Page 68 of The Stone Curse
Yarrow and Mirrowind made good on their word and provided me with a tincture to stave off the worst of the needing, but the nights were still fevered and yearning. Luckily, the tincture made it so that I was able to satisfy myself and calm the waves of intense desire, which I attempted to do as silently as possible.
The elite trial was tomorrow, and I still hadn’t managed to resolve my mind walk issues, finding myself trapped by doubt and insecurities over and over again as my darkest fears won.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Palia asked from across the dining table. She was an early riser for a goyle, up by eleven and usually on her second cup of coffee before we all joined her, but the last two days, I’d been up early enough to join her for breakfast.
I dropped the crumpet I was holding, cold now that I’d been staring blankly at it for the past five minutes. “I was thinking about the trial.”
“You’ll do great. You’ve worked hard.”
“I’m not so sure. Levi said I need to believe in myself, and I think I do, but when I’m in the mind walk, I feel so weak and useless. I feel…vulnerable.”
“Don’t we all? Deep down, I mean? Isn’t that normal? I mean, if we felt invincible, truly invincible all the time, then the world would be filled with egomaniacs with superioritycomplexes and no fear. Doubts keep us on our toes, they make us think and question before making decisions. They keep us safe…surely?”
She made sense, but…but what Levi had said contradicted her words. I was so confused.
The stairwell opened, and Orix entered, trailed by Taz. The elite was dressed in a sleep tee and baggy joggers, his go-to bedtime attire and the only time he wasn’t in lastonflex. “Message came for you just before dawn,” he said to me. “Yarrow said Melanie was ready.”
I sat up straighter. “What? Why didn’t you tell me right away?”
“And interrupt your dream time?” He arched a brow, and my cheeks colored.
“Have I been that bad?”
“It’s understandable,” Orix said. “He’s your mate, you want to be with him, and if sleep is the only time that you can do that, then…” He shrugged and poured coffee into his favorite mug, one that was large enough to be a bowl, then added three heaped spoons of sugar before taking a sip.
“I’m just glad you believe me, that he’s alive…”
He turned to face us, leaning back against the counter. “I won’t believe it for certain until I see him, same with Romi, but I can concede that what you’re telling us is possible. That what you’re experiencing is more than regular dreams. And I can promise you we will do everything in our power to get him and Romi out once we’ve taken down the alpha.” His gaze was probing as he waited for my assent.
I’d had time to think about this. To talk to Serath about it in the snatches of time we’d had in our anchor place. As much as I hated it, Orix was right. If we only got one shot at punching through the wards, then the alpha had to be our focus. The needs of the many had to take priority, and Serath had made it clearthat’s what he expected of me, and Romi…I knew he’d want the same.
“Don’t worry, Serath already made me give him my word. Alpha first.”
Orix relaxed. “More reason to believe he’s alive.”
Shar, Ginia, and Curi entered the kitchen, bleary-eyed and all aiming for the coffee machine, which Orix quickly vacated with a chuckle.
Curi raked his hair back and threw me a glance and a smile. Things were easier between us now, but not the same as before. We didn’t hang out as much, and maybe that was for the best. If what Mirrowind said about my fae blood was true, and it did attract males, then it was best to keep my distance from him. But it did leave me with the question of whether his interest had been due to the allure of my hidden nature or because of me. Just me. Had muting the needing muted my nature too? Was that why he wasn’t spending time with me anymore?
And why did it bother me?
Derek materialized at the table and Levi entered via the lift a moment later dressed in lastonflex, looking fresh and as if he’d been up for a while.
“I want you all to take the day off,” Levi said. “Rest your bodies and your minds before the trial tomorrow. We leave campus at dawn to avoid the pheromone flare.”
Pheromone…Oh shit, the omega moon coincided with the sidhe moon, which meant that the air would be thick with their heat tomorrow. Goyle males would be driven crazy with the primal need to rut, and the forest would be a playground of sexual activity.
Once again, I’d been so focused on my own needing that I’d neglected to think about the others, Levi, Curi, and Touron.
“I’m locking the doors and staying inside,” Touron said stiffly.
“You can’t deny your nature,” Orix said.
He raised his chin, defiant. “I can, and I will. I’m not…I don’t want to be with anyone else.”
“The pheromones don’t affect me,” Levi said. “Perks of being a halfblood.”
But they’d affect Curi…they’d affect him, and he was being forced to miss out and last time…Last time he’d missed out because he’d wasted his time protecting me from all the pheromone-crazed males in the forest.
