“Calm down,” Eli whispered, pinching me a little. My surprised whine caught the men’s attention, like it wasn’t enough that Uriel was already suspicious of my current … state.
“Fuck, Bea,” Claude groaned, turning his whole body away from me. “Don’t make that sound in public. It’s very hard to hide a boner in these pants. I need to have my armor on.”
I wanted to laugh at this crudeness, but I was still a noble daughter. “Don’t be crass,” I chastised him, pretending to be offended.
“We have to go now, or the heavens might smite us for ignoring the call of the Priestesses,” Winston exclaimed with some bitterness mixed in. “Bea, don’t ever forget — you’re as much of a Champion as the rest of us.” He finished the statement by walking off with Samuel and Claude.
Not enough of a Champion to be brought to the Priestesses’ Vision though.
“We’ll resume the class,” Derrick informed me and Elias, and I was just glad I was back to some form of normalcy.
Which was the wrong thing to think about, becausethiswasn’tmynormal. It wasn’t supposed to be.
By the time class ended, the Champions hadn’t returned yet, and I refused to think about the Lord bastard that had mekidnapped without them around. I decided to visit my brother to distract myself. It had been almost two weeks since I last saw him, after all.
Even though he was only my pseudo-brother, I felt a sense of obligation to attend to him, if only for his genuine care for his younger sister.
As he requested, I sent mail to his dorm that I’d be visiting him in an hour. He replied an affirmative. I let Mia and my knights know of my intent.
“Alec could never know about my fuzzy memory,” I told them as we made our way to his dorm. “He’ll definitely tell our mother and father. I don’t want them to worry.”
Reuben frowned but nodded. “I don’t agree with your decision, my lady, but I will uphold it for you. As promised, you will be held accountable for your decisions.”
Mia’s eyes widened at Reuben’s boldness, but I nodded too. “Yes. If it ruins things for me, let it be my fault.”
“I should stay by you at all times, my lady,” Mia suggested as we neared the building. “If Lord Alec says something you don’t remember, I’ll be there to remind you.”
“That’s a great idea. Let’s do that.”
Upon arrival, Alec’s personal knight Milo opened the door for us, bowing at me and smiling at his sister. “He’ll be out in a minute, my lady. He’s tidying up the place.”
“Please, I’m already used to his messy bedroom,” I teased. My confidence rose when Mia nodded at my statement. “What could make it a mess, anyway?”
“Lots and lots of books and papers,” Alec appeared from behind Milo, all disheveled but happy. “Come in, baby sister.” Both he and Milo stepped aside so we could enter his dorm. Sure enough, there were mountains of papers everywhere, but they were also stacked in neat columns against the walls. Not a mess at all.
Alec sat on a couch and gestured for me to do the same, so I sat across from him with Mia standing by my side. “Did you have dinner yet? We can get food delivered here from the dining hall.”
“Not yet, but I didn’t want to sit here and eat,” I admitted. “I wanted to visit. How are you?”
He waved me off. “Busy as always. You, on the other hand,” Alec chuckled, elbows on his knees, “I’ve heard some interesting rumors lately. Caregiver of the Champions, huh?”
“Oh, stars. Not you too?” While it was true that Winston declared me a “Caregiver”, I had yet to do anything with that unofficial title. All I got were countless speculations and gossip that I was their plaything. I hoped that part didn’t reach Alec’s ears, but the way he studied me gave me doubt.
He stood up to prepare us tea, dismissing Mia’s attempts to do it for him, before settling a cup on the table in between us. “How did that happen?” he asked, sipping his own tea.
And thus, I had no choice but to tell. He was prepared for a long story. I skipped all the unnecessary and irrelevant details and the kidnapping, but I basically recounted my past two weeks of schooling so far. Including the fact I had a block on my magic because that was impossible to ignore; the school administration was already aware of it.
Alec listened with great effort, nodding and adding comments or questions whenever he had them. His hands shook whenever he picked up his cup to sip; he was probably tired from all the research he was doing. When was the last time he’d actually slept?
A memory came to me — for a brief while before attending the academy, he had been miserable because our elder physician, Master Jeremus, had passed away. They had a mentor and student sort of relationship, like Mia reminded me. He would hole up in his bedroom for days sometimes, onlygetting out when our mother pleaded. The process repeated for a few months.
Then, one day, it was like a switch flipped; he was happy again. Before he left for the academy, he was in good spirits, and he’d stayed that way since.
I remembered asking him about it; maybe he was in his second or third year of schooling. “I found a life purpose. Thanks to Master Jeremus’s teachings,” he had said then.
“You trailed off,” Alec broke me from my musings. “What are you thinking about?”
Right, I was about to finish retelling my story. “Your life purpose,” I answered.
