“I don’t mean that. You call for me, Syn, and I will be at your side no matter what,” he softly explains, gently placing his hands on my upper arms. “I am sorry for the inexcusable absence. My daughter found herself in trouble, and Queen Evie’s children were almost hurt in a series of assassination attempts.”
“Seems my boss is hellbent on finishing my failed job,” I mutter. He is an idiot. If I couldn’t kill Evie, then no one in his employment has a shot.
“I will find your old boss and destroy him.” He smiles, and it’s pretty scary to see the look of sheer joy at the thought of killing on his face. “If my brother and his mate don’t rip him to pieces first.”
“Good luck,” I say, actually meaning it. “Now I need to get to training.”
“I will walk with you,” Seth says and steps to my side. “How has it been here?”
“Brutal but enlightening,” I answer. “I’ve made some interesting friends.”
“They must be special for you to consider them interesting,” he replies, looking down at me. His eyes glow for a brief second. “Should I be jealous?”
“If you had a claim over me, perhaps,” I reply as we get to the edge of the clearing. Everyone, including Finn, Ryker and Seb look our way as Seth pulls me into his arms and kisses me. The kiss is passionate and filled with a possessive claim I’m powerless to deny. When he breaks the kiss, I’m a little breathless.
“I’ve still not forgiven you for leaving,” I tell him.
He brushes his lips against mine one more time. “I will always come back, Syn. Always.”
Seth lets me go and, without a goodbye, portals himself away in flames. If that overlord wasn’t so fucking sexy, I might actually be able to keep my brain turned on when he is around. Not just the rest of my body.
“You are late,” Finn growls at me as I walk to the group, and I don’t bother replying to his grouchy mood. I damn well know what caused it this time. Ryker and Seb are nowhere to be seen as I stop by Poppy.
She lowers her voice. “Ryker was pretty mad and stormed off. Sebastian went after him. Maybe don’t kiss other guys in front of guys who have crushes on you.”
“I will take your advice into careful consideration,” I reply, and she chuckles.
“No, you won’t,” she replies.
“See, you know me so well,” I counter with a smile just for her. Finn walks in front of all of us with his hands behind his back and stops, staring right ahead. I run my eyes over his wide shoulders, the way his tight white shirt fits him to perfection and his tight black trousers don’t hide much, that’s for sure. Gods...why couldn’t you make him ugly and less fuckable?
That would make it so much easier to be annoyed at him and not stare like a lovesick puppy.
“Today we have a special class.” He waves a hand, and fifteen or more urns appear on the floor in the clearing. With another click of his hand, a silver scythe appears out of the shadows in his hand. “Communing with the dead through the spirits is an essential part of being a reaper. Each of you will call a link to the spirit realm through a spirit and ask their permission to speak with the soul inside the urn. You won’t see the spirit or hear them, that is impossible, but that is part of being a reaper. Trusting the unseen and unknown in the darkness. The soul knows one word, and you must get the word from them to pass. Everyone who fails this test will not leave this clearing.”
“I’ve never done this,” I admit to Poppy.
She shrugs her shoulders. “Me neither. I’ve heard it’s easy to call a spirit but harder to actually speak to a soul through them. My dad told me he has done it several times.”
“First time for everything,” I mutter just before Finn raises his hand and we all go silent.
“Poppy, Daesyn, Catherine and Elliot, come forward and stand behind one of the urns of your choice,” he instructs, never once looking my way. He hasn’t so much as glanced at me since I asked him to leave after that kiss.
Though I’m not surprised. He looks like someone that always, always follows the rules. I choose a blue urn at the back of the rows, and Poppy picks a silver one three away from me. Catherine and Elliot, a boy I didn’t actually remember the name of until now, choose urns from the front. Finn walks to Elliot first and hands him the scythe, then makes another appear in his other hand, which he gives to Catherine. After handing one to Poppy, he comes to me and offers me a silver scythe, finally meeting my eyes.
“You are to call the earth spirit,” he instructs. I nod, feeling the pressure of his gaze and not wanting to say a word as I take the scythe. I immediately feel the magic inside the weapon, and it’s like drinking four espressos in one hour—which I might have done once. The little girl from the roof of the castle comes to mind, and how she told me the spirits weren’t happy with me. Shit, I hope they have gotten over it by now. Watching the others, they place their scythes on top of the urns and wrap their hands around the blade, literally cutting their skin.
I copy their movement, flinching as I tighten my hands around the scythe and close my eyes, feeling my hot blood dripping through my fingers.
“I call the earth spirit to me. Let me see this soul...please?”
The second I mutter the word please, the ground violently shakes at my feet, knocking the urn over and smashing it to pieces. Wind shapes itself into a tornado around me, and suddenly a cloud appears above us, and heavy rain falls down. I fall to my knees, the pressure of the lack of air, mixed in with the earthquake making it impossible to stand. Flames burst out of the ground in spinning cyclones that quickly add themselves to the tornado, turning the air into a mixture of fire. I cry out as several flames touch my skin, embers flickering at me from every direction.
All four of the spirits are here...but why? I didn’t call them.
“We waitttted for youuuu,” a voice screams into my head. I grab my head and cry out from the invasion, the pain of every single word the voice says. “Give it back to ussssss!”
“What?” I scream out, sobs leaving my lips. I grit my teeth and look up, my soaking wet hair and clothes sticking to my body, but I don’t feel cold. I feel like I’m burning, and it hurts. Fuck, it hurts.
“The runeeeeee,” the voice replies, screaming in my head once more, each word like a dagger to my head. Suddenly I see a shadow of a man walking through the tornado, the magic attacking him every second. I start gasping for air, finding there isn’t enough of it around me, and I fall to my side, wondering if this is really the end for me. Death by spirits who think I have some rune of theirs.
I hope that’s not on my tombstone.
“Daesyn!” Finn roars, and I painfully lift my head to see him breaking his way through the storm, nearly getting to the middle. His magic is powerful, a mixture of light, dark and shadow magic, which pulsates out of his body, pushing back the spirits. He still looks like he is struggling even as he breaks through the tornado and runs to the middle, grabbing the scythe. He slams it down on the ground, and instantly the spirits scream in my head, making it impossible to fight the oncoming darkness that wipes me out.
Chapter 28
Torfinn
I pace outside of her room, wearing down the wooden floor with every step I take. Seeing Daesyn fighting the spirits, all four of them at the same time, is not something you see every day. Daesyn with her soaking wet black hair, big purple eyes and looking helpless on the ground as magic that is extremely powerful pounded down on her. I’ve never heard of spirits hurting someone. Not ever.
But that’s not what is the most fucked up thing.
It’s fucked up that I almost lost her and, in the same breath, I realised I don’t want that. I can’t let that happen.
I’m addicted to the mortal woman, and every day, it seems to get worse, so I broke the rules of this academy and stepped in to save her. I’m sure I’m going to pay for it later.
