“And I’m sorry I thought about tearing your arm off,” she says.
I creep to the doorway and peer through the slit where the door swings away from the wall.
Rafe stands facing Diana, his arm on the stone wall next to them. He looks down, collecting his thoughts. Then he glances back up at her, a small smile on his face. “Thank you, Diana. Thank you for not ripping my arm off.”
“It’s just that... I...I have no experience with...with this level of cruelty,” Diana explains haltingly. “I’ve just never seen anything like it.” Diana looks up at Rafe, her face distraught. “Rafe, her whole body...he must have beaten her repeatedly...”
“I know.”
“She’s so scared. So broken. And her eyes...her eyes...” Diana’s voice breaks, and she begins to sob.
My brow flies up in surprise. Diana is so strong and sure, never ruffled by anything. My own sadness for the Selkie wells up inside me, hearing Diana cry so.
“Shhh...” I hear Rafe say. “Come here.”
Diana’s sobs become muffled as Rafe pulls her into a tight embrace.
“I’m so sorry!” Diana cries. “I wasn’t thinking! I could have caused so much trouble! My first real test...and I failed!” Her words come out in a tangled rush. “I’m a disgrace to my pack!”
“Shhh, Diana...you’re not,” Rafe whispers into her hair. “They’d understand. You’re not a disgrace.”
“Yes, I am!”
“No, you’re not. Stop. Look at me.”
Diana raises her tear-soaked face, amber eyes now red and puffy.
“You are not a disgrace,” Rafe insists, his voice full of kindness. “You are brave and kind. You’re just a little...impetuous.” He smiles and reaches up to gently wipe away some of her tears.
Diana nods and manages a reluctant smile in return. “You’re just being nice to me because I let you keep your arm.”
Rafe laughs. “Maybe so.”
They’re both quiet for a moment, their arms loose around each other.
“Rafe,” Diana finally says, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “I’m falling in love with you.”
Rafe’s face immediately grows serious, and he inhales sharply. “Oh, Diana,” he breathes as he reaches up to cup the side of her face, “I’ve already fallen...” He pulls her toward him and kisses her hair, her arms twining around him. He brings his mouth to hers and they kiss, gently at first. Then Diana moans and presses herself into him, their kissing quickly becoming passionate.
I pull away from the door, heart thumping, a pang of distress spreading through my chest.
My brother, the Gardnerian, and a shapeshifter. All my suspicions about them completely on the mark.
Sweet Ancient One in the Heavens Above, what a mess we’re all in.
I’ve stolen a Selkie. Yvan’s plotting to steal a military dragon. Both Rafe and Aislinn are in love with Lupines, and I’m becoming increasingly close friends with a shunned Elfin Icaral.
This has actually gone way beyond a mess. We’re all treading on increasingly dangerous ground.
What on Erthia are we all going to do from here?
CHAPTER TEN
Andras Volya
After Diana and Rafe leave together, I step out and find Andras Volya in the University stables.
Andras is crouched down on one knee as he tends to the front leg of a black mare, gently massaging herbal paste into the animal’s leg. If he sees me, he gives no indication, as he continues to focus entirely on the horse. The horse, on the other hand, turns to eye me with calm curiosity.
I walk slowly over to where he kneels. “Andras?” My voice is tentative, and he doesn’t look up. “I...I need to speak with you,” I persist.
“I won’t say anything about the Selkie,” he says, “if that’s what you’ve come to ask.” He stops massaging the horse’s leg, stands and murmurs softly to her as she nuzzles him, the crimson rune-marks all over his red tunic glimmering in the light. “His treatment of her bothered me greatly,” he says. His brow tenses as if he’s remembering something disturbing. He turns to look at me. “You were right to rescue her. I should have done so myself.”
“How long was she there?” I ask him.
He considers this, staring off into the wilds, in the direction of the groundskeeper’s cottage. “A month’s time, I’d say.” Andras cocks his head to one side and studies me as if I’m a puzzle to him. “The granddaughter of Carnissa Gardner. Rescuing Selkies.” He sets the paste jar down and wipes his hands with a rag. “Doesn’t your aunt want the Selkies shot?”
Stunned, I stare at him blankly.
He lifts his chin and considers me closely. “She introduced the motion. On your Mage Council. Earlier this year. To have them shot as soon as they come to shore.”
There are better ways to deal with Selkies that are far more humane than keeping them in cages, forcing them to...act human.
She meant...killing them!
He must read the shock in my expression. “You didn’t know?”
I shake my head and let out a long sigh of disgust. Just when I think Aunt Vyvian can’t get any worse. I sit down on the hay bale behind me, momentarily reaching up to massage my aching temples. The world is so much worse than I ever imagined. And Aunt Vyvian is so devastatingly cruel.
The mare’s tail makes a swishing sound as she flicks it from side to side, a chilly breeze flowing into the stable from the outside. My eyes are drawn to the rolling, violet-tinged hills, their base carpeted with a line of bright yellow larch trees.
“It’s beautiful here,” I observe.
Andras looks out over the landscape and nods.
“It’s like another world,” I muse. “It reminds me of my home.” I hold up my hand, covering up the University city, which is rendered small by our distance from it. “It’s like you can almost pretend the University doesn’t exist.”
“I try to do that sometimes,” he admits.
I turn to look at him. “You don’t like it here?”
He shakes his head. “My mother and I used to live on the outskirts of Western Keltania. I much prefer it.”
“Oh,” I say softly, momentarily at a loss for what else to say. Then my eyes alight on the intricate designs on his tunic. “Your runes,” I observe hesitantly. “They glow.”
He glances down at the marks and nods. “Amaz runes. They’re crafted from a melding of several runic systems. They enhance our power—”
Andras breaks off suddenly, eyes darting to look at something behind me, and his whole body stiffens.
I turn to see Andras’s mother, Professor Volya, standing in the stable’s back entranceway. Fear swamps over me. How long has she been standing there? Did she hear us?
I can see it in her shrewd gaze—she did hear us. My heart hammers out my dire concern.
“Mother,” Andras says, his deep voice guarded.
“My son,” she replies tersely.
We all stare at each other for a long moment, the silence thick and uncomfortable.
“Mage Gardner,” Professor Volya finally says, her black eyes sharp on me. “I just had the most intriguing visit from the area’s Vu Trin commander and the Verpax groundskeeper. It seems as if the groundskeeper’s Selkie has gone missing.”
I stare back at her like a deer caught in the torchlight.
Her eyes tight on mine, she takes a seat on a hay bale. She sits like a man. Legs spread apart, arms crossed.
“Relax, Mage Gardner,” she tells me. “I, too, will keep your secret.”
I let out a heavy breath, relief washing over me.
“So,” Professor Volya says, peering at me, “Carnissa Gardner’s granddaughter has rescued a Selkie.”
“Her body,” I tell them, my voice low. “It’s covered in lash marks. He must have whipped her over and over again.”
Andras makes a sound of disgust and looks away.
Professor Volya doesn’t look the least bit surprised. “It is the nature of men.”
Andras’s head jerks toward his mother, his brow tight with offense.
“To beat women senseless?” I question, incredulous.
“To be cruel,” she replies. “To attempt to dominate women in any way possible.”
Andras’s jaw tenses, and his face takes on a hard look. He throws down his cloth and stalks out.