Page 12 of Shattered Veil
So why does it feel like I’m tearing my own heart out? Brigid slides into the seat next to Callen, her gray eyes wary as they scan our faces.
The scent of her hits me. Sweet and spicy. My cock twitches.
“What did I miss?” she asks.
Chapter Six
Brigid
I slam the door behind me, my heart pounding. Fucking idiots. How can they be so blind?
The stone corridors of Grimstone Academy loom around me as I storm away from the meeting room. Away from their stubborn faces, their closed minds.
“We can’t trust Marius,” Lochan had said, his jaw clenched.“He’s dangerous.”
“And Rory isn’t in danger right now?” I’d shouted back.“We need Marius to open the rift again. To save Rory.”
But they wouldn’t listen. Wouldn’t even consider it.
I pause, leaning against the wall. My breath comes in ragged gasps. Rory. My chest aches at the thought of him trapped in that shadowy void. Alone. Like he never wanted to be again. And now, that’s exactly what’s happened. Because of me.
Does time even mean anything in that void? How long would it feel like he’d he been there? Minutes? Hours? Days? Or worse…
The memory of the rift opening flashes through my mind. The yawning darkness. The bone-deep chill. The writhing shadows reaching out with grasping tendrils.
And Rory, falling. Falling into that endless void.
The guilt claws at me from the inside out. My fault.
I push off the wall, moving again. I have to do something. Have to find a way to save him. With or without their help. Though even as I curse them for not trusting Marius, I know I don’t trust him either. He said Rory was inconsequential. I don’t even know if he will help me try to open the rift.
My footsteps are too loud in the quiet as I wind through the academy’s twisting halls. Past stern portraits and the amber glow cast by lamplight. Down staircases that shift and move of their own accord. When one staircase starts to undulate like ocean waves as I am about to place my foot down on the first step, I remember Rory and the first time we met. How he’d reached for my arm, steadied me as I was overwhelmed by the magical tricks Grimstone Academy likes to play.
I know where I’m going. Who I need to see.
The library doors loom before me. I push them open and step inside. I’m starting to think the library is the least used space in the whole academy. There’s never anyone here, except one person.
“Eira?” I call out.“Are you here?”
A rustling sound from behind a towering stack of books. Eira’s pale face appears, her wide eyes blinking owlishly at me.
“Brigid? What’s wrong?” Eira’s face is full of concern.“Where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you in class?”
I move closer, keeping my voice quiet. I don’t think there’s anyone else in her, but I thought that once before and nearly got eaten alive, if it hadn’t been for Callen.“I need your help. It’s about Rory.”
Eira listens silently as I explain. The rift. The void. Rory trapped there. I don’t tell her about Marius, and how it was his shadow magic, connecting with mine, that enabled the rift. I don’t tell her that the others are refusing to work with Marius.
When I finish, she’s quiet for a long moment. Then she nods.
“I’ll help you, Brigid. We need to find out what exactly this rift thing is, first.”
I follow Eira through the stacks. She moves with a lighter-than-air grace.
She begins to search through shelves and stacks of books, pulling out volumes and scrolls with a practiced ease. But as we start to go through them, it becomes clear that none of these resources hold the answers we seek.
“None of these are helpful,” Eira says with a sigh, running a hand through her hair in frustration.
I start looking too, but half of the books here are written in languages I have no clue how to read. This whole place seems like a maze of knowledge and information, but none of it is what we need right now.
