by Emily L K
“Look what I have for tonight,” Quart whispered in her ear, drawing her attention back to him. His arm around her was warm and his breath tickled her skin, making her shiver. She looked down to see that he held a handful of strange dried fungi.
“What are they?” She asked.
“Grybas!” Kristiyn, a third year girl, interjected from Quart’s other side. “You better be planning to share!”
Quart grinning boyishly and lifted his hand above the table. The others exclaimed in delight and each took a lump of the brown, wrinkled plant as he offered them around.
When Cori had hers in hand she asked; “What do they do?”
“Ho! They’ll give you the best night of your life!” Adriyn called across the table to her before popping his own grybas in his mouth. Cori watched each of the others eat their plant then, with a shrug, she ate her own. It was bitter and rubbery in her mouth. She half chewed it then swallowed, feeling the disgusting lump travelling down her throat.
It was a while before she felt any of the effects of the grybas. When she did, they hit her like a smack across the face. Or a breeze flowing through her hair. She wasn’t sure. She didn’t care. When she turned her head her vision was slow to follow and when she tried to focus, instead of being still, the objects would circle before her, colourful and multiplied.
She caught sight of Quart and he glowed golden like a Dijem’s eyes. Like Rowan’s eyes. For a second, worry for Rowan broke through her rainbow haze, but then Quart put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her.
It was a slow kiss, taking eons of time, and all Cori could feel were the places he touched her, burning like a flame under his lips and fingers. He traced a trail of fire across her jaw, down her arm and up her thigh to the hem of her dress.
“Let’s go find somewhere more private.” Quart’s voice was husky with lust but it took her a moment to catch his meaning. When she did, she stood, swaying on her feet, and pulled him up with her.
“I know somewhere we can go.”
Chapter Fourteen
Cori was coming down from her high.
The first thing she noticed was the throbbing headache that was creeping in to replace the vivid colours and apparitions in her mind. Her Hum, still erratic despite her training, now felt oddly muted.
The next thing that became apparent was the aching of her body. It was a good ache, one infused with a sense of warmth and fulfilment.
She tilted her head to the side and watched Quart who lay naked beside her. He was staring up at the flame tree above them, fixated the dawn light that was filtering through the red blossoms.
“I love you,” she told him.
“Mmhhmm,” was his response. Cori felt a pang of disappointment, but it passed quickly. He was still high and probably didn’t understand what she’d said. She rolled onto her side, fitting her body against his. She closed her eyes and tried to will away her throbbing headache.
She was beginning to doze off when Quart shifted beside her. She lifted her head to look at him and he smiled at her. He ran a finger across her cheek and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“We should go, before someone sees us.”
Reluctantly they got up and gathered their hastily discarded clothes. When they were dressed Quart paused to kiss her; a lingering kiss, his hand cupped behind her head. “I love you too,” he whispered. Cori flushed with pleasure. So he had heard her. She kissed him once more, her fingers curling in his hair, and then they parted ways; Quart heading for the sleeping quarters and Cori back to the palace.
The other three girls were still sleeping when Cori crept into their dormitory. As quietly as possible, she changed into her nightgown and fell into bed. She was almost asleep when she realised something was missing.
She couldn’t hear Rowan’s Hum.
He often withdrew from her on seventh day, aware of how her own Hum fed her alcohol induced headaches, but he always left a tendril of his connected to hers. Now, she couldn’t hear it at all.
She probed towards it but found nothing. Perhaps it was just the after effects of the grybas that was blocking her senses. She’d think about it later, she decided as she rolled over, burrowed into her pillow, and fell asleep.
THE FOLLOWING MORNING she entered the Karalis’ suite with an air of caution. They hadn‘t parted well the last time they’d been together, and she was unsure of the reception she’d find. On top of that, she was still unable to hear his Hum, and it worried her that the grybas may have damaged her magic.
He wasn’t there - to Cori’s disappointment - and the brief note he left her simply said, study for exams.
Even the note seemed angry at her. She felt hot tears prick the corners of her eyes and she let them fall. Was this the end of their friendship? She didn’t want it to be over. She needed him, not just to teach her magic but because of the companionship that had grown between them. Always, he had accepted her for who she was and not what society had dictated for her. Not even her mother’s love was that unbiased. She shouldn’t have pushed him the way she had. She sat down on one of the plush lounge chairs, dropped her face to her hands and sobbed.
Rowan wasn’t there the following day either. In fact, he wasn’t there any day that week. Even when she snuck into his rooms on seventh day they were empty. His Hum also remained absent and she was beginning to suspect he was blocking her out. Having been connected to him mind-to-mind for so long, Cori felt the lost keenly, as if a part of her soul had been taken away.
The worst part of the whole thing was that she knew he was fine, and that he was in residence, because the other pages continued to attend duties with him. It was just her he was avoiding.
The situation upset her more than she cared to admit. She tried to throw herself into her studies but the absence of his Hum drove her to distraction and she often found herself sitting at her desk seeking him through the nothingness of the universe. Once, she thought she felt him, but when she caught onto the other mind, she found a weird and alien sensation. She let it go before it could sense her and she sought more carefully after that.
She didn’t go to the tavern that sixth day and Antoni didn’t seem inclined to push her to come. So she lay in bed in the dark room, searching desperately with her mind until she fell into a troubled sleep. The seeking had exhausted her and the dragon dream was bad that night.
The following week arrived with exams in full swing. Cori attended them and thought she did well enough due to the extra tutoring she’d done with Rowan. She saw Quart briefly on the exam days, but she brushed off his unsubtle hints that they should meet under the flame tree again. Instead, her mind was on the results day. She would see Rowan there and she intended to confront him, room full of people or not.
SHE COULD SEE HIM ON his throne above the heads of the third and fourth-year students. His face was its usual mask of nonchalance but instead of staring out into the garden, he was looking down at a student before him. Beside him the Advisor was speaking.
“Antoni of Shaw, you have shown exceptional dedication to both your studies and to the House of Auksas. It is my pleasure, and with the blessing of the Karalis, that I name you my apprentice and eventual successor to the position of Advisor.”
Cheers erupted from the other students and beside her Quart clapped loudly. Cori belatedly joined in. At the front of the room a grin broke across Antoni’s normally stoic face and she turned to hug her friends that were close by.
Slowly the results were read out for the fourth-year students and then the third-year students. Finally, Cori and her peers stood before the dais and the Advisor began to read their results.
Cori watched Rowan as his eyes swept along the line of students. His hair was tied back, but it was unbrushed and his skin was pale. He looked tired. His gaze passed over her as vacantly they did every other person and she dropped her eyes to her feet as rejection flooded through her once more.
“Are you all right?” Quart asked her gently, his hand brushed against hers.
The gesture gave her the resolve to bury her emotions.
“I’m just feeling a little unwell,” she whispered back. He caught her fingers and gave them a reassuring squeeze before turning back to the proceedings. Cori glanced up at Rowan again and was startled to find him watching their exchange. Cori tried to meet his eyes but they flicked away towards the garden.
“Quart of the Nomad Isles, pass. Cori Cook, pass with exceptional results. Rosie of Hale, pass.” The Advisor’s voice swept over them and Cori sighed in relief at her results; at least her marks had been high enough to keep paging. He finished the list then said to the Karalis, “do you take any of these students for your own?”
The Karalis gave a single shake of his head and the Advisor rolled his parchment up further to the next section. He smirked as he read it.
“The pages selected this year for both their results and diligence are Olivia of Hale and Damiyn of Hearth.”
Cori was stunned. She’d lost her page position. Vaguely she was aware of the other students gawking at her. Olivia was smug but most of them seemed as shocked as she felt. It was a common rumour that she was the Karalis’ favourite and they had naturally expected her to be re-selected for the position.
She tried to school her expression under her peer’s scrutiny, but tears threatened to overwhelm her. The first few spilled over and ran hot tracks down her cheeks. Rowan had pushed her out completely. She so distraught that at first she didn’t feel his presence at the edge of her mind. When she did become aware of him - that familiar, warm thread that connected them - she launched on it like a lifeline.
Come to my rooms this evening, he told her. There was no emotion to his words. He withdrew from her but his Hum remained unblocked and he left their connection intact. Cori held onto it as a child grasps its mother’s hand. She knew the ludicrously of it; he had avoided her for weeks and now he had just publicly rejected her, and yet she clung to him as if he were the only person in the world. She needed him like her body needed air.
When the Advisor dismissed them, Cori reluctantly left the room. She wanted to talk to Rowan now, but she couldn’t in front of the others.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Quart asked awkwardly once they were in the hallway. He took her hand, lifting her fingers to his lips.
“Not really,” Cori admitted, pulling her hand away. For once she didn’t want to be around Quart, but she needed something to pass the time until she could go to the Karalis’ Suites “but why don’t we go and get a coffee. I’m sure Antoni would love our congratulations.”
So Cori spent the rest of the afternoon with her friends drinking coffee in the gardens. She didn’t feel like talking but when someone directed a question at her she would plaster a smile on her face and answer in a cheery tone. Finally, just before dark, she excused herself.
“Are you sure you won’t come to the ball tonight?” Antoni called out as Cori was walking away. Their friendship seemed to be renewed now that Cori was not a threat to Antoni’s position anymore.
“No, I told my mother and sister I would help out tonight. But I hope you all have fun!”
Quart walked a little of the way with her then kissed her goodbye. “I’m leaving early tomorrow to go back to the Nomad Isles so I probably won’t see you until after the break.” He kissed her again and then took her in his arms for a hug. “I’m sorry you lost the page position,” he whispered in her ear. “I know it meant a lot to you.”
Cori swallowed the lump of emotion that formed in the throat at his words, but he didn’t stay. He gave her one last kiss then turned back to their friends. Cori watched him until he was out of sight then hurried back to the palace.
She was almost running by the time she reached the Karalis’ suite. She checked her stride as she approached the guards and they let her through unchallenged. Rowan was not in his receiving room or study, and for a moment she thought he was avoiding her again, but she felt a touch on her Hum and she followed it to the gardens.
A wind blew across the ocean and over the cliffs. It lifted the hair from her neck and filled her lungs with salty breath. In the twilight, Cori made out Rowan’s lean figure at the edge of the precipice. She moved towards him until she stood a few feet away. He turned his head and smiled at her, but he didn’t retreat from the cliff’s edge.
“Can you hear that?” His words were borne away on the wind but Cori knew he was not referring to any physical sound around them. She took a step closer and closed her eyes, throwing her Hum into the nothingness. She sensed Rowan immediately. His own Hum danced on the wind, tainted with wild excitement.
Then the other presence was on them. Feral and reptilian... And familiar. Cori backed away from it but Rowan surged around it, tantalising and luring.
Daiyu, Daiyu where are you? He teased the immense mind, dancing away from it even as it growled at him. Instead of chasing him, though, it turned its focus on Cori.
Human, it acknowledged her fiercely and then it took form. A black head, scaled and gleaming, with golden glowing eyes loomed in her mind. Cori was sure her heart paused. Her brain told her to flee, to run away from this lunacy. But her physical self was far away and the Hum that swirled around them and through them was so very alluring.
Daiyu, Daiyu, Cori whispered, moving away in one lithe movement. Daiyu’s lips curled up in a snarl and her eyes whirled with rage.
They moved about the great creature, weaving and dancing until Cori couldn’t tell where she and Rowan began and the dragon finished. They wove the Dragon’s Song and Daiyu writhed about in confusion.
Then she roared her fury, breaking the spell and snapping out at Cori with her immense, curved fangs. She missed her face by inches.
Cori retreated, slamming back into her own body with a gasp. She opened her eyes to the dark ocean surging angrily below. The wind swirled around them and for a frightening moment they teetered on the edge of the cliff. The exhilaration of dancing with Daiyu stayed Cori’s fear. She wanted to tilt forward, to see how far she could go before she tipped over the edge. Rowan caught her arm and took a solid step back, pulling her with him.
Cori drew a shuddering breath. She wanted to scream at him, demand that he tell her everything. She wanted to hit him.
Instead she laughed. She bent double and she laughed until she her gasps got stuck in her throat and her sides ached. And Rowan laughed with her.
“Are you trying to get us killed?” She demanded when she could draw breath enough to speak. Rowan snorted and they both dissolved into renewed hysterics. He was mad, completely out of his mind, but Cori had felt the exhilaration of taunting the dragon. Was she mad too?
Their laughter ceased when Rowan closed the space between them and took her in his arms. They were strong and warm and she felt immediately safe, though she couldn’t remember what she’d been afraid of to begin with.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered against his chest, and she meant it for everything.
“Me too.”
They stood for a time like this, seeking each other’s comfort as much as they gave it, but finally Cori withdrew. She had questions.
“How did you find Daiyu? Does it mean she is close, if we can speak to her?”
“Not necessarily,” Rowan lifted his hand to run his fingers through his windswept hair. “Dragon Hums are much stronger than ours and can carry over great distances. But she’s coming closer. I think she and Cadmus are travelling south again.”
“Could... Could you see her?” She was hesitant to ask the question. The Hum was not a visual magic and Cori thought that once more she might have been the only one who had seen the dragon.
“Yes I could!” Rowan grinned and Cori thought he should be more concerned. “Wasn’t she magnificent?”
“Terrifying would be a better way to describe her.” They moved towards the table and sat facing each other. Rowan’s features were lit with a feverish excitement and Cori was sure her expression was the same. Her heart pounded against her rib cage and adrenaline cou
rsed through her veins.
“I think I could see her through you. Your Hum felt... Different. As if it was singing a new harmony. I can’t even explain it, I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”
Normally a statement like that would have set Cori in a panic but she found that she no longer cared. Rowan had seen the dragon and for now it was proof enough for her that her magic was not completely wrong.
“Do you still dream of Daiyu?” Rowan asked.
“No. Only the green dragon lately.”
They fell silent, each with their own thoughts. The wind, less chaotic now, rustled through the bushes around them. The sun had fully set and the first stars of the night winked down at them.
“I have something for you.” Rowan broke through her contemplation of the sky. She turned slowly towards him.
“Giving gifts is becoming a bit of a habit of yours,” she responded dryly. He grinned and stood up. He held out his hand for her but she slapped it away playfully and pushed herself to her feet. They went back inside and he led her up the stairs to his bedroom.
She saw it the moment they stepped into the room; a light blue gown - the same hue as the stone on her ring - was spread across the bed. Cori stared at it, feeling some doubt and confusion creeping into her euphoria.
“You don’t like it.” Rowan couldn’t quite mask the disappointment in his voice. Cori turned to him quickly.
“No, Rowan, it’s beautiful. It’s just that...” She paused, unsure how to phrase her next words.
“You weren’t going to come to the ball,” he finished for her.
“It’s always busy in the kitchen on nights like this.” The excuse sounded flat when she spoke it aloud.
“Please come.”
Cori raised her eyebrows in surprise. Was he begging? Still, she hesitated.
“I told Saasha that I wou-“
“I’ll invite her.” Rowan backed towards the door, before she could refute him again. “You get ready here, I’ll send Saasha up when she arrives, then I’ll meet you both at the ball. Don’t forget the mask.”
