by L. C. Mawson
I frowned. “I don’t need your help. I can figure this out on my own. And Lorelei was almost civil in Basics of Spellcraft, so...”
“So maybe she’ll help you clean up?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I became less sure of that idea just as I went to say it. She stressed that she was only being civil in class and she likely still wants rid of me, but still, I can handle this on my own. I don’t need your help.”
“Are you always this stubborn? This isn’t pity, Skye. I literally learned this over the past couple of years, and I was on my own before that. I know how jarring it can be to try to figure this all out from scratch, and I just want to help you avoid that.”
“But why? If not pity...”
He looked away for a moment before answering. “High Priestess Nyssa told us to work together. Wyverns and Priestesses aren’t in competition, so we should help each other out.”
“But we are in competition. At least until Nyssa chooses someone to lead the winter solstice celebrations.”
He shrugged. “That’s not for a while yet. For now, I can at least show you a few spells to dry out your things and ward your room.”
I regarded him carefully for a moment, trying to figure out if this was some kind of trick. But no... He seemed completely genuine. So, I nodded. “All right. Show me what you’ve got.”
Chapter Eleven
I wasn’t so surprised to find myself back in Xiatyan’s cave that night.
At this point, I was pretty sure that I could just expect to arrive there every night.
Though, I could only expect something if I could remember it, and I had yet to remember my nights with Xiatyan during the day.
Before I could worry too much about my lack of memories, Xiatyan approached.
He still looked annoyingly attractive, but I was glad that I wasn’t so thoroughly awed by him that I couldn’t think straight.
No, my fingers still itched to travel across his toned muscles, but I didn’t feel compelled to jump him here and now.
At least, not so much that I couldn’t ignore it.
“Skye,” he greeted with a warm smile. “How are you?”
I shrugged, folding my arms. I doubted an immortal Dragon wanted to hear about my troubles with Naveen.
He sighed before approaching, his hands going to rest gently on the sides of my folded arms. “Skye, I meant what I said last night. I have been trapped here for centuries, nothing you say could bore me. Not to mention, I cannot be a true mate to you if I do not treat you as an equal. That means not treating your passion as trivial, no matter the cause.”
I bit my lip, still not sure.
“Or is there another problem here? Perhaps your worries stem from someone else and you fear my jealousy? Such as the man you were in the arms of last night.” He smiled. “I told you, Skye, Dragons do not cage their mates. Now, tell me, how did he react to waking up beside you?”
I sighed, relaxing just a little at his reassuring, amber gaze. “He kissed me. And then he agreed to meet me later for a date, only he didn’t show up. Then James showed up, and I thought he didn’t like me, but... He was surprisingly understanding.”
“Well, it sounds like this first suitor does not deserve you. You should only take a mate who appreciates you fully. This James, however, sounds like he might be a contender.”
Heat scorched my cheeks. “I... I wasn’t even sure he wanted to be my friend before today... That he didn’t hate me...”
Xiatyan flashed his sharp teeth in a grin. “Sometimes those relationships are the most fun.”
I shook my head, for once glad that I didn’t remember my time with Xiatyan when I woke. I didn’t want that thought going through my mind when I next saw James...
“For now, how about we return to our training from last night? I would rather you be able to protect yourself, just in case.”
Something about his protective nature made my heart melt, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
Chapter Twelve
I awoke the next morning to find Lorelei still in our room. She’d barely reacted last night when she’d returned to see my side of the room completely dry and warded against her. She’d just silently used the bathroom and gone to bed.
And now, she didn’t so much as glance my way as I got up.
It wasn’t the amicability that I’d gotten out of her in class, but I supposed it was an improvement on her soaking my things.
Maybe I’d proven that she couldn’t bully me away. Maybe she’d given up.
Hell, maybe I could even continue getting her to open up a little, like I had in Basics of Spellcraft. It couldn’t be easy having everyone – even Elizabeth, who gave everyone a second chance – think that you were a bitch.
I mean, that’s because she was a bitch, but I’m sure that the Humans who ostracised me thought that they had good reason. Maybe this was just common behaviour in Atlantis.
And she had managed to be civil in class the day before.
I headed straight for the shower, not wanting to risk being late for my Dragon magic class that morning.
I locked the door behind me before shedding my clothes and heading straight for the shower, going to grab the nice shampoo bar my dads had gotten me for my birthday.
Only to see that it wasn’t there.
I frowned, scanning the shower.
None of my things were there.
Not my shampoo, not my conditioner, not my shower gel...
Fuck.
I immediately looked to Lorelei’s to see if I could steal hers, but I swiftly realised that I had no idea what I was looking at.
Was that a bit of coral on the shower shelf?
Well, Mermaid bathing habits aside, I needed some shampoo, and definitely some conditioner. My hair was too wet now. If I dried it, the thick mass would become a tangled knot that would never come undone.
I stormed out of the shower, barely having enough time to grab my towel and wrap it around me before I stormed through to our room and confronted Lorelei.
“What the hell? Did you throw away my shower things?”
She turned to face me, then stopped dead, staring for a moment.
Heat rushed to my cheeks as an errant thought passed through my mind.
Mers didn’t really have a concept of gender in the same way Humans did. Lorelei was a hybrid and probably had her own thoughts on the matter as a result, but... Most Mers were pansexual.
And she was staring at me while I was barely covered by a towel.
Before I could think more on that, her gaze focused on meeting mine, rather than looking me over.
“Your things smelled too strong. I found it upsetting.”
My frustration flared. Yes, magical beings were often more sensitive to smell, but if my toiletries didn’t set off Elizabeth and Naveen, who were also autistic, I didn’t see how Lorelei could feign distress.
But that reasoning never got to my mouth as fire once more rose up through me and I feared exploding in my frustration.
I stormed back into the bathroom and pulled on my dirty clothes and an old hoodie before heading to the student store to replace what I’d lost.
I CURSED AS I FINALLY made my way to Auntie Nyssa’s class, realising that I was late.
It was only by five minutes, but still, I doubted Auntie Nyssa would let that slide.
I eventually barrelled into the room, my hair still damp and barely brushed.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said between panting breaths. "I had an issue with my shower."
Auntie Nyssa regarded me with a firm look. “Make sure you’re not late again. As I have stressed before, I expect you to be here on time.”
I just nodded as Auntie Nyssa turned to me and James. “Well, if you’re both here, we should get started. While I appreciate that you’re probably getting bored, we should continue working on controlling your fire. I don’t want to push either of you faster than you’re ready for when working with such a volatile element.”
James nodded, bringing his hands up and calling forth flames.
I suppressed a groan at his perfect control. Was I ever going to get close to that?
I brought up my own hand, hoping to call forth at least some consistent flames.
But as the flames appeared, I instinctively moved my hand and found that the fire danced around it.
It was like pure instinct, appearing out of nowhere, and allowing me to control the flame just through moving my hand, feeding the fire and then cutting it off at just the right intervals.
The flames were entrancing and I didn’t dare do or think anything, scared that this sudden clarity would leave me.
My attention was only pulled away by Nyssa approaching. “You’ve improved quite rapidly, Skye. I take it you’ve been practising?”
I took a moment to respond, struggling to tear my attention from the fire. “I suppose... But it’s more just that it clicked with me. I was fighting the fire before, trying to force it to do what I wanted, rather than working with it. But it’s alive, isn’t it? It comes from me, but it takes on a life of its own and it’s easier to work with it, rather than trying to force it to do what I want.”
Nyssa smiled. “Indeed. It seems you have an instinctive knack that may help you to bridge the gap in technique.”
I couldn’t help but grin at Nyssa’s praise, though my excitement was short-lived as I swayed a little on my feet, exhaustion setting in.
I might have had more control over my flames, but that also made it easier for me to make them more powerful without worrying about setting anything alight.
Which meant that it was easier for me to exhaust myself without realising.
I let my flames lapse as I took in deep, careful breaths.
I glanced over to James, figuring that he wouldn’t have been so easily exhausted.
He was probably using his fire with no issue and would probably even manage to keep it up until the end of the class.
I was easily the one keeping our lessons short.
But while James was still in control of his flames, his jaw was tight, and he obviously wasn’t happy.
Why not? He was still going, while I had lapsed.
But then, I had only lapsed after Nyssa had complimented me on my technique.
Was that why he was annoyed? Nyssa complimented him all the time.
But maybe it wasn’t just the compliments. Maybe he was genuinely worried that I would overtake him in this class.
He’d said that we should work together, but it hadn’t escaped my notice that he hadn’t said anything when I’d pointed out that we were still in competition for who should lead the winter solstice celebrations.
And maybe he was right. If all I needed was more practice to not exhaust myself, that probably was something I could overtake him on in the next few weeks.
My stomach twisted at the thought of winning. I needed to win. I needed to prove that I was Dragon-enough to be taken seriously.
But then, James needed that too.
The celebration wasn’t the end of our fight, but it was an important first step, and winning would mean everything.
I couldn’t lose, but I also didn’t want him to, either.
Not when I knew how much it meant to him.
But still, I wasn’t going to let my soft heart lose me this fight. And besides, even with this strange breakthrough, James still had years of training on me. All this was doing was helping me catch up.
Though, I couldn’t help but think about how strange the breakthrough was. I’d been practising, sure, but it had been frustrating and slow.
And then it was like I’d just suddenly understood.
Maybe it was just one of those strange moments of inspiration that come from nowhere. Naveen often described his schoolwork like that. Like that he had no idea how he knew something, but the answer just seemed to appear from thin air.
Well, it was just as disconcerting as he’d said, though I’d always assumed that it had happened to him because he was autistic.
So, what was my excuse?
“Well,” Nyssa said, “perhaps it’s time to call it a day. James, you can stay and continue to practice if you want, but Skye, you should stop for now. I wouldn’t want you to exhaust yourself.”
I nodded, heading out of the class, my thoughts still in a daze. Maybe if I talked to Naveen about it...
But I couldn’t do that, could I?
Well, technically I could. But that would mean being the one to chase after him, when he still needed to apologise for standing me up.
No, I wasn’t going to be that pathetic.
Even if my resolve about not wanting to see him again was slowly melting, despite my better judgement.
Well, if I couldn’t talk to him, maybe Elizabeth would know.
I headed to her room, finding her sitting at her desk, the room otherwise empty.
“Hey,” I said as I knocked gently on the door.
Elizabeth turned to face me with a smile. “Hey. What’s up?”
“Nothing much. Just...” I made my way into the room, putting my bag down as I sat on the edge of her bed. “I had my class with Nyssa, and after all of my frustration with practising... I don’t know, it’s like it just clicked.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is. I just... It felt weird. Like I knew how to use my flames, but I had no idea how I knew. Naveen sometimes talked about things like that, but... Well, I’m not going to chase after him. He should be the one apologising to me.”
Elizabeth cringed. “Ah... Well, I might have told him to give you some space. You already knew what he was going to say, so I figured actually hearing it wouldn’t help until you’d had some time.”
I sighed. “Maybe. But I’m not sure time has helped that much. At least, I don’t think it’s changed my answer. You know how I feel about Naveen, Liz, but that only makes it worse. It’s so hard to not want to give him another chance. To let him back in, only for him to forget me again. I have to be stronger than that. If he wants me to give him another chance... I don’t think I can.”
Elizabeth frowned. “I can’t blame you for that, but...”
“But?”
“I don’t know. I’ve seen him distracted before, but this? This is different.”
“Different? I mean, I agree, but... What do you think has changed?”
“I have no idea, but I’m worried.” She sighed. “Look, I think you’re right not to give him another chance right now, but if I figure out what’s wrong with him and it passes... Well, I don’t think that he would be like this normally.”
I bit my lip, twisting the ends of my hair between my fingers. “I... If you can figure this out, then yes, I’ll give him another chance.” I shrugged. “It’s not as if anyone else is after me.”
Elizabeth sighed once more, running her hand through her hair. “Yeah, that’s definitely not going to stay the case for long...”
I frowned. She’d said that so seriously. As if she knew.
But she hadn’t inherited her mother’s ability to see the future, so...
What was that about?
And I really didn’t have anyone after me.
My thoughts turned to James, but I quickly pushed that away. He’d been nice to me once, that wasn’t exactly flirting and after class today... Well, it was clear that the competition between us wouldn’t allow us to truly get close.
Maybe that would change after the winter solstice, but that was assuming that whoever lost could get over their resentment.
Yeah, I wasn’t so sure that I could if it was me.
“I’m gonna go get some lunch,” I said. “Do you want anything?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind. I could use some study fuel.”
“Are you studying in here all afternoon?”
“That’s the plan.”
“You okay if I hang around and work on my magic once I’ve fuelled up?”
“Yeah, of course. Just
remember to get snacks if you plan on using your magic for long.”
“I will.”
I headed out of the room, only to run almost immediately into someone else, my hands going to their chest to brace myself as I stumbled.
“Naveen!” I managed as I realised whose pecs my hands were resting against.
Heat raised to my cheeks as I pulled away.
He just stared at me for a moment before dropping his gaze. “Skye... I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I should have looked where I was going. Are you planning on spending some time in your room?” I wasn’t sure staying there would be the best idea if he was.
“No,” he said, and I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or disappointed. “I was going to head back to the library. But Skye... I know that you might not want to talk to me right now, but I did want to apologise for standing you up the other day. I got distracted and forgot to check the time, but I know that that’s not a good enough reason to have left you waiting, and I understand if you don’t want to give me another chance. And while I do still want to be with you, I don’t want to lose you as a friend, so if that’s all you want, then I’m okay with that. Assuming you even still want to be my friend.”
I gave him a small smile. “Of course, I still want to be your friend. I don’t think I could ever stop caring about you if I tried. But as for anything else... Naveen, I also want to be with you. I’ve wanted that for so long. But... Give me some time, okay? I need to be sure before trying this again.”
I had honestly meant to stand my ground and be firm about not giving him another chance.
But maybe Elizabeth was right. Maybe something had been going on with him. And maybe if that passed, we could finally give things another go.
I knew that I shouldn’t get my hopes up, that I was just asking to be hurt again... But maybe I was wrong. Maybe this could work out, just as I’d always wanted.
Chapter Thirteen
I grinned as I whipped a storm of fire around me, forming dancing waves through the air.
