Chapter 338: A Weapon Against Him

CAERA DENOIR

Night birds twittered softly from the treetops as I wandered through the orchard outside Corbett and Lenora’s Central Dominion estate, having been released for a brief moment of leisure time after dinner—an awkward, tense affair due to Grey’s failure to show up.

But then, I knew he wouldn’t, which I’d tried to explain to the Highlord and Lady. Grey must have seen right through their tactless attempt to manipulate him. After all, they sent Lauden of all people to High Hall to put an end to the sham trial.

Kicking a large seed pod that had fallen from the branches above, I watched as it bounced down the path before tumbling into the thicker grass beneath the trees. Something small and quick moved in the twilight gloom, scurrying through the undergrowth to inspect the commotion.

Although I knew Grey wouldn’t come, I still found myself disappointed, an emotion that frustrated me more than the cause itself. It had been three weeks, but I was still struggling to come to terms with how I felt about the man, or what I wanted from him.

Perhaps I should be asking myself: what does Grey want from me?

I released a deep sigh into the warm night air as I pondered the question.

Soft steps crunching in the gravel path warned me that someone was approaching. I conjured a layer of mana to cling tightly to my skin and peered through the gloom. It was unlikely that I’d be attacked here of all places, but only the High Sovereign fears no treachery, as the saying goes.

Just as I finished that thought, the air shifted behind me, and a length of solid shadow coalesced from nothing, swinging toward my neck. I ducked under the attack, letting the motion carry me into a standing sideways flip as the shadow hissed past my ear.

My own scarlet sword was in my hand and burning with black soulfire in an instant, but I couldn’t sense anyone else in the orchard, nor determine the source of the black edge that had nearly taken my head off.

Which meant it could only be one person.

Spinning, I brought my long blade around in a wide arc over my head, black flames spreading out from it in a destructive nova. There was a ripple in the flames just to my right, but by the time I snapped out with a short, sharp strike, she was gone, and a razor-thin shard of purest black mana was pressed against the side of my neck.

“Tsk, tsk,” Scythe Seris said, appearing as if from her own shadow. “If I were an assassin you would be—”

Soulfire leapt from my flesh and raced along the edge of her blade. With an amused huff, she let the conjured weapon disappear, but the soulfire still hovering in the air between us condensed into a flickering arrow that launched toward her throat.

In the space of a heartbeat, a mist of dark energy was billowing around her. My attack dissipated as the aura hungrily devoured my mana.

“Your control over the soulfire is progressing nicely,” she said, her lips twitching up at the corners. “It appears the mysterious Grey has pushed you past your most recent plateau.”

I stowed my weapon, turning my eyes to the gravel at our feet. “You give me too much credit,” I replied evenly, ignoring the flushing of my cheeks at Scythe Seris’s teasing. “It is thanks to your training and mentorship that I have reached this level.”

She rolled her eyes pointedly and turned, her hair—normally pearl-colored, but now a deep amethyst in the low light—swirling after her. “You’ve never been a kiss-ass, Caera. It’s one of the things I like most about you. Don’t start now.”

Biting my lip to keep from smiling, I followed as my mentor walked deeper into the orchard. “I wasn’t expecting you this evening, Scythe Seris.”

“I’m going away for a little while. I wanted you to be aware.”

“To the other continent again?” I asked, clasping my hands together behind my back. “Are you ever going to—”

“Yes,” she said, her voice low and heavy with intent. “To both questions. But now is not the time, Caera.”

We walked on in silence for a minute or two as my thoughts turned to the war. The Denoirs were one of the few highbloods that hadn’t claimed land in the enchanted forest in Dicathen. Corbett and Lenora’s star has risen yet higher as so many other bloods suffered, some wiped out entirely by the unexpected devastation there.

My adoptive parents had sent a fair number of soldiers to the war, of course. It would have made them look weak to stay out of the fighting, even where it was an option. But when Corbett had seen the named bloods, and more than a few highbloods, race to claim choice land and slaves in Dicathen, he had only met their excitement with a quiet smile, insisting “Alacrya already has everything the Denoirs need.”

Time, it turned out, had proved him wise, as much as I hated to admit it. It would have broken my adoptive parents’ hearts if Lauden had been busily establishing an estate for the Denoirs when the asuras attacked. Not that I’d have minded terribly…

“Apparently the trial of Ascender Grey was quite the spectacle,” Scythe Seris said to break the silence.

“It should have been a straightforward issue to resolve,” I said with an edge of bitterness. “It’s an embarrassment, honestly, to know that our legal system can fail so dramatically.”

Scythe Series responded with an elegant laugh. “The highbloods have spent generations bending the system to their benefit, so much so that most of you hardly notice anymore. Your surprise is evidence enough of this.”

Hurrying my pace to walk beside her, I met my mentor’s eye. “Why do the Sovereigns not intervene?”

“The better question is, why would they?” she asked, one eyebrow raised. “They have carefully crafted a system by which purity of blood is paramount, have they not? They let the highbloods get away with murder, so long as it doesn’t interupt their own machinations. No, the truth is, girl, that the Sovereigns care little about what the lessers do to each other, so long as it is done with the appropriate amount of reverence to each dominion’s overlord.”

Scythe Seris opened her mouth to keep speaking, then gave me a shrewd look. “Clever little half-blood. You got me to change the topic.”

I straightened, practically marching like I was in a military parade. “You’re just teasing me again. We both know you’re not going to tell me what you know about Grey, so I’m not going to ask.”

This elicited another delicate laugh from my mentor. “If you want him to trust you—really trust you—this is knowledge you’ll need to earn on your own, Caera. I won’t give you any shortcuts.”

“But you want me to stay close to him? You’ve hinted that much.” I kept my attention straight ahead, but I could feel her examining me. “Am I to be your spy, Scythe Seris?”

“You are,” she confirmed. “But don’t think that you’re betraying him. After all, the boy owes me quite a lot.”

I paused at the sound of heavy crunching steps moving quickly along the path behind us. If anything, my conversation with Scythe Seris had only made me more confused and conflicted regarding this situation, so that I was almost relieved by the interruption.

My mentor and I watched as the figure of my attendant, Nessa, appeared out of the gloom.

“Lady Caera, I—”

Nessa’s eyes widened comically when she noticed the horned Scythe beside me, and the poor girl threw herself into the gravel at our feet. “Please forgive me, Scythe Seris Vritra! I did not realize!”

My mentor looked imperiously down at the terrified attendant. “Be more attentive in the future.” Despite her tone, I could see that same, barely-visible twitch at the corner of her lips. Then, without another word to me, she turned, and vanished into the night.

“You can get up now, Nessa,” I said.

Shakily, my attendant crawled to her feet. “Lady Caera, again, I had no idea, I apologize for my—”

I waved her apology away. “No matter. I can only assume my adoptive parents sent you?”

Nessa’s quick, labored breaths slowed, and she folded her hands in front of her and rearranged her facial features into a less terrified expression. Finally, after clearing her throat, Nessa spoke again. “Yes, Lady, you…you’re to see your parents in the highlord’s study immediately. It took me a few minutes to find you, so you’d best get going.”

A loud hooting noise from nearby made Nessa jump, and she took a step closer to me. “We’d both better get going,” she muttered, glaring out into the dark trees.

***

When I arrived at the door to Corbett’s study, I found it slightly ajar. Lenora was speaking quickly, her voice low and rich with frustration. “The gall, Corbett, can you imagine? Ascenders would be lining up to fight in the streets just for the chance at a private dinner with us, and yet this man has the nerve to stand us up?”

“Indeed,” Corbett said, the single word cold and sharp as broken glass. “One would think Ascender Grey has no sense of propriety or decorum at all.”

“Perhaps Caera isn’t as important to him as we’d believed,” Lenora went on. “If only we knew what Scythe Seris Vritra wanted with the ascender…”

“And yet, once again, your information network has proven invaluable,” Corbett said, his tone softening somewhat. “The fault is not yours, my love, but his. By the Vritra, if only this ascender weren’t so valued by our patron, I’d have him thrown into Mount Nishant.”

Having heard enough, I knocked lightly on the door before letting myself in. Lenora, who had been pacing back and forth in front of Corbett’s ornate desk, stopped and straightened as I entered. Corbett was sitting behind the desk, one hand wrapped around an empty crystal glass. He was glaring into the far distance, as if still imagining Grey being hurtled into the caldera of an active volcano.

I glanced around the study. Shelves of books occupied almost every inch of wall space, wrapping around the entire room, with breaks only for the door, a large window behind his desk, and a brick fireplace. In many highblood households, this collection of knowledge would have been for show alone, but Corbett was a well-read man, for all his other faults.

Above me, a rail of black iron ran around a narrow walkway, where there was another set of bookshelves. Aside from books, the shelves displayed a wide assortment of tokens and treasures Corbett had collected over the years.

“Caera, dear,” Lenora said, flashing her dazzling smile at me. “We have some news about your friend, Grey.”

I stood stiffly, my hands clasped together in front of me. Using a trick shown to me by one of the many tutors I’d had over the years, I took two breaths before responding to keep myself from sounding too eager.

“Oh? Did he send his apologies for missing dinner?”

Lenora let out a tinkling laugh. “No, I’m afraid we haven’t heard from Grey himself, but I received a letter from an old friend of mine—an administrator at Central Academy—with some strange news.”

My brows turned down into a slight frown. “What does this have to do with Grey?”

“That’s the news,” Corbett announced through gritted teeth. Leaning back in his chair, he swirled the empty glass around in his hand. “Apparently, there has been a rather unusual hiring at the academy.”

Lenora was nodding along with Corbett’s words. “Three days ago, someone pushed through hiring an unnamed, untried ascender for an initiate level post. Most unusual, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yes,” I answered slowly. Despite understanding the suggestion Lenora was making, her words didn’t make sense. “Especially if that same ascender was on trial for murder…”

“It’s quite clever, really,” Lenora said, leaning back against the desk and resting a hand lightly on the polished surface. “A total image makeover, and protection from the Granbehls in the bargain. Though I confess myself surprised that he has the kind of connections it would have required.”

I resisted the urge to pace back and forth across the study. Standing straighter, I held my hands behind my back to hide the nervous fidgeting of my fingers. The truth was, I found myself just as surprised as Lenora. First, the famous ascender, Darrin Ordin, showed up to defend him, and now Grey had suddenly been hired at one of the most prestigious academies in the central dominion?

Who are you, really? I wondered, picturing Grey’s golden eyes gazing out from behind a curtain of pale blond hair.

I stopped fidgeting as a thought struck me. If Grey was going to be at Central Academy, I could easily speak to him—and without tracking him by the medallion, which I had sworn to myself to use only in case of a dire emergency.

I just have to escape Corbett and Lenora first.

I considered my adoptive parents. They wanted him beholden to Highblood Denoir for no other reason than Scythe Seris was interested in him, even though they had no idea why. I knew I could use that.

“Lenora…Mother,” I said, knowing my use of the term would delight her, “how do you plan to keep an eye on Grey if he’s shrouded by the academy?”

If I could convince them to let me go to Grey…

As I had anticipated, Lenora beamed at me happily. “Why, that’s where you come in.”

Corbett cleared his throat and set his glass on a square of cork on his desk. “We’ve already arranged for you to take on your own role at Central Academy. You’ll be the assistant to Professor Aphelion. I’m sure you remember him.”

I blinked. “What?”

Lenora pushed away from the desk, walking up to me and resting her hands on my shoulders. “This is important, Caera. I know you didn’t enjoy the academy while you attended as a student, but this is about blood.”

I gave her a tight-lipped smile and took a step back, giving myself a little room to breathe. While I was thrilled to be leaving the Denoir estate to spend time at Central Academy with Grey—and without so much as an argument from my adoptive parents—I also knew what they expected of me.

“You will want a report on his activities, of course,” I said, my smile unfaltering. “And for me to convince Grey to…do what, exactly?”

“It takes more than idle fancy to turn a Scythe’s head,” Corbett said, standing to walk around his desk and linger in front of the fireplace, despite it not being lit.

“Scythe Seris hasn’t…said anything to you, has she?” Lenora asked tentatively. “About this ascender?”

“Of course not,” I said, bristling. “You know everything I do.” This was a lie, of course, but not a significant one. I hadn’t told the highlord and lady about Grey’s use of aether, but otherwise I had told them everything I knew about him.

Which, as it turns out, isn’t very much, I thought, considering again his strange hiring at the academy.

“He is special,” I went on, “but I have no idea what, if anything, Scythe Seris wants with him.” This was the truth, although perhaps not all of it. Seris knew Grey, somehow, but she hadn’t been willing to provide me any more information after our last conversation.

Lenora stepped closer to Corbett, sliding her arm through his, and my adoptive parents watched me silently for several very long seconds.

Finally, Corbett spoke. “We hope you’ll impress upon this ascender how much we’d like to meet him—perhaps even work with him in the future. If you remind him of the role we played in his release”—I felt a muscle in my temple twitch as I kept from rolling my eyes—“so much the better.”

“And of course,” Lenora added, resting her head on Corbett’s shoulder, “you should let us know if you learn anything…interesting while working with Grey.”

“Fine,” I said, meeting my adoptive mother’s eye. “I’ll do it.”

But I won’t let you use me against him, I added silently.

A/N: FOR DISCORD USERS, PLEASE DO NOT DISCUSS THIS IN CHANNEL #NOVEL-TALK AND KEEP TO PATREON-ONLY CHANNELS UNTIL THE CHAPTER IS RELEASED ON TAPAS TO PREVENT SPOILERS. THANK YOU. <3