13. ~Talon~

13

~Talon~

I’d been sick for the last few days.

That was what I’d told the dean and my professors, so I’d been able to do my work bed-ridden.

Well, I couldn’t actually get sick, but I’d told them that I’d overdone it flying and hurt my wing with my own phoenix fire by mistake in a freak accident.

That had actually happened a few times—injuring myself with my own fire—when I’d first come here barely knowing how to control my powers because they’d developed so late when I was seventeen. I’d only been able to produce sparks before that. And when my parents had died, it had blasted open something within me and I’d come into my full abilities when I hadn’t been ready at all. It had definitely been a struggle.

So they’d bought it.

Really, of course, I’d just needed time to process what I’d found out.

What I’d seen.

It had been bad enough when I’d imagined my parents’ deaths, but actually witnessing them dying through Alena’s memories… it had been something else altogether.

It had kept me awake at night.

It had come at me during my waking hours too.

I knew it would for a long time to come, but over the last few days I had managed to get a bit of a handle on it, to exert some semblance of control.

It had been brutal learning of the truth like that, but I got why Ore had chosen to go that route with me. I wouldn’t have believed it otherwise, even coming from him.

As the class ended, I took my time putting my stuff into my black leather bag, as the students started to head out. It was my last class of the day and I might’ve done a little recon to determine that it was the same for a certain Nephilim too.

It meant there was no rush for either of us.

No more students looking to come in here.

And best of all, no more faculty.

Seeing as though I was supposed to stay far away from Alena, that was a necessity right about now. Although, they had waived it when it came to sharing the same classes as her.

I watched the little angel , as Orpheus called her—in a strangely affectionate way for him—as she dropped her books while class was clearing out, and hastened to pick them up and shove them into her multicolored messenger bag.

Perfect.

As soon as the professor of Foundations of Spellcasting left, I went to the door and locked it.

She spun at the sound, holding her bag tight to her, her mesmerizing eyes searching mine, clearly worried and wondering what the fuck I was playing at.

Normally, Xavier would be in this class alongside us, but he’d been invited to one of the advanced classes that Orpheus was also a part of, Magic in Combat , because of the way his power had stabilized lately.

Because he’d ingested Alena’s angelic blood.

She would be well on her way to that soon too. I’d been watching her today and her magic usage had been a world away from her first shaky tries I’d witnessed previously. Not to mention, she’d also come at me with a fucking storm and actual magically-generated lightning. That had been no small feat, but the Academy didn’t know about that.

Soon it would just be me stuck in this basic class.

Because of my volatility.

For a phoenix it was an expected struggle and apparently it lasted for years before I’d finally just stabilize. Well, not just , it would take a concerted and continual effort.

Things just… I felt like… like they just couldn’t be easy for me.

There was just so much pain and struggle.

And it made me fucking rage.

It was either that or break down and cry like a little bitch.

Not likely.

I wasn’t weak.

Just tormented.

In too many ways.

As for now, I’d finally been allowed back in this class even though she was in it. I didn’t know how the hell because they’d been adamant about pulling me. The same went for all my other classes. I was under probation but it didn’t matter. I was just relieved that I was back in and that it wouldn’t impact my graduation date anymore or push me back so much.

It must’ve been Orpheus helping me out again, convincing the dean and the faculty to let me back in.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Alena demanded, pulling me back to the immediate moment.

“You’re a real firecracker, aren’t you, babe? Coming from a phoenix, that’s a major compliment, for the record.”

She folded her arms across her chest, her messenger bag dangling in front of her. “So you’re complimenting me? What does that mean to you?”

“It means, I was wrong.” I shifted my weight, unable to hide my unease at having to own up to such a big mistake, at enacting injustice when I’d really believed it had been the opposite. “About you.”

“Yeah, you were,” she retorted, clearly having no intention of making it easy for me.

I had to respect her for that. Why should she after what I’d done?

It just further proved my firecracker nickname for her was warranted.

She really was something.

Shit, I’d found that out in a major way when she’d ripped me out of the sky that night.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for coming at you. I’m sorry for blaming you. I’m sorry for it all.”

She stared at me for several moments, likely trying to weigh up whether I was telling the truth, or if this was some strategy to ease her into a false sense of security.

“That’s a good start,” she finally said.

“Yeah?”

“Yes.” She sighed and then softened a little, telling me, “I know what it’s like to lose one parent, so I can’t even imagine how horrific it was to lose both for you.”

“Thank you,” I responded past the lump in my throat as she brought that up.

“But it can’t excuse everything. Not what you do now, not how you treat people, and not how you treat yourself. There needs to come a point where you don’t continue to fall back on all that pain and grief, where you continue on in life as the one left behind, and actually start to embrace it.”

I stared at her in awe for several moments.

“If there’s anything that all this shit has taught me, the way I reacted and treated you since you enrolled here, it’s that I do need to move forward and let it go.”

“Let the pain go, but not their memories.”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling. “Exactly.”

She smiled back at me, but it was only for a moment, before she told me, “I’m gonna head out.”

As she went to brush past me, I stepped into her path.

“Wait.”

She raised an eyebrow and tensed.

I quickly held up my hand, trying to indicate that I meant her no harm.

I wasn’t surprised she’d jumped to that right off the bat, though. It was instinctive at this point, at least for now still. We’d only just formed a truce, it would take time to get used to that on both sides.

“I just wanted to say thank you.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

“For trying to save them… for trying to save my parents.”

“I didn’t, though. I failed.”

“Because of that motherfucker, Constantine. Not through anything you did or didn’t do. The fact that you tried and the risk you took doing so means a fuck of a lot.”

“I don’t like anyone suffering. I did what anyone would have done.”

“I get that about you, but, believe me, not just anyone would’ve risked themselves like that for others. It takes a special kind of being to react in that way.”

She nodded. “I appreciate you saying that.”

I smiled, bittersweet.

“I’ll see you around?” I asked.

“We’re on the same campus, in a lot of the same classes, it’s a pretty surefire thing.”

I hadn’t meant it that way, but I also didn’t have the right to ask for anything else beyond her starting to forgive me and accept my truce.

At least, not yet.

Just as she went to brush past me, the door flew open with a blast of that familiar shimmering purple magic, and then Orpheus stood at the threshold.

He looked between us, studying the situation quickly.

“Everything seems copacetic here.”

“It is,” I confirmed. “We’re good.”

“We’re on our way to being good,” Alena corrected.

Yeah, that was more accurate.

“Very nice,” Orpheus said. He looked at me. “I need a word with Alena, if you don’t mind.”

I’d said what I’d needed to say, conveyed what I’d intended to. “Yeah. Sure.”

We slap-shook as I passed on by, and then I headed on out of the room.

I heard it shut a moment later.

I intended to head back to my chambers, but something stopped me and pulled me up short.

Curiosity, maybe?

Something more?

I didn’t know.

I couldn’t define it.

It just was.

So, I stayed and peered through the window in the door and took in what was going down inside.

They were standing opposite one another, Orpheus leaning against one of the desks with his arms folded across his chest, putting out mixed signals of both a commanding presence and some real defensiveness.

“I haven’t heard from you since that night we came together and then were rudely interrupted in my illusion at the edge of campus.”

She lifted her shoulder, trying to act like it was no big deal, like she felt all casual about it. But I could clearly see her tensing up. She was fiddling with her bag too, hardly able to keep her eyes on him.

She wanted him all right. Big time. She was having a really hard time trying to hold back where that was concerned.

“I was giving you guys the space I said that I would after what happened with Talon, how pained he was.”

“Space, hmm? Yeah, that’s what I thought you were doing too. Until I found out you’d been spending time with Xavier.”

“He told you?”

“No.”

“Oh, right, as head of Obsidian you have your freaking spies everywhere.”

“Something like that.”

“Well, hanging with Xavier was just recent.”

“After the space thing?”

“Pretty much.”

“Then you and I can—”

“I actually have a lot of coursework to get done and I need to finish my healing spell.”

“Bullshit.”

“Bullshit that my workload is heavy? I think not.”

“Bullshit that it’s the reason you don’t want to spend time with me.”

She blew out a breath. “Do you have to be argumentative about everything?”

“Do you?”

“Urgh.” She threw her hands up in the air. “Look, being with you that night was intense. Good and bad. The bad part was that it was all-consuming. I need to get a handle on it.”

He stepped up to her, really close. “It’s okay to want someone more than you can explain, a want and a need that goes beyond understanding and reason. If only you’d lose the fear and let yourself experience the invigorating freedom of it.”

She pulled away as he went to reach out to touch her hair.

A growl escaped him. “I made you mine that night. Claimed you.”

“Well, if we’re getting technical, it happened in a dream state and—”

“Don’t downplay it.”

“And you stop expecting so much.”

“Why shouldn’t I? The connection between us is miraculous.”

“But also dangerous.”

“Dangerous how? Because you think I’m gonna pull you into the dark? I thought we already went over this? Strength of will? Your choice? Do you recall any of that?”

“It’s dangerous because I wanted to lose myself to it, to you!” she yelled, her composure cracking finally.

She’d honestly held up well against him even lasting that long. It didn’t normally happen. People pretty much cracked right away.

No wonder he was so enamored with her.

Well, obsessed was a much more accurate word for it.

And it seemed to only be getting worse.

That didn’t bode well for anyone.

You didn’t want Orpheus Hart losing it in any fucking way.

There were very few things more dangerous than that.

“Alena,” he said, moving closer to her again, trying to snuff out the distance between them—in more ways than one.

“Fine. You want more, you want to get closer?”

“I do.”

“More than just physically?”

“Do you really think I’d go to all this trouble, actually pursue you, just for a couple of fucks?”

“Then prove it. Give me something. Tell me why you hated me, why you hated my mom. The whole story.”

“I don’t want to bring that into what we’re doing here.”

“Yet, we can’t do anything more, take things further, until that crucial part of things is laid out on the table.”

“I’ve seen past it, how about you work to do the same?”

“You’re a rational man—normally. For you to have gotten so worked up and actually targeted me because of it, it must’ve been something major. That can’t stay between us unspoken.”

“You don’t think you can trust me if you don’t know, if I don’t put it out there?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Come on, little angel.”

“You’re enamored right now, but when this connection is no longer new, it’s quite plausible that this issue between us could revitalize and cause a shitstorm—again.”

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his blazer and I saw a war taking place for him, as he clearly considered it.

But as time passed and he still didn’t say anything, Alena shook her head with disappointment and what also appeared to be some upset, then strode to the door.

I backed away and hid in an alcove a few feet down.

I heard her footsteps in the hallway.

A flash of gold signified that she’d teleported away a moment later.

“Motherfuck,” I heard Orpheus grinding out to himself as he followed her out, just too late.

I rested my head back against the wall as he took off, not using teleportation, but storming the other way down the corridor instead.

A lot had happened and developed there that I hadn’t been aware of because of the haze of rage that I’d been caught up in for too long, basically ever since she’d shown up here at Electi Academy.

I couldn’t quite believe it, but he’d actually been working really hard to reason with her and to meet her on her level. Something he never usually did.

He sincerely cared about her.

Even though she obviously didn’t see that yet, or get how deep it had to be for him to act in such a way, it was clear as fucking day to me.

It was also clear that he was hurting because she’d basically blown him off.

My actions hadn’t helped with any of it.

If I’d just listened to him sooner, a lot could have been avoided—or at least majorly tampered down.

But it wasn’t what I did and I honestly sucked at it.

I reacted off emotion first and figured the rest out later.

The opposite of Ore’s approach.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.

I needed to fix this.

He’d helped me so many times, it was the least I could do.