What did I know of love? Nothing.
I couldn’t love Izzy. Because love only led to pain and suffering, a lesson I’d learned early.Sex and lust were one thing but never get attached, my mother had told me. Attachments could be taken from you, ripping out your heart. I’d never experienced it myself, luckily, but my mother had. I’d seen the pain in her face, the hurt she’d tried to hide.
Love was evil, plain and simple.
That was why I couldn’t love Izzy, because if I did, I was doomed.
MYELAS
After I’d left Izzy,I’d slipped across campus unseen, returning to my home — such that it was — in the shifter residence. The tiny cell with a cot and a sink might feel like a prison to some, but it had been all I’d known since I was a boy.
I’d gathered my few belongings in one satchel, then I’d headed for Safir’s room, walking these halls for perhaps the last time.
I was prepared to leave, if I had to. Izzy would have to come with me, of course, but the two of us on the run would be better than being betrayed and caught here on campus.
I knocked on Safir’s door. He hated when I barged in.
“Who is it?” he asked.
“Myel.”
“Come.”
I slipped inside quickly.
Zora was here. Good, they should both know what had happened.
“You’re packed. Why?” Zora was quick, she didn’t miss much.
I liked the hobgoblin woman. She was kind to me. She was also far more cunning than she looked. Zora had been spying for Safir for years, working in the nobles’ residence, gleaning what she could, trying to work her way up to a royal residence some day. Then Izzy had come along and Safir had changed his tactics altogether. To anyone else, it would look as if Zora had been demoted, but Safir had used his contacts to place her where she was needed, where she could keep an eye on our princess.
Sometimes I marvelled at the vast web of connections Safir had built over the years. From pixies to trolls, even a dwarf, who admittedly didn’t know he was working with beastfolk. He had so many people hidden amongst the lower-level administrators of the academy that it had been easy for him to set up the scholarship for Izzy — using some of Izzy’s Grandmother’s fortune — and move Zora’s posting. He’d even adjusted my patrol schedule and training times to allow for the time I’d need with Izzy. The man was a miracle worker.
And now all his plans might crumble, because Izzy had made friends with Saldrea’s pet seraph.
“Things are falling apart,” I said, getting to the heart of the matter. “One of Saldrea’s guards — the seraph — saw Izzy and I together. Izzy thinks he’s a friend, but I don’t trust him. Izzy and I will have to leave campus tonight.”
“Curious,” Safir said, raising his brows.
That was it?
“Not curious. Bad, really bad!” I hissed.
“Not from what I’ve heard,” Safir said casually. “Every indication is that the seraph has fallen for Izzy and won’t betray her.”
I gaped at my mentor. “He’d betray Saldrea instead? That’s a death sentence!”
“Maybe,” Safir said with his usual measured indifference. He turned to Zora. “What do you think?”
Zora eyed me, and in that look, I saw her apology.
“Myel, sit, please. This isn’t the dire situation you think it is.”
I sat heavily on Safir’s bed. “How could itnotbe?”
Zora was smart. Smarter than Safir by a good margin and that was saying a lot. Safir was no slouch, even if his expertise lay more in persuasion, getting people to help him. Since he’d brought Zora into his confidence their plans had become more complex and long term.
Iwasn’tso smart. I was a tool, a weapon, and not even a great one of those. So, I listened when Zora spoke.
