Exile (18 page)

“Being extremely worried won’t do it?” Corin asked.

“It could,” Aless admitted, “but I can’t really stop that, can I?”

Corin stayed silent for what felt like eternity. “If… I had a way to cheer you up?”I could, uh, stay with you tonight,”he stuttered, blushing. “If you want, that is.”

Aless smirked. “I want, but unless you want to be caught by Selena, staying in my room isn’t an option,”he said.“But I think I know somewhere we can go. I had a small cabin to stay in. It really isn’t much, but it’s better than having someone walk in.”

“Can we go right now?” Corin asked.

“Probably not. Breakfast will be soon,” Aless replied. “Meet me at the Water Temple tonight. We’ll sneak off after curfew.”

Corin leaned over and kissed him again, smiling as he did so. He slid forward and straddled Aless’s hips. Aless sighed. He would worry about everything later. For now, all he focused on was enjoying Corin before the breakfast bell rang.

Chapter 19

“S
O
,
ALL
of Kateline’s restraints are broken?” Cyril asked. “Did she find out anything before the incident in the library?”

Piers glowered, trying to focus on his breakfast. The futility of the situation had hit him last night, a few hours after he and Selena left the Earth Temple together. Kateline’s restraints had broken and he only had two pieces of his left. It was all going to break, and he’d be sent into a feral state.

Corona had been completely quiet since the incident, and that was the most worrying thing out of it. The demon was usually quite chatty, but right now it was as if he had taken a vow of silence, or had never been there to begin with. He had even made a few efforts to reach out to the spirit, desperately attempting to figure out why Corona had decided to shut up for once.

“Corin had been researching with her,” Selena commented, poking idly at a piece of fruit. “He had been able to read the thing you found in the Forbidden Archive, he said.”

“And did he find anything helpful? Kateline never mentioned this to me.”

“He told me it was a fairytale that wasn’t in Centrallian. The text killed one of the stronger students of Zephyr,” Selena replied. “Do we have any answers?”

Piers reached under the table and entwined his fingers with Selena’s. She had been in a similar state last night, as he recalled, crawling into his bed after the incident with Corin had blown over and curling up against his side, near tears.

She had been so vulnerable. Selena had always been close to Kateline, or at the very least closer to her than any other girls in the monastery, and she had to fight her and trap her all by herself, not knowing if Kateline would ever be herself again. It had to be difficult, Piers thought, running his thumb against Selena’s palm. Selena had told him she felt guilty for not being able to help research. Piers had insisted her ability to trap a feral guardian was more of an asset, particularly since he had been in the library before and seen all the scribes there. What they needed most of all was more guards, lest a guardian go feral while Selena wasn’t nearby.

“Most of Kateline’s notes were destroyed in the crossfire… we’re running out of leads. I think it’s time we tell Aless, Selena,” Cyril said.

Selena tightened her grip. “I don’t want to dishonor Master’s memory.”

“It’s only luck his restraints haven’t crumbled so far,” Piers argued.

“I think the situation is critical at this point. We need to tell him,” Cyril stated.

“Tell me what?” Aless asked, suddenly opening the main door and sauntering in, glaring at the three guardians. “About the restraints crumbling?” The three guardians stared at him.

Selena flushed bright red, opening her mouth as though she were about to snap.

Cyril cleared his throat. “W-where did you hear this?”

“I overheard some scribes talking,” Aless lied, glaring holes into the table. “Now, when did you feel it would be a good idea to tell me that our
restraints
were crumbling?”

Cyril sighed. “The situation wasn’t
critical
, yet—”

“Oh, I think it was!” Aless yelled. “What would’ve happened if my restraints had crumbled? Do you think it would’ve been critical then?”

“We didn’t want you to—”

“I could have helped!” Aless yelled, taking a seat across from Piers. “This affects me too, damn you…. My restraints are going to crumble too, aren’t they?”

Piers exchanged a quick look with the rest of the table. “They already did.”

“Piers!” Selena scolded, detaching her hand from his.

“Stop, Lena,” Piers commanded. “It’s all on the table, now. He might as well know it all so he can actually help us.”

Selena turned her eyesfrom the other guardians to stare at the door.

Cyril sighed, turning to Aless. “Yours broke before your exile,” he explained. “The full set crumbled into dust in the middle of the night.”

“You all insisted to me they merely fell off, which would mean they would still be intact,” Aless countered, “but they didn’t. I’ve been wearing the set designed to hold Zephyr. And it also means I should never have been exiled to begin with! I was not even slightly at fault!”

“You allowed your emotions to overwhelm you; the spirits can easily take advantage of situations like that.”

“But if they’ve been shattering anyway, it really was only a matter of time,” Aless argued.

“That may or may not be true…. We’re still looking into it,” Cyril rebutted.

“That’s just an excuse and you know it,” Aless retorted, “and Selena doesn’t wear a set of restraints, does she?”

“Selena doesn’t need the set to contain Zephyr; she never has,” he confirmed, sighing.

“But she would need a set to be able to control Alvah, which is why she sticks with Zephyr,” Aless finished, relishing his triumph.

“That’s correct,” Cyril confirmed.

Selena stayed silent, still staring at the door.

“So, why have they been breaking? And can we fix them?” Aless asked.

“We’re not sure,” Cyril responded. “Kateline was heading the research and now she’s gone. All we have is some forbidden texts in an unknown language.”

“I see,” Aless replied. “Is there anyone who could read it?”

“Corin could,” Selena murmured, still not glancing toward Aless. “It is a folktale and nothing more.” Piers placed a hand on her shoulder.

“He’s all we have to go on right now. We’ve exhausted all our other theories,” Cyril said. “I’ll meet with him after breakfast and see if Kateline told him anything before her restraints crumbled.”

“I’d like to help with the research,” Aless stated. “If I could, at least. It’s late, and I realize this, but I need to know, if it comes to it, I did try to do something.”

“I have no objections,” Cyril agreed, looking between the other guardians. “Selena? Piers?”

“I’m fine with it,” Piers agreed, turning to Selena.

“The situation isn’t going to be fixed no matter what happens. If you want to waste your time looking, then go right ahead,” she answered, standing up. “I’m going to head off. I can’t help you with research, anyway. I’m going to train.”

Piers stood up. “Anyone mind if I follow her? I’m a little worried,”

“Go ahead,” Cyril answered, waving him away with a smile, “but before you go please call Corin in.”

“Will do,” Piers said, rushing off.

P
IERS
pried the door to the Chaos Temple open, ignoring the slight burn on his hands from the handle.

It was generally frowned upon to enter a guardian’s temple uninvited, particularly if one was a guardian. It was a matter of respect for both their patron element and their fellow guardian, and Piers could understand that. He didn’t let anyone in the Fire Temple except for Selena and Aless, both having earned a special place in his heart over the years. Though in this sort of situation, Piers noted, he was fairly certain no one would mind if he broke the rules.

Selena hadn’t been out training, which Piers had expected. The girl was a terrible liar, at least to people who knew her well, and she had been way too upset to do anything besides this, really.

He had checked the Air Temple before, but he had known she would’ve never placed herself in there. Selena had never felt any connection to Zephyr, and even though she had eventually trained herself to harness those abilities, she never was a student of Zephyr, and she’d never bonded with her spirit the way the others had.

Selena had pushed the main podium to the side and sat on the grating, staring idly into the pit. She had pulled her knees against her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs as she stared at the main altar.

Piers cringed at the inside of the Chaos Temple. It was almost pure black, with very little light managing to pour through the stained glass windows. He had never understood how Alvah had been Selena’s patron spirit. Selena herself was so fair, so pale, and so delicate…. And while Piers knew her delicate appearance didn’t even begin to speak to the power she held within her, he was still surprised she was a true child of Alvah.

Piers stepped forward silently, closing the temple door behind him. Selena hadn’t acknowledged him yet, but Piers had a feeling she knew he was here. He slowly sat behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s useless, isn’t it?” Selena asked, voice quivering.

Piers sighed, sliding beside her. “Which part of it?”

“All of it,” she replied. “Kateline’s gone.”

“She’ll come back,” Piers insisted. “We just need to figure out how to create a new set of restraints. Cyril is smart; he’ll figure it out.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” she asked. “We have nothing to go off of.”

“We’ll find something,” Piers insisted.

“But when?” Selena snapped. “They’ve been breaking more and more every day. Honestly, how long do you think it can last? I’m sorry for snapping.”

Piers sighed, pulling her onto his lap. He could understand her position. Every day he worried about it too. It was the worst feeling imaginable, having a spirit take him over… being caught as a feral guardian. It was terrifying, especially for those with large amounts of natural mana. Whenever he went feral, he could see the damage Corona inflicted, and the thought of being trapped all alone during that was terrifying to him.

In a way, he felt worse for Selena. She would have to watch them succumb to it, he realized. She had already seen one of her friends lose it, and she’d have to watch Cyril, Aless, even him succumb to the spirits….

“You okay…?” Piers asked.

Tears began flowing down Selena’s cheeks freely. “No,” she replied. “Yours are going to break too, Piers, don’t you know that? Can we stop it? No.”

She stayed in his arms for a few minutes, attempting to calm her down. Selena suddenly sat back, staring at him with a determined expression on her face, eyes still swollen from tears. “I… I don’t want to wait any more,” she declared, moving her fingers to the top of her dress, slowly popping open the first button.

Piers stared at her in disbelief. “A-are you sure?” he asked. “You’ll go feral if we do, won’t you?”

She gave a bitter laugh. “I removed the podium off just in case,” she answered, pulling her dress away from her shoulders, leaving her in only her undergarments. “I don’t want to wait until we no longer have the chance…. Please, Piers?”

It should have been more romantic, Piers felt as he reached forward and grabbed the end of Selena’s chest binding, tugging it and allowing the bandages to fall to the floor, exposing her small breasts fully. It should have been romantic as he began to move his hands down her chest, resting one on her hip and the other on her back, trying to pull her body as close to his as he could. It should have been romantic, but Piers could feel tears falling onto Selena’s cheeks with every move she made, and the guardian had to wonder if he was really doing the right thing.

She moved a hand slowly to his chest, unlacing the front of his shirt, pushing it open and revealing the hard, tanned surface. She moved her hands inside, feeling his pectoral muscles, experimentally running her thumbs over his nipples.

Piers shuddered, pulling away from the kiss. He moved a thumb to Selena’s face, trying to wipe some of her tears away. He sat back and shrugged his coat off. Selena moved forward, hesitantly gripping the bottom of his shirt and pulling it up, tugging it over his head and throwing it to the side.

Selena shut her eyes again, but Piers didn’t take that personally. He could see the tears cascading down her cheeks, and he once again wondered if he should go through with this. He had seen her naked before on numerous occasions, but this time was different to him. She was most vulnerable like this, with her emotions at the surface. Piers smiled at the thought that he really was the only man she showed this side of herself to. This was the side he’d earned, and no one, not Corin nor Selena’s old master, had this pleasure besides him.

Piers slowly pushed her back against the grating. He was tempted to ask if she was all right on the uncomfortable surface, but he didn’t want to pressure her into speaking before she was ready. Selena was a proud person, and despite how close the two guardians were, Piers didn’t want to force her to talk before she was ready. He was certain if she wanted to, she would speak up.