The City of Aerahelm was massive, and a clear divide existed between the academy and the rest of the city. A river bisected the city after all. But I guessed that an individual who didn’t care for the Magical Academy would not know exactly how to go there, only that it was inthatdirection.
I could see the floating artifacts from the horizon that let me know the school existed over there. I must be in the other half of the city, probably as far away as possible from the school.
The longer I was out here, the more nervous I became, expecting my kidnappers to appear around the corner. I had to find a hiding spot.
In the darkened streets, I rounded the corner. A cat shot out from the shadows with a hiss, and I jerked back, my heart slamming against my ribs. It was just a cat, but it was too late.
My paranoia hit me like a speeding truck. I gulped to calm my nerves, but my ragged breaths were too loud in the quiet.
They were going to catch me.
I wouldn’t be able to get away this time. They’d find me, and there would be no escape.
My previous getaway was a stroke of luck; a desperate, convenient spark of magic I couldn’t hope to replicate. They’d have more men this time. Tighter security. And what then?
They’d get meagain!
And again!
My legs gave out from under me just as a pair of arms caught me. Someone cried out my name while the arms shifted from holding me to carrying me.
“You’re going to be okay,” Derrick murmured into my hair as I stared at his chest. “What’s my name?”
“Derrick,” I mumbled in between gasps for air.
“Where are you right now?” he whispered next, nuzzling his face on my head.
“Aerahelm,” I gasped, clutching his coat. “Somewhere. A street I don’t know. In your arms.”
“That’s right, isn’t it?” He laughed quietly, holding me tighter. “Right here with me. You’ll be okay, Bea. I’m here. We’re here. We’re going home, alright?”
Home.
How I wished that were possible.
At some point during the carriage ride home, I fell asleep. I woke up in an unfamiliar but comfortable bed next, the bedroom opulent. Definitely not my dorm room.
Still in my academy uniform, I slid out of bed and slipped on my boots. Roaming the hallways, the area became more familiar — I was in Prince Winston’s mansion. I wouldn’t call this “home”, but technically it sort of was, only it wasn't mine.
I ended up in the same parlor I was in the other day, but this time filled with more people — and my twin knights kneeling on the floor, beaten and bruised.
“Row! Roo!” I screamed, running towards them. All heads turned to me as I threw myself in front of my twins, afraid to touch any injury, ignoring the burst of pain in my knees as I crashed on the floor. Why the hell were they fucked up? “What happened here?”
“Bea,” Robin groaned, as Reuben muttered, “You’re here.”
They couldn’t look me in the eye. A trickle of anger began to build inside me. I glanced up, finding the men I’d associated with the past days, watchingme. “What’s going on? Why are my knights like this?”
“It’s their job to protect you,” Samuel Grimwald answered me, perched on one a couch. “Their literal only responsibility you fought so hard for. And they failed at it.”
“I’m sorry, Bea,” Elias mumbled, looking away, too. “I should’ve always stayed with you. Then maybe none of this would’ve happened.”
“I could’ve done the same,” Claude sighed, scratching his head as he plopped down on a loveseat.
“First of all, it’snobody’sfault,” I gritted out. I found an uninjured spot on both of my knights’ heads and I stroked their hair. “Not even my bodyguards’. They were dutifully following my directive this entire time.”
“A stupid directive that should’ve been ignored if they were thinking at all.” I couldn’t believe it, but it was Theodore Caenum who said it, the first time I had seen him outside of the library. He stood apart from the group but watched me all the same.
I tried to hold my temper. “You have personally seen how attentive they are to me, Theodore.” He had always been there at the library whenever my knights were with me. “They disagreed with me on this, too, but this directive was a favor to me. I pleaded for it.”
