And the Department wanted him. Desperately. They'd do much to obtain him. And knowing he was out there for the taking? How long would it last? How long until the others were caught and tried for treason? Axer, for one, would never be incarcerated in a normal prison.
I tried to cap such thoughts from drowning me. “How's campus?”
Olivia gave a decisive nod. “Fine.”
The good thing about my exile was that the Department had to leave Excelsine mostly alone, now that I was no longer a registered student. They had worked too hard at pinning campus events on me to keep pinning anything to campus once I was gone.
Their internal media machine churned on ad nauseum about all the sympathizers I had there, but thankfully it wasn't yet illegal to like someone, so my friends were safe for the time being, as long as they stayed on campus. On the other hand, the Department was aggressively inferring that Marsgrove was complicit in my actions and therefore should be ousted.
Fortunately, Excelsine was under the purview of greater Europa, a collective government that was resistant to Department intervention, and Marsgrove had years of grabbing everyone by the balls.
“Fine, but on edge,” she clarified. “The vast majority of students support you, but there is a vocal minority who are doing exactly what you think they are doing. But Phillip gave us...some leeway in skirting the justice magic, even though it cost him. Patrick is having a terrific time.”
That gave me a smile. “What about you?”
“I don't know what you mean.” Her expression didn't change, but her eyes held a sadistic glow. “Inessa Norrissing is in Medical due to an unknown ailment. I'm studying. Finals are the week after next.”
Melancholy tugged at me. It seemed like only yesterday we were studying for winter exams.
“Marsgrove is keeping you safe?”
“Phillip is being a tyrant.”
I nodded in relief. That meant Olivia had tried to leave campus and been unable. It was the downside in being a ward of the school—or a muse of the school. Open campus or not, it made it nearly impossible to leave without permission. Such rules were a decided upside for me, though. Unlike Constantine, the slippery fish, Olivia and Neph couldn't just walk off to join me on suicidal ventures.
“How is Leandred?” Olivia asked.
“Angry, but physically fine. You just saw him.” Treating campus like the revolving door it was to no one else but him. Campus was open again—students could leave—but no one connected to me had taken the chance yet. Marsgrove had harshly stressed they shouldn't. The Department had eyes on all of them.
Constantine never followed any rules but his own, though. And his father held power Marsgrove did not.
Constantine was also very, very slippery.
She tilted her head. “On campus, he keeps mostly to himself still. Professor Stevens and Dare are the only ones who have continuous contact.”
Both powder kegs in different ways, both with unresolved issues.
She continued. “Leandred comes to strategy meetings, but only speaks if one of our plans is going to interfere with his own. And those plans, he never shares, so it is left to me to piece together what insanity he is brewing from the ideas that he strikes down. He has given each of us a number of things, though,” she said grudgingly. “Materials, properties, aides, enchantments. William sometimes goes over there to consult. Before he left, I saw Leandred trap a mage in the Midlands who tried to hex William—though William remains as oblivious as always.”
“Has Will been targeted?” I asked sharply.
“No more than anyone else, and there are...plenty of people who step in when his head is deep in a book or device. The combat mages, Greene especially, and all the Bandits are fond of him. And people continuously underestimate Michael when it comes to protecting his roommate. Then there's Nephthys to contend with. A muse on rampage thwarts many plans.”
The rest weren't a surprise, but—“The combat mages are helping?”
“Including Dare, when he's around, which is even less than Leandred. All for the better, really, since when we have a strategy meeting together...” She grimaced. “They rarely speak aloud to each other, but, it's obvious they are communicating, and well, there's no lack of tension.”
I couldn't contain a mirrored expression. “They've lived together for, what, two years, almost three? They work well together—seamlessly—when their goal is common.”
They'd be fine. If, in a few weeks, Axer really did leave campus to spirit us away, the boys would be...fine. Everyone would be fine.
I'd be arguing about not going to Itlantes, Constantine would be making evil, veiled threats at Axer, and Axer would probably handcuff us both and do whatever he planned.
Olivia shook her head. “I don't know what happened before you left... But it's like the two of them vehemently agree on one thing, but not something else, and that makes for...tension. A manifested type we can all feel.”
I rubbed my chest. “They have issues, and I have a feeling Dare is going to join us sooner rather than later.”
Something in the way he had looked at us made me certain of it.
“Good luck.”
“That's not funny.”
“It's not meant to be. Alexander Dare is as scary, ruthless, and untrustworthy as Leandred, but in far different ways. Lox has been fielding more and more responsibilities on campus, stepping in as the leader. Dare has plans for something. I trust those plans not. But at least Nephthys isn't giving Alexander Dare magic like she always gives Leandred.” Olivia looked resigned to the latter.
“You trust Constantine.”
“I trust his motives. There's a difference. So, where is he?”
“In one of the rooms off the atrium that we constructed with vortexes, golems, and whatever else he slips to the Ophidians on the side. I sent him to check in with his father and manipulate his golem publicly. I had to make a sealed vow that I was calling you and staying here, though.”
If there was an emergency, Constantine could release me from it, otherwise I was stuck during the duration of the vow. It was the only way I could get him to check the golem and keep himself safe.
Why had I ever, ever, let him talk me into creating a golem for him?
I pulled fingers along my forehead.
Because he had asked.
Loneliness.
Terrible life choices.
“Good.” Olivia’s smile was tight.
“No, not good. Stavros knows he's the one with me,” I said. “It's only a matter of time before undeniable proof outs him to the world. Rumors are growing. Wild ones.”
“No one ever says it too loudly, but there have long been whispers about Leandred's abilities. Both Leandreds. True Mind Magic is rare, and Constantine was privately tutored until Excelsine, but rumors circulated about his abilities even before.”
I frowned. “Yeah, I've seen the ability speculation reports. They are trying to stick the label on him to more easily arrest him and diminish his father's popularity.”
“Yes, well, there’s no way those ability reports are false,” she said bluntly.