Page 19 of Eight Embers

“I’m…really confused. I was just trying to get to class…and then Jackson,” she spits his name, but I can tell it’s coming from a place of hurt, of betrayal, “kept trying to…and then you…why is everyone looking at me like that?”

Cory gets on their knees and crawls to where we’ve ended up, on the floor with Delaney straddling my lap as I sit against the wall. “Prettiest of girls? Do you know who I am?”

She looks quickly between me and Cory and then gasps. “I’m so sorry! Fuck, I ruined everything! I’m so sorry, I never meant to come between you!”

Her eyes begin to tear up, and the pit in my stomach gets deeper.

“Hey, hey, hey, I think we should go to the infirmary and get you checked out. We’re concerned about you right now; do you think you could do that for us?”

“I won’t kiss him again, Cory, I swear! I know you two are happy, I don’t want to ruin it!”

I’m not even surprised when they lean forward and kiss Delaney for themself, leaning into her until she’s gasping underneath them and grasping onto their collar.

“Everything okay here? I know this university caters to the conduits, but I must insist on not performing in the hallways. I don’t think our donors would like it if word got to them.”

Delaney scrambles away from both of us, cheeks a bright red. “I’m so sorry, sir, I don’t know what came over me…I…”she holds her head, but that’s not what’s concerning. What’s concerning is that she just called one of her mates ‘sir’ like she doesn’t know his first name and doesn’t know what his face looks like when he comes.

“Woah, Delaney, I was just…hey, are you okay?”

I’ve only seen Delaney cry a few times, and it’s gutted me every time. She falls into me, presumably because I’m the only known variable in this scenario she finds herself in, and I hold onto her as tight as I can without bruising her or restricting her breath. “We’re going to get this figured out, okay? I don’t know what just happened, but you have to know we’re all going to take care of you.”

“I can’t bear to have August and Jackson look at me like that Adam, it hurts too much. It’s so hard to stay strong,” she whispers against my skin.

I get the feeling that we need to live in her delusions for a bit, if only to help her calm down. We need to get her seen by someone that knows something about, well, anything. “I’ve got you, Delaney. Can I take you to the infirmary to see if we can figure out why you’re feeling so confused right now? I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m…I’m fine, Adam. I just get overwhelmed sometimes when they…”

I don’t have to look over my shoulder to see that she’s made eye contact with one of her twins.

Actually, scratch that, I do. She’s not even looking at them, because they’re definitely in front of me.

“Holy fuck, Adam. There’s a unicorn in the hall. Did…those arereal?”

Bless that sad man. “Uh, yeah, I heard about that. I think he’s an exchange student.”

She pushes away from me and approaches Saladriel, who has shifted and is standing in all his blue unicorn glory in the middle of the hallway. Don’t know how he’s going to fit out the doors, but I guess that’s a later-us problem.

“Oh my gods, you’re beautiful. Sorry, is that offensive? I really want to touch you right now, but you probably would be so creeped out by that, wouldn’t you? Okay, okay, I’ll give you space.”

Zac, Cory, and the twins are all still loosely ringing Delaney, covering our bases in case she makes a run for it again. She holds her hand up to her head again and sways where she stands, and Saladriel shifts in time to catch her in his arms.

She smiles up at him, dopily, before wrapping her arms around his neck and batting her eyes. “My hero.”

I can’t help but snort at how cheesy she’s being, but there’s something seriously fucked up happening.

I send out a text in the group chat alerting them that we’re bringing Delaney to the infirmary but to stay calm when they get there, then shove my phone in my pocket and forget about it.

I make eye contact with Saladriel and motion for him to walk towards where the healers are, and he gives me a nod and begins to talk to Delaney in low tones, keeping her from getting upset again.

She giggles a few times while he’s carrying her, and I can almost see that he wants to fall for her, but the whole situation just kind of sucks, because I know he doesn’t feel like he can actually be with her until he talks to the woman he was dating back in his realm first.

I could kiss him myself though for being the one that is able to get her to the infirmary.

By the time we make it there, a couple of the others are there already, a few more trickle in, and there are so damn many of us that we make the small reception area look even smaller. Everyone is understandably anxious and wanting to rush Delaney, but I quell that with a look and approach the reception desk instead of giving into hysterics like I really want to do.

“Hello, how can we help you, dears?”

I grab Delaney’s ID from her pocket and check her in since I know all her information anyway. “Our mate…we’re not sure what’s happening, but she was fine one moment, and then the next, it was like she forgot everything that’s happened since the semester started. She…she doesn’t even know who some of us are. I…”

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