pants. I swiped it open and read the message that had come in.

Xavier: You have the ingredients for the s’mores?

Talon: In my chambers. Got them between classes this afternoon. Heading there now. You?

Xavier: Got the hot chocolate. Ore is at the venue sorting the liquor out and setting things up. Heading over there now to assist. Why aren’t you already out there too? You were supposed to be ahead of me. Everything all right?

Talon: All good. Stopped off at the cafeteria. Had them set aside two crumbles for Ore. One apple, one rhubarb. Just picked them up now.

Xavier: That’s really sweet of you.

Talon: You know how he loves his crumbles. Figured he could use some perking up after the craziness of these last couple of weeks.

Xavier: Absolutely. He’s gonna love it, firebird.

I really hoped so.

Talon: See you in five.

I passed through Ore’s illusion and took in the replica of our first date together as a foursome.

The one with the fire and s’mores, the snow, the ice sculptures, the whole nine.

We were hoping it would bring back fond memories for Alena.

Xavier was finishing up with making the drinks, but Ore was on the phone, pacing and looking tense.

“Motherfuck,” he uttered, when he finally ended the call and shoved his phone into his blazer pocket.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, reaching him.

“I heard you mention Abigail’s name,” Xavier said, coming over to us.

“It was her, yes,” Ore confirmed. “She was calling to let me know that Exemplar managed to capture Cornwell.”

“Shouldn’t that be a good thing?” X asked.

“Yeah, that shithead deserves to spend the rest of his twisted life behind bars,” I ground out.

“It’s good that he’s been apprehended, but he was able to complete his mission before they got their hands on him. He took great satisfaction in telling them that he was steps ahead of them.”

“And?” I asked. “What was it?”

“We don’t know. He wouldn’t say. All we know is that he and a team of Constantine’s acolytes have murdered six retired Exemplar members.”

“Hell,” Xavier breathed. “To what end?”

Ore shook his head. “The information that they would have been privy to as members, means it could be anything. Abigail just contacted me to request the transfer of Cornwell to the Dark Fae Realm for interrogation. It will be getting underway in a few moments.”

“Wow, she’s really up for pushing the boundaries of her own laws now, huh?” I commented.

“Extreme circumstances being what they are, she’s finally realized the necessity,” Ore said. “Either way, I wanted to keep you updated, but let’s not bring Alena in on it yet. She has enough to deal with.”

“And we don’t want news of that shithead triggering her.”

“I hate to say it, but for once I agree with keeping this secret,” X spoke.

“Good,” Ore said. “Now, we focus on tonight. Giving her some comfort and some happiness.” His eyes went to the food boxes I was carrying, along with the bag of the s’mores stuff. “What’s in those?”

I handed the bag to Xavier who started taking the stuff out and readying it, then I opened the boxes for Ore to see.

It was the best feeling when his eyes lit up.

“Fuck, you’re the sweetest, baby bird,” he said, leaning in and kissing my cheek. “I love you for this.”

“I love you too, brother.”

I kissed him back, then went to Xavier and he took them and positioned them on the tables the way he wanted, all antsy about things going in the perfect place.

He was as nervous about tonight as we all were, worried about Alena’s reaction to everything lately.

We just didn’t know what would set her off, or what she needed to help make her feel better, because she wasn’t talking about anything. Just a few murmurs and smiles and nods, and shakes of her head were all we were getting from her. It would be fine if that was what she needed, or if she’d told us she needed space from us all, or something. But she hadn’t. And the way she was handling things just wasn’t working, and it seemed to be making her worse.

Hopefully, tonight could begin to alter that.

Footsteps sounded, coming in heavy and hot.

And then I heard Alena’s voice.

She did not sound happy.

“Orpheus! What is the meaning of this? I was fine under the supervision of half your army, while I was sitting in the quad reading. I didn’t need you to summon me here! Yeah, I know those were eyes you had on me!”

She rounded the corner and stepped through his illusion.

And her breath caught in her throat.

That anger that had been coming off her died a quick death and she actually smiled, her eyes wide with surprise at the same time.

“Wow, this is… I didn’t expect this.”

Orpheus stepped forward. “You were upset I left you with others, huh?”

“What? No. That’s not what I said.”

“It’s what you meant. I know you smashed that table in the quad with your angelic strength after you got my text message saying that I couldn’t make it out there to you.”

A sheepish expression played on her face. “I fixed it with my magic.”

“And that’s why I let it go. And why I was able to finish this surprise out here with the boys.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to be sorry. Just talk to me. If that’s what you’re feeling, let me know. We could have avoided the smashed table and your upset.”

“I know, I just… I can’t… if I voice it… if I get into my feelings, all the rest might come out.”

“And if it does, we’ll be here.”

“I don’t want it to come out!” she yelled in another outburst because of the black magic sickness. “I don’t want it to be real!”

“But it was. It was, Alena. And the more you try to shove it down and pretend it wasn’t, the more it’s going to hurt when you are triggered.” He stepped forward. “We’re not going to force you to talk about it, because that’s absolutely your choice, but you do need to try to start processing it. With that black magic running through your veins, it’s unfortunately playing on unresolved pain and—”

“I think I do want to talk about it.”

“You do?”

“I mean, you’re right, with the black magic, it’s… it’s impacting my impulse control and it’s using what happened as fuel.” She clutched at her head. “There’s so much pressure inside. Something needs to give. I need to release it somehow, in some way, and I think talking about it might be it.” She looked out at the three of us. “But I don’t want to bring out the demon in Xavier, the fiery phoenix temper in Talon, or the Dark Prince side of you when I get into what happened what he… what he did to me.”

“You won’t. We’ll remain calm, I swear it to you.” He glared out at me and Xavier as he uttered pointedly, “It’s the least we can do.”

I nodded and assured her. “Yeah, we’ve got it locked down.”

“The demon’s not coming out, beautiful,” Xavier promised her.

She dropped her hands from her head and drew in a steadying breath. “Okay. Then, we’ll do this.”

Xavier burst in front of her and handed her the drink he’d made for her. “Snickertini. Spelled. It’ll take some of the edge off, help you relax.”

“Thank you,” she said, taking it from him, and he was very careful to make sure their fingers didn’t brush and shock her or set her off.

“Come, let’s sit down and get comfortable first,” I said, gesturing at the comfy chairs positioned around the fire pit. “And make some s’mores, of course.”

“Some of my favorites,” she said, actually smiling and brightening a little.

I smiled back at her, so happy we’d managed to get that from her. “Exactly.”

“We’re going to spend the night out here,” Orpheus told her.

He pointed at the sleeping bags set out under the stars.

She took them in and beamed out at us. “You even built me a pillow wall.”

“You won’t be alone, but we also won’t be crowding you,” Xavier said.

“And you won’t be cooped up inside,” I added.

“I love it. So much. Thank you.”

With that, we all settled and got the s’mores underway.

As we got closer to her telling us what had happened to her, I felt myself tensing.

A part of me didn’t want to know, because I knew I’d never be able to forget it.

Just like being shown my parents’ murder.

But I’d needed to see that, despite how much it had hurt.

And Alena needed to tell us about this now.

It was how we could be there for her, hopefully comfort her too.

I could keep my anger at bay for her, because she needed it.

Because she was trusting us.

And that was worth everything.