Page 11 of Owned By the Fae
I regard the teacher in front of me, a squirrelly male who’s about my age, with a frown. Dane had taken the order to be here in his stride, which I didn’t expect. I’m trying to as well, but I taught in the academy at Alcana for five years. Granted, the subject was Creatures of the Dark Realms, not Arithmetic, but making us present ourselves here seems odd. I look over at Kallum. His expression is thunderous. He isn’t even pretending that this isn’t a waste of his time as he sits in the corner, ignoring everything the teacher is saying, whispering scoffing remarks about how there's no point to this and we shouldn't even be here.
I sit back in my seat, agreeing wholeheartedly, but when I whisper as much to Dane, he just shrugs.
‘It’s not really about the learning,’ he says nonchalantly and yet also shrewdly.
I suppose he’s right. Varrik wants to pull us back into the fold so to speak, keep us close, see if we’ve turned into creatures of the Wilds. He wants to make sure we’re still his, and there’s no better way to do that than to have his older, devoted Skilled keep their eyes on their peers.
Am I still Varrik’s? When we first got here, I thought I was. I was upset about how Dane handled Lia, but I was looking forward to being back in the fold with the other Skilled. Now, I don’t know. After my conversation with Kallum, I can’t shake the unease I feel. What if he’s right? What if Lia isn’t safe here?
I give my full attention to the teacher and pretend I’m here to learn as ordered. No doubt the loyal cunt will report to Varrik later and tell him everything we’ve done and said in his presence. I don’t want anyone’s suspicious eyes on us. Times certainly have changed. When we were last here, we were too low in the pecking order to be noticed much at all, but now that we've brought back the Harbinger …
I look down at my desk, emotions making me tense, and I know the beast can be seen in my eyes. I’ve been trying not to think about her. But the truth is, if I could go back to that night in the cave, I would never have given in to her request for me to be the one to take her maidenhead. I shouldn’t have. But what's done is done. All I can hope for now is that she gives Varrik whatever it is he wants, and he allows her a bit more freedom, perhaps to walk around the village, so we can at least see her again.
The beast is angry. He paces through my mind. He wants to go into the keep to find her, just like Kal does. He's chomping at the bit to escape my tight control. But I can’t let him. I’ve decided not to let anyone here know that I can shift.
The teacher drones on about numbers and patterns that I don't care about. Seven years in the Wilds, and we never used any of this.
I think about this afternoon, looking forward to practice in the arena. Those are the skills we actually need. Fighting. Strategy. Honing our power. Plus, it’s exercise that I've been sorely lacking over the days we’ve already been here practically under house arrest as well as during the weeks we were traveling through the circles before that.
Kallum sniggers loudly at something the teacher says, earning himself a frown, and I give him a look. He hasn’t acted so rebelliously in years. He needs to get himself together beforehe casts suspicions on all three of us. The same thing crosses Dane’s mind. I can tell by the venomous looks he’s giving Kal.
Finally, it's the top of the hour, and we're turned loose. I file out of the room behind the others, all of them giving us questioning looks and glances. Some of the females titter amongst each other, and we ignore them as best we can.
I glance back at Dane. ‘Who was it who told you we needed to report to lessons?’
Dane shrugs. ‘Message from the keep.’
I frown. ‘I’m not going to any others,’ I mutter. ‘If Varrik doesn’t like it, he can tell me himself.’
Dane shrugs. ‘As you please.’
‘Anything else come from the keep?’ Kallum asks, his eyes sharp.
‘No. Why should it?’ he answers, sounding distracted.
‘You haven’t heard anything about Lia?’
He looks surprised. ‘The Harbinger? No. Why would I?’
Kallum’s eyes glitter. ‘Never mind.’
‘Seen Fiana yet?’ I ask him, mostly to change the subject since Kallum’s fists are beginning to clench, but also to goad Dane a little because his attitude is bothering me.
Why is he pretending Lia doesn’t even exist?
Dane’s jaw tightens almost imperceptibly. ‘No. They won't tell me where she is, only that she’ll return to the fold in a few days.’
‘I'm going back to the house,’ Kal announces with a roll of his eyes.
Feeling a little guilty for bringing it up, I put my hand on Dane’s shoulder and squeeze it. ‘You’ll see her soon, my friend.’
He gives me a small nod. ‘And I’ll see you at practice later.’
He wanders off in the opposite direction, and I let out a sigh, wondering where he's been spending his time because I’ve hardly seen him at all.
At a loose end, I meander around the village, noting that Varrik has also built a baker and a blacksmith. There’s even a tavern. This place is, for all intents and purposes, not much different than all the other small towns we visited on the way back through the circles. It’s just that this one is lived in and worked by those with lower skills, fae like we were before we came into our power. I wonder errantly where Varrik’s fae acquired the know-how for the businesses. Did the lord send them out into the Dark Realms to apprentice, perhaps?
I find myself at the edge where the forest begins, and without consciously making the decision, I walk out into the trees until I don’t smell any of my fae brethren. As soon as I know it’s clear, I shift before I can start thinking about the next inevitable subject.
