“You feel any better?” she asked quietly, taking a seat next to him.
“Not really. You’re back to one of you, Gia, which I guess is a good thing.”
“What happened?”
Nolan pushed his chair back and, ignoring her protests, got to his feet. “Help me down to the infirmary to get some aspirin and I’ll tell you.”
“Nolan, sit down!”
“And wait for someone to eavesdrop? Pass.” He started making his way toward the door, using the backs of chairs and some tables to steady his occasional wobble.
The entire room watched them leave with varying degrees of interest, but no one moved to follow them. They made it all the way downstairs to the infirmary before either of them spoke.
“Who was it?”
“I think it was Jonas—it was definitely a Terra, and he was the only one in the area the vine came from. He ripped the chair out from under me.”
“Manas can’t even do his own dirty work!” Gia snarled, rifling through the medicine chest for aspirin. “How do you feel?”
He took the pills from her and swallowed them dry, grimacing as they stuck on the way down. “The same way I did when you asked me five minutes ago—give the medicine a chance to work, huh?”
She swatted at him half-heartedly, barely brushing his sleeve. “Shut up. I’m furious at Liz—why wouldn’t she want to help you? Isn’t that what she’s made to do?”
“Haven’t you noticed people starting to avoid me? And Leiani? Hell, even you and Pyrrhus? Anyone who talks to me with any regularity is starting to be thought of as dangerous.”
“That’s stupid.”
He laughed out loud. “We know that, but they don’t. Even ones who aren’t automatically on Manas’ side won’t take my side out of sheer fear…I have a feeling that’s Liz’s position, so don’t be too hard on her.”
“I’ll be as hard on her as I want to!” Gia protested. “And since when do you talk about sides?”
“They made it about sides a while ago—today just sealed it. If they’re going to try to maim or kill me before the Rite of Passage, things are about to get a lot more serious.” He glanced around, concerned. “If you don’t want to be seen with me…”
“Nolan Aeron,” she growled, “don’t you dare finish that sentence. I know better than anyone what I’m doing—I made my choice in July.” She didn’t let him respond, speaking right over his intended protests. “I do know that your girlfriend will murder me if she finds us alone together, so let’s get you back upstairs to her, okay?”
He felt a twinge of annoyance. “She’s not that bad.”
“Nolan, I’ve known Leiani for my entire life.” She didn’t elaborate.
She was right, of course. Between the lecture about getting injured in the first place and the wounded expression Leiani wore every time she mentioned Gia helping him, Nolan decided that it was about time he did something for Leiani. Nothing extravagant, of course-- he couldn’t reveal that he had the ability to leave the grounds—but something... romantic.
His mouth twisted a bit at the word. It was a term he never expected to apply to himself. He thought it would make her happy, though, so he planned accordingly.
On a chilly Sunday at the end of November, when the rest of the students were snuggled in their beds and a light snow was falling, he left Leiani a note asking her to meet him on the roof deck around lunchtime—and to dress warm.
She obliged, pulling on her coat and gloves, a cashmere scarf snug against her throat, hair tucked back under an attractive beret. She climbed the stairs and pushed open the door to an amazing sight.
In the course of the morning, Nolan had cleared a circle of ground of all its snow, filling it with his own bed’s comforter and rose petals from the gardens. A spread of food from the dining hall was set up on the blanket. Most amazing was the small Power barrier he had erected, a dome that kept off the flurries and kept the food warm.
Nolan himself was standing awkwardly to one side of the dome, a single white rose in his hands.
“Surprise,” he said, feeling like an idiot. She was crying! He thought he had done so well!
“Oh, Nolan, it’s beautiful!” she said, wiping the tears away with her gloved hands.
“Really?”
“Yes!” She was standing before him. He offered her the rose, but she ignored it completely and threw herself into his arms, kissing him soundly.
“Here, let’s get inside—it’s freezing out here.” He put his hand straight through the dome, holding it to one side like a curtain and allowing her inside. She settled herself down on the blanket, immediately removing her scarf and coat. It was pleasantly warm inside, a surprise to her.
“Is this like the baileys?” she asked, fascinated, as he took his own seat.
“Yes and no—this is something most half trained Power users can do. The Sword is what would give someone the boost to protect a whole building. Big ones can’t keep out weather, either.”
“Nolan, this is amazing. What a wonderful surprise!”
“Well—I know we don’t get much alone time, and I can’t take you out on traditional dates, so...”
“It’s perfect.”
After they ate, Nolan opened the dome so they could push the picnic basket out into the snow. They used their coats as pillows, lying down on the blanket to watch the snow falling above them.
Nolan took her hand in his and pressed it to his lips, closing his eyes for a moment to gather his courage. “I love you,” he said softly against her skin.
Leiani didn’t answer him. Instead, she rolled onto her side and then onto his chest, kissing him with an intensity that bordered on desperation. He lost himself in the kiss, running his hands down her sides.
“Romantic, isn’t it?” a familiar voice drawled, sounding less than delighted.
Leiani shrieked in surprise and anger as Nolan sat up, letting her slide to the side as he glared at Pyrrhus. The shimmering Power barrier dissipated as Nolan let it go, too angry to sustain it.
“Do you MIND?” Leiani snarled, using her arms to stop her face from plowing into the cold stone. She pushed herself onto her knees and drew her hand back, gathering the falling snow to her hands in a whirlwind of motion.
“Don’t bother, fishy,” he said, practically glowing as he raised his body temperature. The flurries were evaporating long before they reached his hair and shoulders, and the fallen snow was melting under his feet as he stepped forward. “It would melt long before it reached me.”
“What do you want, Pyrrhus?” Nolan finally said, interrupting their little standoff.
“Proctor Jenkins is looking for you—I thought you’d prefer my interruption to his.”
Nolan flushed at the thought of his uncle walking in on their picnic, but Leiani apparently had no such qualms. “Better Uncle Robert than you! Couldn’t you have put him off for a little longer?”
“No, not really. Nolan?”
With a sigh, Nolan pushed himself to his feet, coat clutched in his hand. Leiani grabbed his wrist, looking up at him with a hurt expression. “Don’t ruin our lovely afternoon. Please.”
He bent to kiss her, not giving in to the deeper kiss she clearly wanted. “My uncle wants to see me. We can continue this another time.”
Leiani’s expression immediately shifted from hurt to angry. “I wouldn’t count on it!” She shot to her feet and headed for the door. Pyrrhus put out a single, white-hot arm to bar her exit.
“Go down to Proctor Jenkins, Nolan,” he advised quietly. “Leiani and I will clean up the deck.”
Nolan gave one last apologetic look to Leiani, who refused to meet his eye. Giving up with a sigh, he opened the door to the stairwell and was gone.
The moment the door closed behind him, Leiani was on Pyrrhus like a harpy, pummeling his arms and chest.
“You bastard! You ruin everything I want!”
“So this is your plan, hmm? To seduce him before you have to tell him the truth in the hopes he
’ll be so far in your thrall that he won’t care? To present yourself as spoiled goods to your mother so she will break your betrothal?”
“Spoiled goods,” Leiani sneered. “Is it too much to ask that I’m with a man who actually loves me?”
“Alan loves you, you idiot. You’re just too wound up in yourself to realize it. If you think Nolan loves you--”
“He does!” she cried, a triumphant note in her voice. “He just told me he does before you interrupted us.”
“He barely knows you. How can he love you? He may think he loves you, Leiani, I don’t doubt that,” he said in a softer tone, taking her shoulders in his hands and forcing her to look up at him. “Nolan’s childhood, from the little I can gather, was rather Spartan. I still haven’t figured out if he even saw a girl his own age before he came here. You’re going to ruin him... and yourself.”
“So what do you want me to do? Plead my virtue and hold him off?”
“Yes. Unless you’d like to tell him the truth early?”
She was silent for a moment, and then shook her head. “No. I’m not ready.”
Pyrrhus let her go and studied her for a moment. “You’re not ready because you know how he’ll react, Leiani. If there’s one thing he hates, it’s being lied to.”
She grabbed the blanket from the ground and swirled it around her shoulders like a cape, gesturing at the flower petals and leftover food scrap. “If you please...?”
Her ploy to just avoid the subject altogether was obvious, but he let it go. A burst of fire transformed the remainders of the romantic lunch to ash. Leiani kicked some snow over it with her boot and headed for the door, the blanket and Pyrrhus trailing after her.
Meanwhile Nolan, his head and his hormones still reeling, found himself in front of his uncle’s office almost before he knew it. He knocked once, and was instantly admitted.
“You wanted to see me, Uncle?”
“Nolan! I’m surprised you came so quickly-- I told Pyrrhus there was no rush. Are you and Leiani enjoying your Saturday?”
“Yes.” We WERE, he thought to himself, cursing Pyrrhus with every foul word he could think of while keeping his face bland. “What did you need?”
“I wanted to discuss the holidays with you. What did you celebrate with John?”
“Thanksgiving. I usually got a gift or two right before the New Year. Why?”
Robert sighed. “Over the past few years, we’ve had a bit of a schism develop among the students. There’s been a resurgence in the celebration of the Saturnalia in the place of Christmas... some, especially those in the Nine Families, feel that since our numina came directly from the Roman gods, celebrating a Christian holiday is particularly blasphemous. Others are part of families who have been Christian for over a thousand years, and see no harm in it, since the gods themselves recognized that their power was waning and created the Sword as their replacement. I just... I was curious how John had handled it, and what you would be celebrating.”
“We never put a religious emphasis on the season, Uncle Robert—we exchanged gifts, as a thing that families do at that time of year. I won’t judge anyone, and hopefully they won’t judge me.”
Jenkins sighed and sat back. “I’m afraid they will attempt to drag you into their arguments, Nolan... and your backing would mean quite a bit.”
“Well, I refuse to be involved,” Nolan said flatly. “I’ll celebrate how I see fit, and I hope you’re not encouraging me to do otherwise.”
“Not at all! You’re a grown man—you can make your own decisions. A warning, that’s all. A word to the wise is sufficient, as they say.”
Despite his uncle’s warnings, the holiday season went smoothly. Since no one could leave, the semantics of whether they were celebrating Christmas or Saturnalia fell by the wayside without much uproar this year. Gifts were practically impossible with the baileys in place, but the students found rather creative ways around that. Nolan promised a sparring match each to Pyrrhus and Gia, who accepted with pleasure, and promised Leiani a New Year’s Eve dinner date, just the two of them. She accepted with a bit less enthusiasm than expected, which was odd, but Nolan simply chalked it up to the ennui they were all feeling.
He received a family heirloom from his uncle—his grandfather’s World War II dog tags, left behind in his hurry to disappear almost twenty years before. Pyrrhus gave him one of his own hoodies, to replace the one he’d ruined during their first sparring match. Leiani gave him a booklet of romantic coupons, for kisses and the like, that made him blush and tuck it out of sight before anyone else could see what was in it. It was Gia’s gift, however, that was the biggest surprise.
“Where did you get this?” he asked hoarsely, staring at the frame in his hand in disbelief. He was holding a photo of his parents, taken on the roof deck. His mother was laughing at his father, who was soaking wet as he tried to hug her, and his father’s smile was his own, right down to the crooked bicuspid.
“I found it years ago, in the basement junk room,” she said softly, sitting next to him. “I asked my sister-in-law who they were, and she told me they were your parents, so I held onto it. If you didn’t come this year, I was going to give it to your mother next June.”
“This means a lot to me, Gia.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, eyes still locked on his father’s face. “Thank you.”
Chapter Seventeen
Nolan and Leiani were getting ready for their New Year’s Eve date in their respective rooms, both nervous—though for very different reasons. Gia perched on her upper bunk with her arms wrapped around her pillow, watching a bit sullenly as Leiani put the finishing touches on her toilette. A whisper of perfume at each pulse point, a final touch to her hair, and she was ready, waiting for Nolan to knock on the door. Leiani spared no thought for Gia—her thoughts rested entirely on the debt marker Pyrrhus possessed. As the thought crossed her mind for the hundredth time to go and beg Pyrrhus to release her from her promise, there was a gentle knock on the door.
She sprang for it as if she thought Gia would try for it first, atop the bunk beds though she was. She took a deep breath and opened the door to find Nolan standing on the other side, hair neatly combed (though that back piece would insist on standing upright), in khakis and a polo shirt that was clearly not originally his. He extended a small box to her, a smile on his face.
“Happy New Year.”
She accepted the box and pulled the door closed behind her, stepping into his embrace for a moment. He smelled good—better than usual, though she couldn’t place why. Now that the time had come to tell him the truth, she was grasping for reasons to delay. All day, her chest had felt progressively more restricted—a sign that the debt to Pyrrhus was still active. Before she could break down, she stepped back out of Nolan’s embrace and smiled out at him through the tumble of her curls.
“A gift? I didn’t get you anything… and where did you get it?”
Nolan shrugged. “Pyrrhus and I like to sort through the landfill room. I— well, open it, and then I’ll tell you.”
She obliged, gasping in delight as the box opened to reveal a pearl hair clip. The pearls were woven in small waves, going from smallest to largest and back in an undulating pattern.
“You found this? Down in the basement?”
“Yes—the clasp was completely broken, so between my Power and Pyrrhus’s Fire, we managed to reshape the metal and rework the clasp so you could use it for your hair. When I saw it, I thought about the ones you wore for the Drawing of the Names. Do you like it?”
She immediately swept the curls on the left side of her head upwards, pinning them in place with the clip. “It’s magnificent. Thank you so much.” She kissed him before beginning to walk down the hall, tucking her hand through his arm. “What’s for dinner?”
“Well, I managed to sweet talk the dining hall workers into letting me jump back there for a bit and cook for you.”
“Is it edible?” she joked.
He looked playfully affro
nted. “Of course! I’ve been cooking my whole life. It’s nothing fancy, of course, but I think you’ll enjoy it.”
She did enjoy it. The food was superb, Nolan was a charming dinner companion, and her mind was racing as she tried to figure out how she could solve this problem. Of course, the clearest option was to confess all, and hope Nolan would help her break her engagement. She knew her mother, however. She had her heart set on Leiani and Alan ruling Beachhead together, at the edge of the Sea. She would have to defy her mother and cast herself out of her own family in order to have Nolan.
Raised from birth to understand the destiny that was hers by right, she understood in a way that Nolan never could that her people were counting on her. She couldn’t abandon them, even for love.
“Come on—let’s go sit on the roof to count down to the New Year.” He rose and offered her his hand, the consummate gentleman. She took it and allowed him to help her with her coat, then followed him up onto the roof. As they stared at his watch, Leiani began to feel the compulsion of her oath tighten her throat.
Not now, she thought desperately. Not during this perfect moment.
Perfect moment or not, the oath only knew that her time was running out. She tried to fight it, but it would have its way. "Nolan, I have a confession to make," she blurted, unable to stop herself.
He smiled at her, brushing some snow off of her curls. "Oh? Is it a good one?"
"I—“ She tried to clamp her lips shut, but the words exploded outward with the force of a small bomb. "I'm engaged to your brother!"
His hand froze above her head, his eyes unfocused. "Could you repeat that?" he asked slowly. She took a deep breath as the oath set her lungs free and looked anywhere but at Nolan. "I... we've been betrothed since the cradle, but he's never done anything about it! I can’t break the engagement, but… Nolan, I love you!"
He took a few deep breaths, trying to stem the tide of anger rising in his chest. "And I loved you," he said, slipping into the past tense. He rose to his feet and towered over her for a moment. "I can't love a liar."
"Nolan, please!" she begged, sitting at his feet. "I wanted to tell you, I just didn't know how."
Pins and Needles (The Chosen Book 1) Page 16
