“Very soon,” I confirmed.
Then I called my magic forth and teleported away.
My contact had performedto my satisfaction.
Favor returned.
Debt absolved.
“Most definitely,” I mused to myself as I held up the two-liter frosted glass bottle of shimmering gold magic within. Magic that had been mapped to me so it would take my command and enable me to wield it as I saw fit.
Celestial magic.
“Thank you, Taen.”
I swept a glowing citrine palm over it, stowing it away magically, ensuring only I could call it forth when the time was right.
Soon.
My boots scraped on the rough ground as I moved right to the edge of the rock shelter beneath one of the waterfalls at this locale known as Wistering Waterfalls.
The landmark was a picturesque natural phenomenon with seven clustered waterfalls spilling into a shared therapeutic spring that possessed magical properties.
I performed a scent-wipe, along with eliminating any trace of Taen’s magical signature and mine. He’d left the bottle for me buried inside the rock wall out of sight, where I’d been able to use my vibrational ability to ease it free, then also seal the hole.
That vibrational aspect of my ability had many facets. Aside from this and the way I’d tracked Winter during his abduction, I’d also used it to determine precisely where The Shadowed agents had been stationed around campus before I’d left.Without alerting them or tripping their vampiric senses, or the magic-wielder members registering my magical signature.
While they were chiefly stationed there in secret to safeguard Winter, I couldn’t risk that extending to them keeping tabs on me as well. So any time I’d left campus, I concealed myself in the trees or one of the buildings at the edge of campus, out of their immediate view, then employed my camouflage ability to blend into the surroundings, while monitoring their locations with my vibrational skillset in order to move around them undetected. Once I was clear, I still had to maintain the camouflage aspect, glamoring my scent and magical signature in the process for several miles. Winter had mentioned offhand when he’d been stressed by the level of protection increasing, that many were near-Ancient, which meant they could sense very far into the distance.
Due to that complication, it had taken me two hours to reach this location, when teleporting would have enabled me to arrive instantly.
Regardless, in spite of the obstacles and the frustrations of such things, I’d still managed to do what was needed.
That was what mattered.
I maneuvered between the rock shelter and the waterfall, then leapt twenty feet onto the bank, landing stably.
I was about to make my way back when a rush of great power rolled through the immediate area.
With a flicker of my magic, I summoned my jeweled daggers.
The moment they materialized in my hands, I sent a surge of my power through each of the double-edged steel blades that infused them with my magic, alongside the venom already stored within.
As the interloper began to materialize, I frowned as rose-gold magic sparked into being.
And thenhestood there, height and muscle contained in a fitted black shirt and pants with a hard leather coat. His deep brown hair was styled in a crew cut with textured waves on top.
Kai Hunter.
Hmm.He certainly liked to make an entrance. He could have merely popped into being, but he’d drawn his arrival out with a dramatic flourish.
After encountering so many of what Winter and Zayn referred to asKai Hunter Fan Boysat Loxley Academy,being presented with the real thing was rather surreal.
“Your Majesty,” he greeted me, tone laced with sarcasm, as was the bow he followed it up with.
Zayn called me that because it was Zayn, not for correctness. But those in political circles knew better. As did those like Kai Hunter who were very much connected.
“I’m High Lord Heir of the Excetra Crown, not reigning monarch. That’s reserved for my mother, High Empress, Norla Canor. The term you’re searching for is “My Lord.” If accuracy is important to you, of course.”
