Page 21 of Rose and Shadows
Velra:Thanks.
Lazriel:Sure you don’t want us there? I know you said it’s something you needed space with, but just checking that hasn’t changed now you’re there.
Velra:I’m good, sweets.
Cassius:We will see you right after my class. What would you like to do?
Lazriel:Stunting? Come on, love, picture it now… Cassius on a motorcycle. Stunting, Velra. Cassius.
Cassius:Is that mockery how you wish to enter my class? With that hanging over your head?
Lazriel:Nice try, but you’ve drawn a clear line between our personal stuff and your teaching. You won’t do shit to me.
Cassius:Immediately afterward, however.
Lazriel:Shit, yeah. Tell me more, Immortal hunk.
Cassius:Goodness.
Lazriel:Goodness? Nah, I was thinking a whole lot of dirtiness.
Sylas:You think you can bring that without me there?
Lazriel:It’s gonna be a tribute to you. Not as good as the original, but getting the job done.
Sylas:Fantastic comeback. How much you’ve learned.
Velra:LOL. We miss you.
Lazriel:Abso-fucking-lutely we do, necromantic heartthrob.
Cassius:Most definitely.
Sylas:You’re gonna choke me up. Miss you all too.
Lazriel:Is my dad still putting you through it? Making you prove yourself first and all that?
Sylas:All is well. He’s got me to deal with, remember? The calculative, manipulative motherfucker. That’s going up against a lot.
Sylas:Sorry, Lazriel. I know he’s your father, but it is what it is.
Lazriel:Just for right now?
Sylas:Things are going well, so I hope so, yeah.
I smiled. He was telling Lazriel that he believed he could find a balance, where he and Remnant could become true allies, an alliance built on trust, not just leverage and calculation, or manipulation of each other.
Cassius:I believe the consensus among the three of us is that we’re wondering why more progress hasn’t yet been made.
Velra:Nothing against you, we just want you back here sooner rather than later.
Sylas:Look, the truth is, most of the time I’ve been here we’ve been delayed because I’ve been sick. There’s been a lot of me having to rest, Remnant’s magical scientists all over me working to stabilizing me. It’s complications from the transplant and me not being able to let it settle and instead forced into battle because of Morien’s attack.
I choked.
That was why he’d been texting so much. He got so immersed when he was in research and problem-solving mode, so him making so much contact with the three of us had been unlike him. Then all the GIFs and emojis he’d sent too… that hadclearly been him trying to inject some humor and levity while he’d been feeling so ill.
He couldn’t reveal the intricacies or precise details of what was going on in the Shadow Tunnels between him and Remnant, but admitting to having been ill from the fallout of the necromantic core transplant was him being transparent in other areas, making an effort to rise above that secrecyandto bring us in on it.
