Page 121 of The Stone Initiation
Selas pulled out the seat beside me and parked her ass. “It’s no secret on campus. A couple of decades ago Varsa was taken by graynites. We got him back, but his mind was…broken. They demolished his psychic seals and scrambled his brain.”
“But they didn’t take his soul?”
“No. Not all of it. But enough to leave him incomplete and confused. This place was his home for so long that it’s the only place he seems to be able to function.”
“The academy or this cottage?”
She gave me a sad smile. “Both.”
Willowman returned with a black leather bag. “Roll up your sleeve, we’ll start with bloods.”
I tugged up my sleeve. “How long before you know anything?”
“A couple of days. We’ll let you know what we find, in the meantime, if you feel odd in any way come see me. If anyone asks why, say I’m giving you training in poultice making or something.”
“Wait,” I winced as he jabbed me with a needle, “can you really teach me?”
He looked up in surprise. “You want to learn?”
“Look, if I make guardian then I’ll be grounded. Being able to make poultices that could help my team will give me an edge.”
He studied me for several beats. “I’m not an easy man to work with, Miss Walker, I have very little patience for mistakes.”
“I don’t make mistakes, Mr. Willowman. Mistakes get you killed. I know that better than anyone. I’ve been hunting since I was eighteen, and I may be out of my depth in the gargoyle world for now, but I’m learning the rules. I won’t always be a liability, trust me. I won’t let myself.”
He nodded. “Very well. We can start next week. I’ll get the lessons added to your timetable and make it official.”
He finished taking samples, and Selas walked me back to dorm. We caught a few odd looks from some cadets out and about. Males who hadn’t been invited to the party in the woods tonight.
“People are going to wonder what an elite is doing hanging out with a cadet.”
“There are only a handful of female cadets on campus,” Selas said. “If anyone asks you can tell them I’m your unofficial mentor.”
“Is that even a thing?”
“No. But maybe it should be.” We came to a stop outside my dorm house. “This world, what we do, it’s harder on us females. The alphas are told from a young age that they must put away feminine things and become warriors. The fact that we’re barren means that being a guardian is our only hope of our lives meaning anything. For the omegas it’s the opposite. They’re told their only purpose is to mate and produce offspring. They’re sent here to match with guardians, and they stay here until they’ve built their nests, after that they make babies. Lots of babies to keep our numbers thriving.” She sighed. “Our lives are mapped out for us, and I know I would have liked to have someone to talk to about it. Someone who’d been through it all.”
“My mother always told me to steer clear of this world. I guess she knew what it would mean for me to come here, but growing up in the human world and not being able to be my true self…it took a toll on me too. It’s hard to build solid relationships when you’re forced to lie to the people you care about.”
“Cam!” Touron stepped out of the dorm entrance and Sharniza appeared behind him.
Selas smiled. “You’ve made some solid friendships here. Gargoyles that will look out for you.”
“They saw me go into the forest, didn’t they?”
“Yes. It’s the only reason we knew where you were.”
I looked over at my friends, my heart swelling with love for them. They’d sounded the alarm to get help to me, but they weren’t the only ones who’d helped me.
If Curi hadn’t been there for me tonight, then Serath may not have gotten to me in time. He’d saved my ass twice now.
I owed him.
And I needed him to know how grateful I was.
CHAPTER52
“Get lost, Walker,” Curi made to slam his door in my face.
