Page 85 of Rose and Shadows
His navy jeans were scuffed up and the white shirt with the rolled cuffs he had on over a black T-shirt was wrinkled to shit.
He looked out as my booted footsteps resonated down the gangway.
“Ah, Lazriel, just the student I was waiting on.”
What?“Waiting on?”
With a dramatic hand flourish, the levitating book he’d been reading dematerialized. He pushed off the desk and met my approach. “Cassius said you’d be popping by to request notes for today’s missed class.”
Cassius had donewhat?I’d only left him twenty minutes ago.
The confusion must’ve shown all over my face because Lenos explained, “He texted me.”
“Huh. Well… good.”
“I’m also aware of your recent troubles and I am so very sorry.”
“Cassius told you that as well?” That seemed nearly impossible, because Cas was majorly protective of us.
“Ryker Morgan made me aware.”
What? Why would Ryker—hold on. “Is this about Sylas?”
His lips twitched. “You’re highly astute, just like your work in class suggests.Andyour assignment.”
I frowned. “I thought we weren’t getting them back until a couple of classes from now?”
“I took an early look at a few of them.”
He walked back to the desk and opened his messenger bag. I followed him over at his gesture, as he pulled some papers out.
He rifled through them for a moment, then he handed my assignment back to me.
Inter-Realm Diplomacy in Action: Trials and Tribulations.
I raised an eyebrow as I took in the grade. “AnA.Seriously?” I mean, I was pretty good when I applied myself, but that grade was still kind of rare for me when it came to theory-type classes. Hands-on was more my thing. Obviously.
“It was well-earned. Under the banner provided, you chose to explore the role of the Shifter Stabilization Unit in not only reassigning territories to incorporate draconic expatriates, but also in normalizing hybrid beings, assimilating them into pack structures with adequate support without repressing their special natures. You posed incorporating education among pure wolves and dragons to combat stigma and ignorance. And you also highlighted the benefits to opening pack structures to those with hybridized natures using language that shifters understand—power and strength.”
“Yeah, well. Just doing what was asked.”
“No,” he said, flipping back his black, shoulder-length hair. “This was above and beyond. In fact, it’s so detailed and deeply thought out, that it reads more like a proposal than a mereassignment. I’ve actually passed this on to Ryker Morgan and Jaxon Silver.”
“You’ve…wow.”
“Yeah. You’ve got a gift for this. Don’t discount that. I’d urge you to consider work in his vein once you graduate.”
“I don’t know.” A lot was up in the air right now.
“Making major decisions while you’re bogged down with trauma and heaviness is when mistakes are made. Best to stick to where stability lies for you and wait on anything more. Like walking away from said stability because it seems insignificant when thrust up against this nightmare going on beyond these walls.”
“Damn, you’re good.”
He smiled. “Just observant.”
“And you must’ve seen a lot over all the years you’ve been a practicing sorcerer.”
“There’s also that, for sure.”
