A small smile finds her, and it makes something in my chest flutter when she finally speaks again. “I have no trouble hearing you.”
Pleasure radiates through my limbs at her simple words. I smile in turn, letting my sharp teeth show, but only a little. “I’m glad.”
“How many students do you have?”
I blink at her query, guiding her up the stairs to the second level, where the more interesting—and far more dangerous—spells are cast. “Well, I suppose you could say it changes by the day. I have four classes for the students, but depending on their talents and masteries, they may move to different classes as is suitable to their needs.
“At any time, I would say- near a hundred?
“Some soz’garoth never stop learning, and my fourth class is for them. Those that wish to hone their skills can find solace up here.” I point out the sprawling rooms open for practice and study, then continue down the hall. “The library is just down this way, containing copies of all the tomes we salvaged from Ti’lith’s records from… before.”
I don’t want to say much, not sure exactly what the human knows about Galmoleth and the origin of our kind. Hopefully nothing.
But she doesn’t seem deterred, her curiosity getting the better of her. I can even see a sheen of chaos magic glisten across her skin. It shocks me a little, to see it appear over such warm flesh, but it’s a delicious surprise. I stop myself from running my hand over her arm to excite the magic there. So much potential lives beneath her skin, and she hardly knows it.
What a pity that she belongs to the Hooded One.
I could learn so much from her.
“Chaos magic,” she says with little reverence. “That’s- what I did, wasn’t it?”
I hesitate to answer, but she deserves to know the truth. “Yes. That is what made us aware of your existence on Protheka. Humans- they aren’t compatible with magic. But you are.” I study her a little harder this time, unafraid that she’s going to bolt. “You’re a conundrum.”
There’s pain in her eyes that disappears before I can fully understand it, a smile breaking over her face again that banishes the misery. “I always have been, it seems.
“So, you’re a teacher?”
How quickly she changes the subject, I consider. “Yes.
“I have been at my craft for a- averylong time. Even my equals come to me for guidance with chaos. It is not a magic to be trifled with.
“But enough about me.” I stop at a room suited for a woman of her station among us. “I’m sure you’re terribly uncomfortable in those rags. There is a bath already waiting for you, and a new outfit that I think will suit you better.”
I raise her hand to my lips, hesitating.
What would her flesh feel like against my lips? Her breath hitches at the simple gesture, anticipating my caress when I relinquish her hand instead, letting it drop to her side. I open the door to the suite and glance past her. “I’ll wait for you here.”
Her cheeks redden further as she ducks into the room, closing the door softly behind her. I take a deep and steadying breath, doing my best to control the desire that lashes inside of me. Iwanther, more than just for her magic. She is radiant, and I know the matron’s garb will suit her thin frame well.
I don’t know that I’ll be able to control myself when she reemerges, so I calm my nerves with a small cantrip, letting a chill settle over my flesh. It rouses me from this ridiculous urge, allowing me to wait with all the patience of the seven.
* * *
The door creaks open after a time. “I don’t know- if this is how I’m supposed to wear it?” She tugs at the cut of leather over her shoulder, adjusting it slightly.
All my magic could have abandoned me in this moment, and I wouldn’t care. It hurts to look upon her, knowing that she doesn’t belong to me. “That is… exactly right.
“Come. We’re running behind.”
I know my way to the castle, but we take a meandering path there. I want to spend as much time with Piper before she is offered to the Hooded One.Like a sacrifice, I think, hoping the outfit makes her appear more imposing.
But she is soft beneath the hard edges of the leather.
I sense a presence not far behind us, as if he’s been following ever since we left my tower. The human is no wiser, but I call out to him, never pausing in my step. “Reveal yourself, trolvor. There’s no point in slinking in the shadows.”
Just as Piper looks up at me, a gust of wind billows around us, and a dark figure cuts down from the sky, landing in our path. He rises to his full height, and I can hear Piper’s relief in her voice. “Eth’tak!”
He maintains his distance from us, even as the human moves to approach him without fear. “I was ensuring that no one barred your path.”