Page 47 of A Bond So Deadly

I stay like that for a while, alternating between tapping my pencil against my head and hovering the tip over the paper. It’s too hard to focus when all I can think about is what the others might be discussing and planning. I still feel guilty about getting the demons involved in this, and while I might not be that helpful when it comes to strategizing, I want to hear the plan. I want to know that there’s a solid way to defeat the Xalgrith. Preferably one that doesn’t end with any of my loved ones dying. Even better if no one died at all, I mutter in my head, though I know that’s completely unrealistic. Still, in my daydreams the Xalgrith just up and leave, the guys close the fold where the monsters had been entering, no one dies, and everyone lives happily ever after. So sure, the version also involves me and the guys frolicking into the sunset, which is perhaps the most unrealistic part seeing as my men would never frolic, but it is what it is.

The fantasy is still playing out in my head, when I’m distracted by a stream of sunlight that hits my phoenix’s egg. The black and blue scales shine in the light, and I try not to worry about how my creature still hasn’t hatched.

“It’s not normal, is it?” I ask the shadows. “She should have hatched by now.”

“There is no normal, girl,” Elgen replies. “I’ve learned things tend to happen in their own time.”

It’s strange but her words are oddly comforting. Trying not to let myself think about it, I look back at the blank page and finally start to draw. The tip of the pencil glides over the textured paper in smooth strokes, and my anxiety eases as I set about the task of drawing my creature. Not the egg beside me, but the majestic creature I remember from the amphitheater. The one who’d bonded with me, aiding me with her strength before I’d almost thought I’d lost her. I’m just working on the fine detail of her tail feathers when someone raps on our dorm door. Determined to finish the piece, I ignore the visitor and keep going, squinting with my neck craned as I add the extra fine lines.

“Commander,” I vaguely hear Kenzie say from across the room as she answers the door. At first, I don’t register what she’s said, and I remain fixated on my drawing, but then her greeting slowly filters in. Commander? But my guys wouldn’t be back so soon, and in any case, Kenzie would have said ‘Professor’ not ‘Commander.’

“Watch it, child,” Elgen rasps in my mind. “This one’s trouble.”

Awareness prickles over my skin and something shatters. I jolt, looking up as pieces of the vase Kenzie had been holding, scatter across the floor, bits of ceramic and red roses spreading out like spilled blood.

Kenzie falls unconscious to the carpet, and I jump to my feet as I stare at the man standing in the doorway.

“You could have warned me!” I hiss at the shadows.

“I did warn you,” Elgen retorts.

I don’t have time to argue.

A sadistic grin darkens Germain’s face as he watches me, his shadows retracting from Kenzie’s body and moving back to slither in the air around him.

“Sorry ‘bout the mess,” he tells me casually. “I couldn’t have your little friend here being a nuisance.”

My heart pounds as I stare at Kenzie, checking that her chest is moving. She’s still breathing.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I say, but my voice wavers showing my fear. Seeing Kenzie on the floor has rattled me. I hadn’t thought Germain would be so bold as to come to our dorm. In fact, I hadn’t thought he’d come here at all. Why isn’t he at the war council? My stomach drops then, because it all makes sense. He’s only here because he knows Knox and my other mates are preoccupied at the war meeting. Crap, can’t a girl get a break? First Professor Yevar, then the incident with Borshoz, and now this…

I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m getting tired of the bullshit or if I’m hangry, but I don’t stop the next words out of my mouth. “Let me guess, you’re still looking for someone to torture? Especially after the shekel deprived you of that opportunity.”

Germain’s lips quirk into a smile, and he moves further into the room, his shadows closing the door behind him. “It’s funny, I thought you’d be more subdued when you were alone.” He huffs a dark laugh and brushes a speck of fluff off his shirt. His gaze travels around the room, and for a frightening moment I think he’s going to spot Elgen and Tarlaz. Thankfully, they’ve hidden themselves beneath my shirt. The last thing I need is Germain spilling that information to the shadow queen. Especially because I don’t know how she would react to discovering I’ve bound myself to them. Germain’s gaze lingers on my phoenix’s egg before his attention returns to me.

I’m about to shadow whisper a message to my guys, because it’s obvious Germain came here to cause trouble and I know better than to face him alone, but before I can speak, Germain’s shadows spear across the room. They wrap around me, one of his icy tendrils diving into my mouth. The shadow is like oil against my tongue, and I cough and splutter, instinctively trying to get it out.

“Don’t let him gain control,” Tarlaz says, but Germain is too strong.

My shadows go to respond, but they can’t do anything to stop Germain’s power. The man is an immortal, an original, and I’m…well, a human with a few shapeshifting tricks. I try to focus my power, to shift form in the hopes I can get rid of the shadows in my mouth, but Germain is in front of me a heartbeat later.

“I wouldn’t do that ‘f I were you,” he says, slurring his words.

Has he been drinking? I think of what the guys have told me about the effects of alcohol on immortals. That it takes an immensely large amount of consumption for the originals to feel anything from the alcohol they drink. That drinking is more of a habit than anything.

Germain leans in close, his breath smelling of sour grapes and a foul savory note I can’t identify. “No point struggling,” he tells me. “I’m not goin’ to kill you. If I did that, things wouldn’t end well, and I have bigger plans than strangling you in your dorm. I’m going to remove my shadow from your mouth now, but just remember, if you scream your mates will come runnin’. They’ll find me, and they’ll kill me, and you don’t want that.” His power recedes, and I gag as the shadow slides out of my throat.

“You sure?” I rasp, coughing. “Because I’ve always found it really satisfying when the villain dies.”

“The villain?” he laughs. “See. You’re proving my point. No matter how much we give, our efforts are never appreciated.”

“What efforts? You mean killing the zenali? Creatures you’re supposed to be protecting?”

He exhales through his nostrils. “Collateral in any war is expected. I follow my orders.”

“Then let’s just call your death collateral, shall we?”

He laughs again. “If I die, the demons may be implicated which will affect the alliance with our shadow queen, and even if your mates own up to the crime, they’ll basically be letting the whole realm know that the prophecy is right. That they can’t be trusted to act in the good of the realm and in the interests of the war when they’re around you. That they’d let this realm burn just to see you safe.” He presses right up against me, his sour breath puffing on my face.