Page 52 of The Stone Initiation
“I doubt he would have gotten past the wards,” Sharniza said. “You did the right thing leaving him behind. An Academy filled with gargoyles is no place for a tulpa.”
“And I’m sure Levi will move on,” Ginia said with a wave of her hand. “He’ll find a nice human to settle down with.”
My stomach hollowed at the thought. I was a mass of contradictory emotions right now.
Sharniza rose out of the chair. “You should get some rest. Sun will be up soon, and we have long afternoon of classes ahead of us.”
She left, and Palia and Ginia followed, but Touron lingered waiting for the door to shut before speaking.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said.
“About what?”
“Getting all weird on you when you released your phe—”
“Don’t say that word.”
He pressed back a smile. “Okay. But it wasn’t intentional, and I don’t…I don’t see you in that way.”
“Gee thanks. I’m so flattered.”
He shook his head, smiling and looking at the ground. “You know what I mean. I want us to be friends. I like you, Cameron, and I don’t want things to be weird between us.”
“They won’t. They aren’t.”
“So, friends?”
“Friends.”
He dropped a quick kiss on my temple and headed for the door. “Sleep well, Cam.”
“You too.”
I had more than training and arcana class tomorrow. I had to wangle a meeting with the headmistress and subtly interrogate her about my brother.
It was going to be a long day.
CHAPTER23
SERATH
Willowman closes the portal behind us, and outpost three vanished from view. My stomach feels off, just as it always does when we take a warp. And we took one from the academy to outpost three less than ten minutes ago. Portals aren’t so bad, but warpings make me sick.
“Drink,” Willowman hands me a small bottle containing a tincture to settle my stomach.
I take it and glug. “Thank you, Marcel.”
He nods grimly and tucks the bottle into a pouch on his belt. The witch is a walking collection of potions and tinctures. It’s a hobby of his, and one we benefit from. If only he could make a tincture to stop the ache in my chest or the longing in my loins. The cuff on my ankle mutes the beast’s primal need to rut when I’m near my mate, but my chest is still tight with a grief-like sensation for having left her. For knowing I can’t touch her. Be close to her.
I want to know her.
But I can’t.
I need to focus on the task at hand. Blow off steam in the only way allowed.
A decent kill.
The settlement before us is silent and asleep. Tiny slate-topped houses sit in a bowl of land surrounded by woodland with desert beyond that. To think this was once a lush isle of rain and rivers, and now the terrain and weather contradict each other at every turn.
